Cincinnati - The Jewish Hospital Blood & Marrow Transplant Program will hold its seventh annual "Partners in Hope" patient reunion on Friday, May 19, at 6 p.m., at the Sharonville Convention Center, 11355 Chester Road. Blood and marrow transplant survivors will speak, along with physicians and staff. Media are invited to attend from 7:30 - 8:30 p.m. to hear the speakers and interview patients and physicians. Please call 513-585-7200 by 4 p.m. Friday if you plan to attend.

The Jewish Hospital offers the only adult blood and marrow transplant program in the Tristate area. Blood and bone marrow transplantation is used to treat many types of cancer, such as leukemia, Hodgkin's disease, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and multiple myeloma.

Bone marrow contains stem cells, which grow and divide into white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets. High doses of chemotherapy, which are used to destroy cancer cells, can also destroy normal, healthy stem cells. During a bone marrow transplant, healthy stem cells are transplanted into the patient following chemotherapy.

There are two types of stem cell transplantation:
Autologous - The patient's stem cells are removed and frozen prior to high-dose chemotherapy. After the chemotherapy is completed, the patient's own stem cells are thawed and transplanted back into the patient.

Allogeneic - After chemotherapy, stem cells from a donor are transplanted into the patient's bone marrow. The donated stem cells can either be from a family member or from an unrelated donor found through the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP).

Sponsors of this event include Oncology Hematology Care, Amgen, Millennium, Infusion Partners, Wyeth, Celgene, Berlex, Genentech and Pfizer.
 
The Jewish Hospital is part of the Health Alliance, an integrated health care delivery system that also includes The Christ Hospital, The University Hospital, The St. Luke Hospitals, The Fort Hamilton Hospital and the physicians of Alliance Primary Care. To view other Health Alliance news releases, go to www.health-alliance.com/pressroom.

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