00:00At the office of business magnate Arthur Lockjack at Associated Brands Industries Ltd.,
00:05three generations of the Lockjack family are gathered in support
00:09as he embarks on sharing his story on his battle with leukemia with us.
00:13They all know it's only possible because of the new lease on life that he was given.
00:18The year is 2015 and Lockjack is experiencing health problems,
00:23which doctors eventually link to his blood.
00:25He begins seeking medical assistance in Miami, Florida,
00:29through health facilities under the University of Miami, of which he is a benefactor.
00:34It is there that he is diagnosed with leukemia,
00:36a cancer of the blood that begins in the bone marrow for which there is no cure.
00:41The situation deteriorates into 2016 as the feasibility of different types of treatment is exploding.
00:48I'm guessing that, you know, on you as an individual,
00:53that would have had an impact on you.
00:55Well, basically, it is what it is.
00:58I'm a very practical man.
01:00I don't fool around with these things and so on.
01:04That's what it is.
01:05That's what it is.
01:06So, I immediately started to make up my estate planning and do various things
01:13and talk to my executives, all the various companies that I am involved in to let them know,
01:22to keep it confidential, but at the same time, letting them know what the situation was.
01:27So, I was very honest with them and straightforward with them to let them know.
01:31I didn't want to...
01:31And they understood and we went along like that.
01:38In the meantime, all the time, hoping and searching for some way of coming out of this thing.
01:46I never gave up hope.
01:47Because of his age, a stem cell transplant is ruled out.
01:52The conclusion?
01:53Lockjack would need a bone marrow transplant.
01:55The success of this depends on finding a human leukocyte antigens, or HLA match.
02:03HLA are proteins which are found on most cells.
02:06They help the body to recognize its own cells from that of foreign invaders.
02:11While siblings have a one in four chance of being an HLA match,
02:15Lockjack is the only child to his parents
02:18and would have to depend on a biologically unrelated donor to be found.
02:22I brought up two people, but it didn't come up to scratch.
02:28And then, you know, we were there and said, well, it is what it is.
02:33You know, if that's the case, they gave me some time.
02:39They talked in terms of maybe nine months to a year and all sorts of things like that
02:44that I would have to live.
02:46And I said, okay, well, it is, you know.
02:50It is what it is.
02:51Yeah.
02:52There is, you know, no sense crying over spirit, but this is scientific.
02:57This is not something that is an opinion or whatever it is, you know.
03:01This is a fact of life.
03:02But the stars align differently for him,
03:05and the University of Miami Health System reaches out.
03:09So they call you on the phone and they say there's a...
03:11Yeah, well, they are, because we are there
03:14and you're getting information all the time and they're trying and whatever.
03:18You know, and then eventually we got a nine out of ten.
03:22Lockjack isn't given any information about his donor and vice versa.
03:27But all the way in Germany,
03:29Lars Stromeyer is driven by purpose stemming from heartache.
03:33He was 11 years old when his dad was diagnosed with cancer,
03:36causing him and his family to spend a lot of time on cancer wards at hospital.
03:42Unfortunately, we couldn't help my father.
03:45And he had...
03:46The problem is that he died when I was 13.
03:51And I saw the effects that it had on my family, on us as a whole.
03:57And this is something I wouldn't wish unto my worst enemy.
04:00When the opportunity presented itself to register through the DKMS,
04:05the German Bone Marrow Donor Center,
04:07to become a donor in 2016,
04:10he did it unreservedly by simply providing a sample of saliva.
04:14His sample sits there for six years,
04:16and then out of the blue, there is a ping,
04:18an indication that he could be a possible match for someone.
04:22The process begins to further analyze if Stromeyer is a suitable donor
04:26through blood and other physical tests.
04:29But they are not allowed to tell you who it is or where it goes to
04:34just in order to make sure that it doesn't matter where this donation goes to.
04:43Because for whatever reason, some person might say,
04:46no, I don't want my blood being given to,
04:48or my Bone Marrow given to a person of that nationality or that creed or what have you.
04:53Stromeyer is a viable donor,
04:56and two options for donation are initially considered.
04:59Option one would require him to take medication
05:02that would produce the stem cells to be transferred to the recipient,
05:06but that is ruled out.
05:08So option two, direct extraction, is deemed the best way forward.
05:13In Germany, I think there are three specific hospitals that specialize in that.
05:18And Cologne was the closest to me, so I was sent there with my girlfriend,
05:23and we spent a lovely day there, and then I went into the, into the procedure.
05:33The procedure, yes, that is true.
05:36And as it just so happened to be, this was to happen to take place on my birthday.
05:41Because with the chemotherapy and with all the things that you have to, to synchronize,
05:50it just so happened to fall on my birthday, the 14th of October.
05:54Stromeyer and the Log Jack family don't realize it as yet,
05:57but that day would prove to be significant for more reasons than one in their lives,
06:02which we'll get into in part two of their story.
06:06Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
Comments