Page 35 - South Mississippi Living - September, 2016

LEFT: It took 5 weeks of chemotherapy to get Dr. Simpler’s cancer into remission. RIGHT: Dr. Simpler with his newborn daughter.
according to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society website. Because of the type of cancer, Simpler was referred to Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC).
“I had wanted to stay on the Coast for care, but because I had something super rare, I had to go to a referral center,” Simpler said.
He left his practice at South Mississippi Surgeons, and spent the next year fighting for his life. He was told he would need a bone marrow transplant if he had any chance of surviving the cancer.
“At Vanderbilt, they started the process of looking for a donor through the registry because I don’t have any siblings,” Simpler said.
He underwent five weeks of chemotherapy to get his cancer into remission.
“That was probably the sickest I was the entire time. That fall was tough because of the uncertainty. You have to go through these hurdles. Hurdle number one was if the chemotherapy was going to work and get me into remission,” he said. “But I still had this terrible cancer that has a high reoccurrence rate, and the only way to get a long term survival is for a transplant. Will I find a match?”
He said he had to learn to be at everyone else’s mercy, listening and following the advice of fellow physicians.
“At times, I was not the best patient by any stretch. I gave them problems on occasion. I found that ignorance to some degree is bliss,” he said. “I probably knew a little too much, and sometimes I would get worked up.”
Simpler was fortunate because the National Marrow Donor Program led him to four matches. The one who was selected is anonymous, but he knows his donor is a male, lives overseas and has tattoos.
He received his bone marrow transplant in December 2014. Simpler lived in an apartment near VUMC with either his father-in-law or his mother staying with him.
“I had to get follow-ups multiple times a week to
make sure I wasn’t developing complications from the transplant. My immune system was very suppressed, so I had to be on antibiotics for the whole time,” Simpler said.
One bright spot is he did make it home to Ocean Springs in January to see the birth of his youngest daughter.
Overall, he said he had little side effects from the bone marrow transplant and was able to return home in March 2015. He got the all clear to return to his practice in August 2015, and is now back to his life with his wife and three children.
“The experience has definitely changed Dr. Simpler.
I think it has changed all of us who have been close to him. He certainly seems more driven and seems to value each day a little bit more,” Payne said. “I think we could all take something away in that regard in that we should all appreciate every day that we are here and feel how fortunate we are.”
“Losing that year at work was kind of like losing my identity. I worked part time at first to make sure my energy levels were OK. As far as long term, I don’t think I took too much of a hit,” Simpler said. December will be a two year milestone when Simpler is eligible to meet his marrow donor if both parties agree.
“That will be worth a follow-up,” he said.
Be the Match operated by the National Marrow Donor Program www.bethematch.org
Jeremy J. Simpler, M.D., South Mississippi Surgeons Ocean Springs office 228.875.3778, Pascagoula office 228.762.4483, Biloxi office 228.432.1116, Lucedale office 601.247.0180 www.smsurgeons.com
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September 2016 • SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living 35