Survivor will represent MUSC, friend
by Chris West
Public Relations
As a freshman in high school, Brian Griffin began to fight the hardest battle of his young adult life. He had leukemia, and he beat it. Now he has his sights set on the double-spanned Cooper River Bridge, in which he will again take up arms against cancer this time for the sake of a friend.
Brian
Griffin
Griffin, a thoracic oncology assistant in the Hollings Cancer Center, will traverse the bridge this year in honor of a 12-year-old friend that he works with at Happy Days and Special Times. The idea came to him after he received a broadcast message that went out to the entire campus regarding TEAM MUSC.
A child that I have worked a lot with had just relapsed, Griffin said. I received the message a few days after I had heard he had relapsed and decided it would be a good thing to do, and I wanted to sponsor him.
Griffin was diagnosed with leukemia at 15 and assigned to a three-year protocol of chemotherapy. That was spring of his freshman year. After treatment, Griffin relapsed twice and the decision was made to go ahead with a bone marrow transplant. Next came the exhaustive search for a suitable donor, but the search would be in vain despite two large drives that registered 3,000 people.
Finally, after no matches were found through the National Marrow Registry, a mismatch transplant was agreed upon. This means that a parent of the patient must be the donor, but the procedure has a higher risk factor than a normal transplant procedure because there is a higher chance of recipient rejection.
The transplant was conducted at Richland Memorial Hospital in Columbia and was a success. Both Griffin and his mother emerged fine, and he has been clear of cancer for six years.
Griffin works primarily with lung cancer patients and does much of the initial work in admitting patients to the center. I gather all the information for any new patient coming into the clinic, Griffin said. I make sure that all pathology slides and radiology films are here for the doctors so they can come in and immediately do their job.
Griffin says that his job is a demanding and rewarding one, but his preference is pediatrics. Most of the patients I see are adults but I love little kids, and that is one thing that prompted me to get involved with Happy Days, he said.
Griffin also admits that he has never tried to tackle the bridge before. Because of a knee problem he'll only be able to walk the race. But on April 1, he will join an estimated 30,000 runners and walkers who will all test their endurance versus the 6.2-mile course.
Aside from the bridge run, Griffin also looks forward to his acceptance
into the Physicians Assistant Program here at MUSC and is still enjoying
and benefiting from his job in the cancer center. It has been a great
learning experience, Griffin said. And I am also trying to gain experience
in all different fields.