Pocono News Section

One Man's Road to Recovery

One Man's Road to Recovery - Thursday, August 28, 2008 at 5:22PM EST

Reported by: Jeremy Deebel
Thursday, Aug 28, 2008 @ 05:22pm EST
Danville, Montour County-

A Potter County man is conquering cancer thanks to a loving family and a first-time procedure performed at Geisinger Medical Center.

In 2005, Ron Hillyard was 28 years old, had just gotten a mortgage, and was planning to get engaged, when he was diagnosed with cancer. But even that solemn and scary news couldn't knock down Ron's spirits.

His fiancé, Crystal Sturdevant, recalled, "He came out and I'll never forget it, he says, 'Well you know the doctor says I have a thing called chronic myeloid leukemia, but it's treatable."

Doctors first tried one cancer treatment, then another. They made some progress, but the leukemia remained. Dr. Sharif Kahn explained, "He wasn't getting the full response that we wanted, which was a complete remission."

When the cancer treatments stopped working, doctors knew Ron would need a bone marrow transplant. Thankfully, Ron's sister was a near perfect match.

Hillyard said, "The whole process made me nervous a little bit, until he started explaining everything and you start understanding, and it didn't sound as bad."

Hillyard underwent an allogeneic bone marrow transplant, a specific procedure for leukemia patients, and the first of its kind to be performed at Geisinger, whose close location made it the best option for continuing treatment.

Dr. Kahn noted, "The whole issue is keeping the patient healthy and alive post-transplant, which requires them to come to our clinic two to three times a week for several weeks, sometimes for several months."

Hillyard explained, "It's kind of a long, gradual process. Probably four months anyway, until I started feeling quite a bit better."

Ron and Candace looked to one another for strength through their tough times.

Sturdevant added, "I couldn't do it without his support, and I don't think he could do it without my support. We're just very grateful that he was able to come out in the end that now he's cancer-free."

Hillyard says he feels great and hopes to be back to work at his job with the Department of Transportation around October.