When Michelle Cleveland-Joyner was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia almost two years ago, her husband's now-100-year-old grandfather had these words of wisdom n “If you have faith of a grain of mustard seed, you can persevere through anything.”
That faith in God and the support of her husband Ronny, her family and friends and the Greenwood community have kept Joyner going through two bouts of leukemia, a stem cell transplant and gallbladder surgery.
“Every time I would get down or get discouraged, I would think of what he said,” Joyner said.
Today, on Thanksgiving, she is counting her many blessings and thanking God that her 100-day isolation period following her stem cell transplant is over. Now she can share the holiday with family and friends.
Joyner was isolated in her home in Greenwood with only limited contact with immediate family because of her compromised immune system.
“This will be a glorious day for my family,” Joyner said. “We have waited for this day for a long time.”
She said sometimes her illness almost seems like a dream.
“When I sit and think of what I have been through, of how many times I have been stuck with a needle and had my arms mutilated through pick lines, I can't believe I am still here,” she said.
But Joyner's mother, Jean Cleveland, is thankful her daughter is still here. Having Michelle home for the holidays means everything, she said
Cleveland said the hardest part was not being able to make her child better.
“To me it is just a blessing that she has come through so much, and I feel like the prayers of all the people, friends, family, people from other states and people we don't even know and the e-mails has been the difference,” she said.
“You hear about other people who have cancer and other illnesses, but unless you go through it, you don't have a clue” what those people face every day, Cleveland said.
“We are truly blessed to have Michelle with us this Thanksgiving,” said her sister, Melanie Riley. “Her illness has brought so many people back to prayer, and we, as a family, firmly believe that God has used her illness as a vehicle to accomplish this task.
“For her 100th day post-transplant to be up on Thanksgiving day was a sign for us. The isolation has been hard on her as well as the rest of our family,” Riley said.
“We are ‘touchy-feely' people, and to not be able to hug and kiss on her when she was so ill was the hardest part for each of us.”
Joyner was diagnosed with the disease on March 29, 2006. “Nobody ever dreams of hearing that,” she said.
“You go to the doctor because you think you have the flu, and they tell you you have to see a hematologist because your blood counts are out the roof,” she said. “Then the doctor tells you he thinks you've got leukemia.
“From that point on everything is in slow motion,” Joyner said. “You think, ‘How am I going to call my family and tell them, ‘I am in Jackson and they think I've got leukemia'?'”
Joyner, 39, said she never thought it could happen to her.
“I used to think only old people had cancer,” she said. But not now.
Joyner was at Baptist Hospital in Jackson to receive the first seven-day round of chemotherapy. But her counts started to drop, and within the first couple of weeks she went into a coma. She was taking five different antibiotics, and her liver shut down.
“They thought I was brain dead,” Joyner said. “But after seven days, I just woke up … I thought I had just taken a nap.”
After waking up from the coma, she slowly began to recover and was sent home in remission.
But that was short-lived. In May 2007, after she had gone back to work part-time at Coleman Eye Center, she became sick again. Initially she was treated for an upper respiratory infection, but it was far more serious.
Dr. Wally Moses checked her blood counts and told her he thought the leukemia was back.
So Joyner went back to Jackson.
This time, she knew it might take a stem cell transplant to make her better, so plans were made to harvest her own stem cells.
“All my siblings and my parents were tested as possible donors,” Joyner said, “but nobody in the family was a match.”
Joyner said the doctors got her in remission where they could harvest her stem cells and freeze them in case they were needed. The harvested stem cells can last up to 10 years frozen, she said.
Then Joyner was faced with another round of chemotherapy that doctors said was three times worse than the regular chemotherapy when she was first diagnosed.
“They completely wipe out your blood cells so the stem cells can have a fresh start,” Joyner said.
At that point, she had no immune system at all.
When the time for the transplant came, they brought the stem cells into the room in a cooler so they could thaw at her bedside.
