Page 34 - South Mississippi Living - September, 2016

PEOPLE beating the odds MEETING
hisMATCH
Dr. Simpler overcomes the odds and nds a bone marrow donor
story by Susan Ruddiman photos by George Perina and courtesy of Jeremy Simpler M.D.
Two years ago, Jeremy Simpler went from being a respected surgeon at South Mississippi Surgeons to a patient facing a rare cancer within a matter of weeks.
He has come full circle, and today is back to his career as a physician who treats patients everyday. While most don’t know his story, he does tell his patients he understands
what they are dealing with. His empathy with their situations has increased significantly.
“In general, I can see where they are coming from with more clarity,” Simpler said. “I did not learn patience, but I did realize waiting on results is tough. I try to do a better job in getting results to the patients a lot sooner.”
The Dothan, Ala., native is a graduate of the University of South Alabama College of Medicine. He had completed his residency at Baptist Health Systems in Birmingham, Ala., when he joined South Mississippi Surgeons, PA, in August of 2010.
In the early summer of 2014, 35-year-old Simpler was at the top of his game with a fulfilling career, a wife, daughter, son and a baby on the way.
“I first started noticing some swelling under an arm and a change in some areas on my skin. I blew it off for some weeks, as physicians have a tendency to do about their own problems,” he said.
He turned to one of his colleagues at SMS, Jason Payne, M.D., for initial treatment.
“I remember when I first got the call from the pathologist after doing his initial biopsy, and the sick feeling in my stomach when I was told it was cancer,” Payne said. “Dr. Simpler had just left for vacation. I knew I had to call him, as I would want to know myself if I were in his situation.”
“I was on vacation, when I got the call that it was some type of weird leukemia,” Simpler said.
His next step was to see an oncologist. He was diagnosed with a rare leukemia, called blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm. It is an acute myeloid leukemia that has features of both leukemia/lymphoma,
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