Although well into his 60s, David Layne celebrated his first birthday — his new first birthday — this past summer.
The Palm Desert, Calif., resident, who had acute myeloid leukemia, started his life over thanks to City of Hope and a bone marrow donor. The lifesaving hematopoietic cell transplant, which was followed by a symbolic birthday party in Layne’s hospital room, took place in July 2008.
 Gladys and David Layne |
“It’s like a miracle,” said his wife, Gladys Layne. “Our friends, every time they see David, they call him ‘the miracle boy.’”
But before his successful treatment, there was the shock of the December 2007 diagnosis and the uncertainty it brought. The couple persevered through those dark days and months with the help of family and by turning to one another.
Said Gladys Layne, “David was fighting to stay alive, so I took care of what I could and he did his end. That’s how we worked together.”
“I tell people that I had the easy part and she had the tough part,” David Layne said. “I can’t imagine having gone through that without her support.”
The family later joined together to support City of Hope.
In December 2008, grandson Aiden Krasnoff, then 13, donated $2,000 to City of Hope’s Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation. Grateful for his grandfather’s treatment, Aiden went above and beyond a family tradition that calls for young men to give 10 percent of their bar mitzvah money to charity.
The Laynes soon followed suit, establishing a gift annuity benefiting City of Hope last spring.
“It’s such a worthy place. Everybody was so good to me, we just said, ‘If we have any extra cash, this is going to be our main focus for donations.’” David Layne said.
Said his wife: “You can’t help but want to give back, for everything that was done. David’s alive. What else is worth that much?”