When you hear about a stem cell transplant, you think of some big elaborate surgery or event, she said, but it wasn't like that at all.
“They put it in just like they were giving me medicine through the pick line in my arm,” Joyner said. “It didn't take better than 30 minutes to do it.”
The transplant started her 100 days of isolation. She said the doctors expect that if there are going to be any problems or rejection of the stem cells, this would be the time when that would happen.
“You can't eat out,” Joyner said. “I can't eat anything but food cooked in my house.
“Thanksgiving will be 100 days without getting sick,” said Joyner Tuesday, looking for a piece of wood in her living room to knock on.
But it was not all smooth sailing following the transplant. She hadn't been home from the hospital three days when she had gallbladder problems. “The chemotherapy had killed my gallbladder,” Joyner said.
Because of her low immune system and low blood counts and all, doctors had to take out the infected gallbladder immediately. They did it the old-fashioned way, slicing down the middle of her stomach to remove it as quickly as possible.
Now as she rests in her home on East Claiborne, with her hair beginning to grow back, she will quickly tell you that she is not out of the woods by any means.
“My immune system will be compromised for at least another year,” she said. “I have to be very careful with the flu season coming up.”
But now that the initial time is up, she can start getting out more and visiting friends in their homes. More importantly, she will get to see her “babies” n her nieces and nephews, who mean the world to her.
Although she has been through a living hell these past two years, Joyner said it has brought her closer to God. “We have no promises in any of this,” she said. “God is in control. And we have to live each day to its fullest.”
One of the biggest encouragements to Joyner has been the Caring Bridge Web site. “It has touched me more than anything,” she said.
Riley updated the site daily with news of her sister's progress. When prayer was needed, she immediately posted to the site, and people lifted Joyner up to the Lord. The site also allowed friends, family and people who had never met Joyner to send words of encouragement and inspiration.
“For our family out of town, Michelle's Caringbridge site was a God send,” Joyner. “And being able to update her condition on this site every day was therapeutic for me.”
Riley also started the Michelle Cleveland Joyner Emergency Fund at State Bank & Trust, which helped the couple financially in their time of need.
“It allowed me to feel ‘useful' when I couldn't be there with her,” Riley said.
Through the site, Joyner learned of so many people in the Delta who suffer from cancer or other life-threatening illnesses.
The messages from friends and family came every day. Some came from as far away as England. But one particularly stands out to Joyner.
“One day a classmate sent me an e-mail and told me that he and his wife prayed for me together and that was the first time they had prayed together in 10 years,” Joyner said.
“I knew at that moment that I had a purpose,” she said.
Joyner also is overwhelmed at the generosity and prayers from the people of Greenwood. “I will never be able to repay the people in this town,” she said.
“When there is tragedy in someone's family, the people of Greenwood come together to help … People we don't even know have sent cards and letters,” Joyner said.
“I have never felt so loved and so special,” she said.
She also said she couldn't have made it without her husband and the rest of her family. “(Ronny) has been my backbone, my best friend. He never left my side while I was sick,” she said.
The couple had been married only a year when she was diagnosed with leukemia.
“I don't know what I did to get so lucky to get a husband like him,” she said. “He's an angel. He's my angel.”
Her mom and dad came every weekend and when needed to relieve Ronny, as did her friend, Kathy Myers. Other family members called regularly, visited when the could and always prayed.
“We have a strong family who has always pulled together to get through any crisis,” Riley said. “It is how we survive.”
And Joyner said she can't leave out her employer, Dr. Michael Coleman. “He's been so good to me. He's kept my job open indefinitely. I know when I get well that I have a place to go back to.,” she said.
“Michelle still has a very long road to travel down, but we feel that God is going to truly bless her,” said Riley. “He has brought her this far for a reason, and I do not think he will desert her now.
“We have to cling to the hope that He will continue to heal her body and allow us many more Thanksgivings to share,” Riley said.
Anyone interested in reading her story or leaving her messages may go to www.caringbridge.org/visit/michelleclevelandjoyner.
