Leukemia Free
As far as I know, this news doesn’t affect the Mariners chances of signing Prince Fielder, so I apologize in advance for the lack of update on that front.
I do, however, have some news to share. I underwent a bone marrow biopsy yesterday morning – my third one, in fact. The procedure is pretty crappy, and involves drilling into my tail bone to extract some bone and marrow samples for testing. On the list of fun things to have done to you, it ranks just slightly ahead of watching Carlos Peguero try to hit a curve ball.
But, the test gave my doctors a chance to look beyond simple blood cell counts and hemoglobin levels to determine the current state of my recovery. A few minutes ago, they called with the results of the test.
All clean, no leukemia anywhere to be found.
With that, the roughly six months or so of treatment have come to an end. I can now return to something of a normal life, with only occasional trips to the clinic for check-ups and maintenance. Obviously, we’re pretty happy to have gotten this far and have received nothing but good news along the way.
This journey isn’t over yet, of course. Cancers like to return to the scene of the crime, and Acute Myeloid Leukemia comes back more than most. Since we spend a lot of time talking about data here, the actual odds based on prior cases suggest that there’s about a 50 percent chance that the disease could return at some point in the next couple of years. Or, if you want to look at it from a survival standpoint, the fact that treatment has been successful so far and I’ve tested into the low-risk category based on genetic markers, the doctors estimate that I have something like a 60-70% chance of surviving through the next five years. In most cases, if the leukemia is going to return, it returns relatively soon, so making it through five years essentially would mean that I was cured, and that the disease would be behind me.
But, as I said when I received the diagnosis (and they gave me a 30-40% chance of beating this thing), I don’t really care about the odds. I’m either going to live or I’m not, so I’m choosing to believe that this will not kill me. So far, so good.
Plan on this being the last post on USSM about this for the next five years – I don’t intend to write another update about leukemia on USSM until I announce that I’m officially cured in 2017. A sincere thank you to everyone who has been so supportive throughout the process, however – you’ve all been fantastic, and the outpouring of support has been really heartwarming, both for myself and my family.
I look forward to seeing you all at the next event at Safeco this summer. Go Mariners.
Awesome news, congrats, Dave!
Hell yeah, Dave. Congratulations.
SUHWHEEEEAAAAATTTTT.
Fantastic. That’s great! onward and upward!
Dave Cameron: He kicks cancers ass and he don’t take no prisoners….
Great news!
Congrats Dave! This is fantastic news.
Sweet! Fantastic news!
As I said on Twitter, this absolutely makes my day. Good news for a good person. You’re probably an outlier on the good side of the probability graph based on readership goodwill ALONE.
Keep up the good work, man.
Excellent news, Dave. Best wishes to you and your family.
Outstanding to hear this.
Hell yeah Dave. This is awesome news.
Glad to hear this. Looks like 2012 is off to a good start for you. Now let’s see if the Mariners can put up 50 WAR to top it off for you.
Go Mariners!
Truly fantastic news, Dave.
That’s great news, Dave. Thank you for sharing — most of will never meet you face-to-face, but are honored to be included as your friends.
Good stuff. I wouldn’t be the Mariners fan I am today without your insights.
Congrats, Dave — God is good, and so is the ability to laugh at ourselves once in awhile. Thankfully there are only a few of us out here that know the truth about comparing mammoth clueless swings to a twisting knife deep in the hip bone. It’s good to be on the joking side of Leukemia!
Best news of the offseason! Congratulations. Best to you and yours. I’m sure many of us are looking forward to you casting your first HOF ballot 10 years from now, with Edgar on it.
Oh, GREAT! Congrats, Dave!! What a way to start a new year. A happy new year and a happy new health!
Great News! I add my voice to the other readers here and say, Best Wishes to you and your family.
Right on Dave, all the best. When you’re next in Durham, holler and I’ll spring for the Chick-Fil-A.
Right on!!!!!!!!!!!!! congrats. been pulling for ya.
That’s better news than anything the Mariners might do.
Congratulations! How I look at sports and statistics has changed drastically over the past 2 years since I started following this blog. Hearing this news is not only an inspiration but good to hear as a big Mariners fan.
Whether its my place or not to say it. I’m going to throw this out there Dave. Whether you want to believe it or not you’ve created a community of bloggers at USSmariner that check in everyday to share our thoughts and communicate. And obviously that’s important to you otherwise you wouldn’t share your health status or some of your deepest emotions for everyone to see and pick apart.
