After five weeks of chemotherapy, the treatment proved successful and Delia was discharged from the hospital. “Your bone marrow is beautiful,” Dr. Roboz her during a follow-up appointment.

The couple got to enjoy New York City and travel together. In August 2017, they visited Oregon to view the total solar eclipse. But cancer was always in the back of her mind. “You’re in remission, but you think about it all the time,” says Delia. “It’s not like you just go home and play around.”

Another steep bend was coming. In November, a bone marrow biopsy indicated the cancer had returned. Because it came back so quickly and severely, Dr. thought. Roboz that chemotherapy would not be enough this time. She encouraged Delia to have a bone marrow transplant, explaining that advances in treatment had made it safer than before for some older patients. It was the only thing that could ‘cure’ her AML.

“For a long time there was a limit for patients over 60 years old; they were not even sent for consultation,” says Dr. Roboz. “But over the years the procedure became safer and the supporting drugs got better, so that number started to increase to a point where we can transplant patients in their 70s. Delia’s journey is an incredible testament to how far the field has come.”

Dr. Roboz referred Delia to the stem cell transplant program at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, then led by Dr. Koen van Besien. He recommended haplo-cord transplantation, which involves transplants from two donors: an adult donor, and from an umbilical cord donated by a mother after childbirth. As Delia considered her chances and the ordeal ahead, Dr. Roboz told her, “Don’t be afraid of the treatment, be afraid of leukemia.”

“That was an amazing thing to think about,” says Delia.

She decided to go through with it. After some tests and another round of CPX to clear her bone marrow, she underwent the bone marrow transplant in February 2018, with Peter by her side.

Early signs showed that the transplant was lasting, as Delia’s blood tests showed a steady increase in the number of white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets, indicating that the new stem cells were producing healthy blood cells. But Delia’s road to recovery was harrowing as she battled complications. She became seriously ill, could not eat and her lungs filled with fluid. “I actually just wanted to die,” she says. “I felt absolutely abandoned.”