A Bainbridge native is counting on the kindness of strangers to help offset the enormous costs of a lifesaving bone marrow transplant for her daughter.

Maxine Pinson, formerly Maxine Willis of Bainbridge, is making a plea for donations to help pay for the $302,000 transplant her daughter, 23-year-old Sara Cecilia Pinson Iskandar, underwent Wednesday.

“Celia has a radiance that is contagious,” said Pinson, now of Savannah. “She’s always been known for her smile. She has a very deep faith and a wonderful rich sense of humor.”

Named for her grandmother, Sara Gragg Willis of Bainbridge, Mrs. Iskandar was diagnosed more than two years ago with a rare, non-Hodgkins lymphoma called mycosis fungoides. Doctors first misdiagnosed Mrs. Iskandar’s condition telling her the lesions on her legs were ringworm from her cats.But months later, when the disease progressed to a tumor on her scalp, doctors finally realized she had the rare cancer, Mrs. Pinson said.
 
 “It’s not hereditary, but it usually strikes older men. So for her to have it, as a young woman, is extremely rare. It took over six months for it to be diagnosed, she said.

“Lymphoma is a cancer of the white blood cells, and it can involve any organ system--usually it involves the lymph nodes,” Albany oncologist Dr. John Duelge of the Phoebe Putney Cancer Center said. “Mycosis fungoides can exist (undetected) for years. The patient thinks it’s a rash, but it gradually gets worse.” A lot of patients will live for years with mycosis fungoides before it is diagnosed, Duelge said, and without effective treatment, they can die.

At the time of her diagnosis, Mrs. Iskandar had no health insurance, according to Mrs. Pinson. When the family learned of the more than $300,000 cost of the transplant, Mrs. Pinson said it searched frantically for alternative funding sources. Unable to locate government subsidies, Mrs. Pinson said she traveled to M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and was able to work out a payment plan. In the end, Mrs. Pinson set up a charitable fund for her daughter. To date, $180,000 has been raised, she said. Mrs. Pinson has also created an Internet homepage for Mrs. Iskandar where she posts her current condition and contribution updates. Mrs. Iskandar’s home page can be accessed through www.the-innside-scoop.com.

Any extra money Mrs. Iskandar’s fund has after paying her bills will remain in the fund to help another cancer patient, Mrs. Pinson said. “When I think of all the contributions we’ve received, from the $3 contribution up, and I think of how many people who are out there behind us, the thing that has been most touching is that so many of the checks have come from people known of us know,” Mrs. Pinson said. “I think these contributions reflect a basic goodness in people.” “I know that when I see a plea for help, in the future, for someone else’s child, I don’t think I’ll be able to pass it by without sending something.”

Doctors told Mrs. Iskandar and her family that one out of three patients die after undergoing a transplant like Mrs. Iskandar’s. Mrs. Pinson said she prefers to think of those odds as “two out of three make it.” The family is relying on their faith to see them through this crisis, Mrs. Pinson said. “We’ve always had a very strong faith,” she said. “The only way one can survive a crisis situation is by trusting God hour by hour.” Tax-deductible contributions for Mrs. Iskandar can be mailed to “Help Save One of Our Own” f/b/o Celia Pinson Iskandar; Interstate/Johnson Lane; 200 Meeting St.; Charleston, SC 29401.
 

Reprinted with permission