With all that in mind, try being less of a dick when you comment back to people. Telling everyone to shut up and leave or their opinion is useless and not respected here at your site.
The only people who actually read your posts about your health are the ones who are actually interested and care, I am one of those. As a result, I’m sure the people that read this comment will say I’m out of line. As corny as it sounds, “with great power comes great responsibility.” And you DAVE have that at this website. And because of your success I’m sure you will gain even more power. Just don’t forget how many thousands of people read your stuff and believed/trusted your opinion to get you to that point.
Congratulations on the recovery. I hope this came out as I intended it. If you took it negatively I apologize. But just as you were willing to share your emotions, I would hope you would respect those willing to follow you and share theirs. I look forward to reading your articles for years to come.
News this wonderful must surely affect the ability of the Ms to sign Prince Fielder.
Some how, in some way.
That’s awesome!
That’s awesome Dave! Congrats! Happy new year!
Congrats Dave! Go M’s!
Congratulations, Dave! Hope you’re around to watch decades of Mariners baseball, and that some of them can even be good!
Go Dave!
Dave, I loved your comparison of the procedure to watching Carlos Peguero try to hit a curveball. May I say that this news is better than hearing Edgar had made the Hall of Fame. One day Edgar will make the Hall of Fame, and what matters to me is that you’ll still be around to talk about it with us.
Spectacular news, Dave!
Excellent news Dave! I’m glad you’ll be around to critize the Prince Fielder contract when the day comes that he declines to Carlos Peguero levels and his contract becomes an untradeable albatross. Good times!
Awesome stuff, congrats to you and the family!
Yay!
Great news. Dave, you deserve a long and fruitful life.
Fantastic news Dave. I am very happy for you and hope that this is the start of lots of good health news in 2012.
Congratulations Dave…now you can save us from Mike Salk and Geoff Baker for years to come!
A cold homebrew and a sunset make for a wonderful time of day. I’ll toast to you Dave as the sun sets over Lake Chelan.
Wonderful news. Congratulations, Dave.
Great news! I hope things can fully return to normal now. Wishing you and your family all the best!
Great news! I’m glad to hear it!
Congrats, Dave! Great to hear. I know you’ve been in the thoughts/prayers of so many. I’m happy for you and your family, and on a more selfish note, I’m glad I’ll be reading many more of your posts.
Huzzah! Although if you’ve been writing this many posts while in treatment, it’s hard to know when or where we’ll find the time to squeeze in a word edgewise if you have a clean bill of health
Praise God! Great news! I’ve been praying! So awesome.
Most excellent news – congratulations!!!
BEST NEWS EVER!!!!! So relieved man!!!!
Awesome. Awesome news. Thanks again for all you do to help us learn. Looking forward to many more years of it. Hopefully with a championship in there as well.
Fantastic news, sir! Congratulations!
Go Dave Cameron!
In the best sense possible, I look forward to your silence on this issue.
Great news! I’m very happy for you, Dave!
Great news Dave!
You’re the Franklin Gutierrez of defense against diseases.
I’ll bet your UZR would be off the charts …
Long time lurker, first time poster: Congrats Dave, my heart goes out to you and your family. You are a beloved member of this community and we are all grateful for your health.
Wooooooo! Marvelous news.
Fantastic news Dave. Best of luck going forward.
Fantastic news Dave.
Wahooo! Great news, Dave!
Great news Dave!!! Thank you for keeping us updated
This certainly puts Geoff Baker’s attempt to pick a fight in perspective.
That’s great news. Thanks for sharing, and keep up the awesome work!!!
I couldn’t be more stoked for you, Dave!
We don’t need a Prince we already have a King. ( Actually 2 Kings if you count Felix)
just boosting the comment count and wishing you the best, today’s post sounds like great news.
Glad to hear it man. God bless and thank you for finally showing me some people who care as much about the Mariners as I do.
Great news, Dave.
Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
!!! Awesome – way to stay positive through the process as well.
May you live a long and heathful life!!
Hooray Dave! After the M’s 2017 World Series Championship, we can again celebrate as you all tell us that you are cured.
Great news. God bless you Dave Cameron, and your family. May you live a long and healthy life.
