In the fall of 2006, Michele Vance, 61, of New Brighton went in for her annual physical. Her doctor decided she should get her blood work done because she hadn't had the tests for a while…

"That September, I was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome with emerging leukemia. It is an early onset to leukemia. I had a chromosome switch, which meant the dis-order was very fast moving toward leukemia.

"I ended up at the Mayo Clinic and then the University of Minnesota. Doctors at both the Mayo and the U agreed I needed a bone marrow transplant.

Pioneer Press by Rhoda Fukushima, 10/2/09

Tags: Cancer, Hematology, leukemia