Each day of Brenda Wilson’s life, she is grateful for the science and continuing research that leads to new therapies and hope and in the treatment of life-threatening diseases. For each day is one more day she has been able to enjoy after having been diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 1998.

It was a devastating diagnosis, but her community oncologist knew that City of Hope was leading the way in research on the effectiveness of bone marrow transplantation (BMT) in the treatment of this cancer. She believed that with Brenda’s age and overall health as strong advantages, a BMT would be her best option.

At City of Hope, Brenda found enormous comfort and inspiration in Anthony Stein, M.D. Not only did he give her hope that she might survive, he also accepted Brenda’s request to allow her longtime physician - a practitioner of oriental medicine - to remain a partner in her care. “It is so refreshing to know that Dr. Stein remains open-minded regarding alternative medicine. Physicians like him make life worth living,” she says.

Brenda’s course of treatment included two autologous BMTs. Remarkably, she suffered no complications. When Stein called her in late 1999 to tell her that her cancer was in remission, Brenda wept. “It was the happiest evening of my entire life.”

Today, retired from her demanding career as a special education teacher, her life is a life renewed as she pursues the dreams and purpose that vanished when she was diagnosed with cancer seven years ago. She is devoted to sharing with others how she has benefited from City of Hope’s extraordinary scientific research, as well as the superb and compassionate care of the hospital staff. “I survived for a reason,” she says. “I have experience to use as a beacon of light for others who must walk this path.”