And so ends the Josh Lueke/Leukemia jokes.
Congratulations Dave! Best news of the week! You knocked it out of the park
HOO-FREAKIN’-RAY! Have been praying regularly for your remission/recovery.
That’s great news. We are all hoping you remain cancer free forever.
Another one that says – GREAT NEWS!
You are brave, able to walk in hospital without fear and come back out healthy. I’m afraid the most is going to the hospital.
Congrats, Dave! Excellent news.
I’d take that over Prince any day! Congrats Dave!!
That’s awesome news Dave, I look forward to reading you’re posts and articles for years to come.
Congrats, Dave! I’m glad to see you kicked leukemia’s ass!
This is great news! All the best!
That’s awesome. Very best to you and your family, Dave.
That’s a true Funkblast! Wonderful news.
Hurray! This is great news!
Congrats Dave! That is great news, God bless!
Great news Dave! So happy to hear it!
Terrific news. Glad to hear it.
Very glad that you’re healthy, Dave, because you’re going to need all your strength to weather the 2012 M’s season without feeling ill.
I am so happy for you and your family. I am looking forward to the next post in 5 years.
*as an aside, I thought you might like to know that I have never commented before, but have been reading for a couple of years.
-This is the first post that I was willing to register for so that I could comment.
Again, CONGRATULATIONS!
This is great news on top of one of my better days in awhile. Like cherry on top of a sundae! HOO ha!
So glad to hear this, Dave.
Prayers and hope
Awesome news Dave, I’m very happy for you!! : )
BTW, I heard your phone interview on NW Sports Tonight, good job!
Huzzah! Go Ms!
Congrats Dave! I only know you from your internet footprint and your radio bits. But losing you would have felt like losing a friend. I’m glad that everything has gone smoothly thus far.
Oh man. This is great news. Congrats Dave.
And to echo many other folks, thanks so much. I’m a habitual reader and very rare poster. I’m very grateful for USSM and your insights.
Fantastic Dave. As a cancer survivor for nearly ten years now I understand the initial terror and the immense relief when it goes away – and the not fun stuff in between. Well done indeed! Go well in life.
I guess that’s the best news of the offseason to date.
Great news! We look forward to your next post in 2017!
Thumbs up, Dave. Keep and be healthy. That stuff can be sneaky.
long time lurker, felt the need to register to tell you how happy I am for you. Great news Dave
Greetings from Minnesota, congratulations on the excellent news, and my best wishes that the reports continue to be as good.
All I know is what I’ve learned over the last 5 years or so, not least of which is that as long as you are writing about this team and baseball in general, I’ll be reading it, and that even in the ongoing face of some of the worst and most hopeless hometown baseball that M’s fans have had to endure in the history of the franchise, you’ve consistently managed to illuminate at least some sort of path to respectability through roster construction and talent analysis, even when we’ve not had the FO personnel to execute such a plan with any semblance of competent operation. And for all that, I give my most sincere thanks. There’s a decent chance I’d have sworn off the M’s like so many others in the region after the torture of the Bavasi years, certainly if not for your consistent message that there is a better way of competing out there through empirical analysis.
Despite the fact that most of the rest of our division is spending like a bunch of drunken socialites on Rodeo Drive, I’ve not had more hope for the M’s future since Rodriguez debuted. I’m choosing to believe right now that you will get to see the M’s finally win a Series with us someday, even if it’s in 2048.
Dave, that’s awesome. I’ve been a reader for years and you’ve made me a smarter baseball fan – not just with what you’ve written but you inspired me to go out and learn more on my own. I love baseball more because of you. It was a punch in the gut when you announced this a few months back and it’s a real boost to get this news now.
You are officially grittier than Bloomquist! Great news for Ms fans. Peace to you.
Excellent news, congratulations. Love to hear about cancer getting whupped.
Great news! I am happy for you and glad you’re winning the battle. Keep up the good fight!
Congrats, Dave! Great news!!
Dave, I’m a long time reader, but admit I don’t comment very often. I just wanted to chime in and say congratulations! I agree– let’s hear that happy update in 2017 that it’s officially gone.
Just wanted to say CONGRATS!!
You’ve made front page news on halosheaven! Glad to know you’ll be around for mutual harassment of our players and fans.
Awesome news! Thanks for the update.
“They might be, They could be, THEY’RE OUTTA HERE!” (those nasty cancer cells, that is!)
