Help Team MNDAK/LifeSource and Todd Van Laere

My name is Todd Van Laere and I will be participating in the Transplant Games of America 2024.  I will be competing in golf singles, golf doubles, Texas Hold'em and Darts.  LifeSource is the main sponsor of Team MN-DAK. LifeSource is a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives through organ, eye and tissue donation in the Upper Midwest. 

My Story...…

My journey started in June of 2018 when I was diagnosed with AML FLT3 Highly Adverse (Acute Myeloid Leukemia).  Like most people, I rarely go see the doctor when I'm feeling sick but this time something was different.  I was on vacation to enjoy some musky fishing and I was feeling "off" all week.  On Monday I went to see my family doctor to get some bloodwork done.  When the test came back there was something abnormal about my blood and they immediately referred me to a Hematologist Oncologist along with a bone marrow biopsy.  After my biopsy I didn't even make it out of town and the Oncologist called me back to the hospital.  The doctor told me, "you have AML" and I said right back to him in blink of an eye, "how do we cure it and what do I need to do".  Nothing was going to stop me from doing everything possible to survive.

I decided that I wanted a second opinion so I headed down to Mayo to meet with another Oncologist.  To my surprise not only did I need the chemo treatments but I also need a  bone marrow transplant (stem cell transplant).  The transplant was needed if I wanted to survive, because of the FLT3 mutation.  I was told I only had five minutes to decide where to get the treatments because of this mutation.  Fortunately I was able to meet my transplant doctor the same day.  One thing about Mayo is they have specific doctors for everything and my team was MASSIVE!  The only thing I remember about that transplant meeting was "we are going to cure one disease, but will give you another, but we have drugs that can control the other disease".  He was talking about GVHD (Graft Versus Host Disease). The easiest way to describe this is the new stem cells and your body are having a fight and not recognizing each other.  Its good to have some because that means the new stem cells are destroying the cancer cells.  Now my adventure really begins.  

I had to do two rounds of chemo, each lasted 30 days.  During this time the process began to find a stem cell donor for me.  They start with your siblings if you have some because those are your best chances immediately.  If your siblings are not a good match then they move to the National Marrow Donor Program, https://bethematch.org.  Fortunately, I was blessed that my brother was perfect 10/10 match for me, whatever they base it off of.  I guess I might owe him one or two now. 

My transplant day was September 24th 2018 which the nurses called my new birthday.  They say this because you are basically a new born baby with no immune system.  What I didn't know is that I needed another seven days of chemo that was way more intense to completely wipe out my system before the stem cells could be transplanted.  When the day arrives and let me tell you, it was very anticlimactic, it's basically a blood transfusion with stem cells, 15 minutes and done.  That was also the day the hard work got harder.

Things were going well for the first couple of weeks then I ended up with this thyroid issue that made me look like a bullfrog.  Mayo still is unsure what happened there.  Next I got GVHD of the liver and the extremely high doses of prednisone that I was on for months devastated my body.  I ended up with infections in joints and back, compression factures and bone death. This all resulted in both my hips and both my shoulders to be replaced, and luckily my compression fractures fused together in my spine.

Once I got home I couldn't walk, lift, sit, reach anything.  (Huge love to my wife Marsha for being by my side through all the tough challenges we faced.  I Love you!!).  I spent the next year and half going to physical therapy three times a week along with me doing rehab work at home everyday.  After my insurance wouldn't allow PT anymore, I still wasn't at the point where I could do things I love again, golf, fish and hunt.  After my rehab was done my wife told me about the Transplant Games of America.  It was the perfect boost for me to keep this rehab going.  I remembered this guy that would always say hi and keep encouraging me.  I found out he was a trainer at a gym so I went to pay him a visit.  I walk into his gym and asked if he remembered me, he stood with blank face so I removed my mask, "I thought you were a goner".  I asked if you would train me and he said, "lets get to work".

For the past 18 months I have been training to get back to what I love. Transplant Games of America gave me that extra motivation.  Also, I want to tell my story to give hope to other transplant patients and donors. You never know what tomorrow brings, Never Give Up!

https://www.life-source.org/recipients/team-mn-dak/