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For most of her life, Genesis Jones’s daily routine revolved around her illness, the painful blood disorder known as sickle-cell disease. Each time she left the house, she ran through a mental checklist: did she have her pain medications? What was her energy level? Would she be able to make it through the day?
Jones, who lives in Grand Prairie, Texas, longed to be free from the constant threat of a severe pain crisis or a stroke. So, in 2020, she opted for the only potential cure at the time: a transplant of blood stem cells from a donor without the disease. She spent six months preparing for the procedure, including weeks of radiation, chemotherapy and a lengthy hospital stay to destroy her own blood stem cells and make room for cells donated by her mother. The procedure cured her sickle-cell disease, and she is grateful.
“It’s great to have that pain and anxiety lifted,” she says. “But it’s not the end of the story.”
Less than one month after her transplant, Jones learnt that she had cancer, a...