by Trinity Gruenberg

trinity@inhnews.com

​

    It can be devastating to be diagnosed with cancer. Tim Bakken of Bertha was a little shocked to learn of his leukemia diagnosis, but he took it with a grain of salt and pushed forward.

    Tim and his wife Jenny have six children and own a farm in rural Bertha. Jenny works at Tom Murch CPA in Eagle Bend. Tim worked at the Bertha-Hewitt School for 14 years and currently works for Germania Township taking care of the roads. He worked with the cattle and crops on the farm as well as doing some farm repairs out of his shop.

    Last summer, Tim became ill, feeling a shortness of breath, coughing and weakness were among his symptoms. Several trips to the doctor’s office gave him a varied diagnosis of pneumonia, asthma, farmer’s lung and more. 

    Tim became fed up with the inhalers and antibiotics that did nothing to ease his symptoms and went in for a full physical. 

    The results of his bloodwork showed extremely low hemoglobin and he was called back to the hospital for an immediate blood transfusion. 

    In November of 2016, a bone marrow biopsy was conducted and revealed the root of Tim’s problems, CMML (Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia), with a rare mutated gene.

    “That’s one of those things you never think is going to happen to you. You just get so frustrated that you don’t feel good and nothing helps,” he said.

    Tim was referred to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester for treatment. He met with a hematologist who conducted a battery of tests which included another bone marrow biopsy. In two weeks the CMML had rapidly advanced into AMML (Acute Myelomonocytic Leukemia)

     “Tim was in a “blast crisis”. Something needed to be done soon because the leukemia was shutting down his system. The only option was a bone marrow transplant,” said Jenny.

    Tim was admitted to Mayo Clinic Methodist Hospital on December 22 for 30 days to receive in-hospital chemotherapy.  He responded well and was able to come home for two weeks. 

    On February 2, 2017 he was admitted again for another round of chemo lasting 24 days. He went through five days of extensive testing to ensure he was strong enough to withstand a bone marrow transplant.  

    In 30 days, doctors found three compatible donors for Tim. An unrelated 21-year-old male from Israel was found to be a 100 percent genetic match to Tim. 

    “My brother wasn’t even close and they don’t like to use my kids because they’re only a 50 percent match,” said Tim.

    He was lucky to have been matched with three donors in 30 days.

    “Some people have to wait months to find a match,” he explained.

    On March 7, Tim returned to the Mayo for the transplant chemotherapy that sterilized his bone marrow, killing all his bone marrow and blood making capabilities. 

    “This was ugly. The chemo killed everything. He lost his hair and he is losing all his fingernails,” said Jenny.

    Due to the chemotherapy, he was going to lose his hair. As a safety precaution to prevent Tim from possibly inhaling his facial hair as it fell out in his sleep, the doctors ordered him to shave his beard and mustache.

    “I haven’t shaved my mustache since I was 14 or 15. I cut my lip so bad I vowed never to shave it again. None of my family has ever seen me without it,” said Tim. “I told the doctor I’ve had this beard for 30 some years, I don’t know if it will come off. He said ‘Oh yes it will.’ It was a family event when I shaved it off. The kids had a hoot with the unveiling of dad!”

    The chemo is complete, but he continues to shave his hair until it decides to grow in evenly with no patches. 

    On March 16, Tim received the bone marrow transplant.     

    “Sixty days of taking chemo and the transplant took 22 minutes and it was all over,” said Tim.

    “They called this his new birthday. The Mayo even gave him a new ‘birth certificate’,” said Jenny.

    “The chemo and the transplant couldn’t have went better. I didn’t have most of the symptoms most people get,” he said.

  Tim stayed in Rochester until May 10. There were several hospitalizations and hospital visits daily. 

    “Graft versus Host Disease is a huge concern, where the new cells attack his cells. He had a couple of flare ups with this. He stayed at the Gift of Life Transplant House. Phenomenal place! I can’t say enough good things about that!” shared Jenny.  

    The of graft versus host consists of the new bone marrow cells populating the recently sterilized bones. As they start to produce blood, they have a tendency to attack Tim’s cells, seeing them as foreign. A little of this is considered good because the new bone marrow will kill the remaining leukemia, but it could also attack his own body. Which is the downside.

    “So, it is a fine balance of everyone trying to get along. The doctors put him on strong immunosuppression drugs to keep this from happening too much. This also leaves him very susceptible to getting sick, which is why you see him out and about with a mask on. The goal is to wean him off this slowly as everyone gets used to each other living in the same body. An interesting thing is his blood is 100 percent the donor’s and his organs are 100 percent Tim. He actually has two sets of DNA,” explained Jenny.

    Tim has visits to the Mayo every two weeks and blood tests locally in between. 

    “In all honesty, it went very well compared to some of the horror stories you hear. Up until the last three weeks,” noted Tim.

    “He has had a ‘bump’ in the road as of late. He was airlifted to the Mayo on July 30 having breathing problems. He was admitted the Mayo Methodist Hospital for one week to get that under control. He returned home for three days and was put back in the hospital for another four days with congestive heart failure. It’s been a really long road,” shared Jenny.

    Through this long battle, their children have kept their heads held high.

    “The kids are doing phenomenal. This is so much to handle but they are resilient! There are some wonderful teachers and paras in our school system that really made sure that the kids were emotionally supported. Our church has been great too. You always hear the small town—everyone knows your business­—it works in wonderful ways, too, prayer, kind words, phone calls, support. It’s so humbling!” said Jenny.

    To alleviate the stress on him and his family, Tim sold the cattle. He hopes once he is healed he can purchase more cows. The sale of the cattle also lost half his yearly income. He is also taking a year off from the township.

    “I’ve lost so much strength and stamina. I’m a long way away from going back to work full time,” he said. “Right now I can’t do anything.”

    He has done word searches, watches television  and learned how to play cribbage to keep him self occupied.

    “I can find enough to occupy myself. It’s just not the things I want to do, like plowing the field,” he said.

    “I’m better today than I was yesterday,” said Tim. “I should be cancer free, but they really don’t give you that label until you’re off all of the drugs and do another bone marrow biopsy. The one I had at day 100 was 100 percent cancer free.”

    A benefit will be held on Saturday, August 26, at the Bertha Community Center. Food will be served from 4-9 p.m. and the silent auction, bake sale and raffle will be held from 4-8 p.m.

    He is feeling better and is looking forward to the benefit. He is appreciative of those putting the benefit together for him.

​

​

Click Here to Continue Reading