Good health and God Bless you!
We now return you to our regularly scheduled program: “Will Prince make us Paupers?”
Just elated to hear this Dave!
awesome. yes! all the best!
As I often do at this time of year, I was pre-occupied with the HoF vote and didn’t see this news until this morning. I apologize for being late to the party – and party is exactly what is called for – but let me just add this.
I’ve known Dave (and Derek, and Jason – but Dave first) since the good ol’ days of the Mariners newsgroup on UseNet in the late 1990s and early 2000s. I like to think I played some small role in helping USSM come about (even though I probably didn’t), as I recall recommending Dave, Derek, and Jason to a guy named Chuck Taylor who was starting a baseball-related news-accumulator site called Baseball116.com in the wake of the Mariners’ magical 2001 season. He wanted some original content, and I remember e-mailing him about the great interplay and banter of these three young guys on UseNet who really knew their stuff. He “hired” them (not sure that is the right word, huh Dave?), and when that was closed down, USSMariner was born as a logical extension of that. Who knew then what this place would become? Amazing.
Over the years, we’ve seen countless versions of what JoshJones wrote above (‘…try being less of a dick when you comment back to people. Telling everyone to shut up and leave or their opinion is useless…”), though to be fair to Josh, in full context he expressed that opinion more caringly than most. I’m here to tell all of you who feel this way:
If you’ve ever had the privilege of sharing a game, a meal, or a conversation with Dave, as I have quite a few times over the years, you know that Dave is one of the smartest, most kind and caring people you will EVER meet. He may disagree with you, and will do so directly, but it NEVER comes across as uncaring, short, or unwilling to listen to an opposing point of view.
That doesn’t always come across online. I think that is directly related (and perhaps inversely proportional) to Dave’s prolific output. He simply doesn’t have the time to respond to every half-baked, ill-informed idea (usually spouted with certainty but not backed by evidence) that comes along – especially when he’s probably responded to the SAME argument 100 times before in the 10 or so years this blog has been around.
Well, I am VERY grateful that Dave DID have the time for such things when I first met him. More than any other person, Dave is responsible for ushering me into a new way of thinking about baseball – my ongoing sabermetric education if you will. Dave, I can’t thank you enough for the patience and friendship you’ve shown me over the years.
More than that, I am so HAPPY and grateful to hear the news that Dave has beaten back this cancer! Whether you view it from a religious standpoint or not, I am a firm believer in the power of positive, collective thought. Let’s keep that up, for Dave, and assure that he is around to keep us informed and educated for MANY years to come.
This is great news, Dave. And best wishes for continued success in beating your cancer.
Dave, that is fantastic news! Way to go!
Congrats Dave. Awesome news. Here’s to more time covering baseball and time spent with your wife and family.
Way to hang in there and fight. It’s great that you keep a fighting and positive attitude through fighting the cancer. I look forward to reading your articles about the Mariners, good and bad, for a long time.
Right on Dave, great to hear. Looking forward to that 2017 post too.
Excellent news Dave! I’m very glad to hear it! cheers!
Fantastic news! I’ll be continuing to pray for you and joining you in celebrating a huge milestone.
Congratulations, Dave. Great news!
Excellent news to start the new year! Long time reader, first time making a comment here. This story should also serve as an inspiration to others who are faced with the battle of this ominous disease. I am very happy for you and your family the putt broke this way.
Best wishes to all for a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year.
Great news, Dave. Can’t wait to see you at Safeco this summer!
Congrats Dave. Have a long a fruitful life…long enough to see the M’s win the World Series. ( That may be optimistic)
This is certainly good news, most of all for Dave but for us readers too.
I hadn’t realized that the odds were so much against Dave initially … yikes. Better odds now thankfully, knock on wood.
I am excited for you, and sorry about the hardship involved even in getting good news. Congratulations on the excellent report; my father has likewise recently been declared leukemia free. Thanks for this website as well!
Such wonderful news! I feel like I can breathe again after all these months. Our prayers were answered.
Fantastic news, Dave! Reading this made my day.
Great news. Congratulations Dave.
I’d like to know more details on how your wife detected your condition from your sleep.
Congrats and continued health and recovery.
One of the best USSM posts ever! Congratulations Dave!
That is awesome news Dave!
Best wishes for your continued good health!!