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From Iraq to Wilford Hall, nurse, patient meet again

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Kimberly Spencer
  • 59th Medical Wing Public Affairs
LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) --  A wide smile broke across Army Sgt. Joe DeLashmutt's face as he spied Maj. Rebecca Lehr across the Wilford Hall Medical Center dining hall. "That's her!" he told his mom in surprise.

She saw him at almost the exact same moment.

"I couldn't believe it when I saw him," Major Lehr said. "Joe is one of those patients who wove his way into my heart and will remain there forever."

The major had been trying to follow the Army National Guard member's progress since helping to break the news to him in Iraq that he has leukemia.

A member of the 59th Medical Wing, Major Lehr deployed for four months to the Air Force Theater Hospital at Balad Air Base, Iraq. It was her first day back on the job at Wilford Hall at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.

The young sergeant was receiving care at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C., when Major Lehr left Iraq. As she was traveling, inprocessing and settling back into her home here, doctors decided to transfer the young sergeant to Wilford Hall.

"Imagine my surprise when I saw him in the hospital dining hall," Major Lehr said.

Sergeant DeLashmutt was just as surprised.

"I knew she worked somewhere in San Antonio," he said. "But I didn't know exactly where. I kept hoping in the back of my mind I might see her somewhere. She had really helped me when I was in Iraq."

"So many times when a patient touches your life, you are not able to follow their care and know how they are doing once they leave," Major Lehr said. "It was so wonderful bumping in to him and being able to meet his family."

Diagnosis
Major Lehr and Sergeant DeLashmutt's first meeting was not typical of the Iraqi war zone.

"I never expected my first experience with telling someone they have cancer to be while (I was) deployed to Iraq," said Major Lehr, a nurse of 13 years.

Deployed with the 113th Calvary from LeMars, Iowa, Sergeant DeLashmutt was six months into a year-long deployment when he found out he had cancer.

"I was feeling tired a lot and kept getting dehydrated. Then I was having chest pains for awhile, then I broke out with a rash, and next it was a sore throat," he said.

Initial symptoms led the doctor at his deployed location, about an hour north of Baghdad, to think it might be mononucleosis.

While on a parts run to Balad, the Army all-wheel mechanic began to feel worse. His friend took him to the emergency room at the Air Force Theater Hospital at Balad. Doctors in the ER had blood drawn and sent to the lab for tests.

The major was working as a staff nurse on the inpatient ward. She received word from the ER that they were bringing a patient to the ward, and that he might have cancer. They were giving Sergeant DeLashmutt units of blood to help elevate his platelet count.

Major Lehr made the 23-year-old Army sergeant as comfortable as she could. He smiled and joked around with her, trying to make her more at ease, she said. He talked about his family. His wife, Melissa, had given birth to their son, Austin, just a month earlier.

"I walked into the lab to retrieve the next unit of blood," Major Lehr said. "The pathologist had just shown up and was looking at a slide with Joe's blood on it. Without missing a beat he said, ‘It's leukemia.' My heart sank to my stomach. I went back to the ward and began to hang the next unit of blood. Joe looked up at me with the sweetest eyes and said, ‘I hope this is nothing serious.'"

Major Lehr immediately went to find Lt. Col. (Dr.) Nick Conger, the surgeon in charge of the ward.

"We have to tell him right now," she said.

The day was April 12. Major Lehr stayed with Sergeant DeLashmutt while Dr. Conger gave him the news. She talked with him. They cried together. She helped him contact his parents, so he could ensure they were there with his wife when he called to talk to her.

"He was much more worried about his family than himself," Major Lehr explained. "His wife's mother died of cancer last year, so he knew the news would be frightening."

His family worried about him being there alone after hearing such devastating news.

"It made me feel so much better knowing Joe had someone with him who truly cared when he was given the news in Iraq," said his father, Gary DeLashmutt. "We were really worried about him being so far away and alone. It's been great getting to meet (Major Lehr)."

The sergeant was flown by a C-130 Hercules the next day to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, where he stayed overnight before heading to Walter Reed.

Treatment
Doctors at Walter Reed ran more tests to determine it was acute myelogenous leukemia.

After initial chemotherapy treatments and more tests, a decision was made. Sergeant DeLashmutt would go to Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio. There he would receive another round of chemotherapy treatments and prepare for a life-saving bone marrow transplant at the Fisher Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, the only Department of Defense facility to do allogeneic transplants like the one needed by Sergeant DeLashmutt.

Bone marrow is found in the body's hollow bones, such as legs, arms and hips. Marrow produces platelets, as well as red and white blood cells, the primary agents of the body's immune system. The transplant would give Sergeant DeLashmutt a whole new immune system and help him battle the leukemia attacking his cells.

"Allogeneic stem cell transplant is a pretty aggressive treatment with an average cure rate of 50 to 60 percent. At least 80 percent of those patients return to a normal lifestyle," said Lt. Col. (Dr.) David Ririe, the bone marrow transplant unit director and Sergeant DeLashmutt's doctor.

In the sergeant's case, finding a bone marrow donor match was easy. His younger sister, Brooke, was a perfect match.

"She's his guardian angel," said his mother, Laura DeLashmutt.

Brother and sister joked back and forth as the red marrow, looking much like thick blood, was given to Sergeant DeLashmutt intravenously July 7. Brooke recuperated in the bed across the room from him. The marrow had been drawn from the back of her hip bones with a needle and syringe that morning.

"It was definitely worth it," she said, smiling at her big brother.

When she told him he would now crave chocolate and want to talk on the phone, everyone laughed. A feeling of optimism keeps the family positive and upbeat.

Support
Having the support of his immediate family and extended military family has played a big part in remaining positive and optimistic, Sergeant DeLashmutt said.

That optimism will be needed over the next several months as doctors track the  sergeant's reaction to the new bone marrow. The average hospital stay for a bone marrow recipient is 95 to 100 days. Now that the transplant has been completed Sergeant DeLashmutt must stay as an inpatient for 20 to 30 days while his body accepts and reproduces the new bone marrow. Once released, he will stay on base and be assessed as an outpatient. He hopes to be able to head home to Iowa with his wife and son in late September.

"Everyone has been so great -- from the time I was first told in Iraq, with Major Lehr there helping me to notify my family and get them in touch with the Red Cross so they could be at Walter Reed when I arrived, to the doctors and nurses and social workers who have helped us every step of the way," Sergeant DeLashmutt said.

Social worker Cynthia Burke considers working in the bone marrow transplant unit a calling, not a job.

"It is extremely rewarding working with such courageous patients and supportive family members," she said. "We are given an opportunity to really get to know our patients due to their long term stay. The best part is when they return for their annual evaluation and they are healthy again and have resumed a fairly normal life. We all play a part in helping them to get well again!"

"Joe has youth and a positive attitude on his side," Colonel Ririe said. "The support of his family and friends are very important to his recovery and cure. His chances improve with that support."

Major Lehr, one of his biggest supporters, considers Sergeant DeLashmutt to be an inspiration.

"Patients like Sergeant DeLashmutt don't ever leave your heart," Major Lehr said. "It was so amazing how we ran in to each other in the hospital dining hall that day. Joe is such a positive person and has such a joyful heart. That's a large part of what has endeared him to me."