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Winter 2015 : iPromise: Lawrence and Alma Turner

iPromise

Lawrence and Alma Turner, of Houston, are high school sweethearts who recently celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary. Lawrence is a three-time cancer survivor, a registered Professional Engineer and a World War II veteran. Alma is a two-time cancer survivor. Here, Lawrence reflects on the miracles they've found at MD Anderson.

BY Lawrence Turner.

Photo courtesy of Lawrence and Alma Turner

In August 2013, my urologist found tumors in my bladder. Thank goodness I went to MD Anderson and let them examine it because Dr. Ashish Kamat has done an outstanding job. After 18 Bacillus Calmette-Guerin treatments, he's erased any indication of tumors.

It’s a real miracle because other doctors told me I had 18 months to live. Of course, that wasn’t the approach MD Anderson took at all. They carefully went through everything after my treatments and reconfirmed the tumors hadn’t spread, which is another miracle as far as I’m concerned.

Dr. Jorge Cortes diagnosed Alma with CML eight years ago and put her on the chemotherapy pill Tasigna. Dr. Cortes calls her his poster child. He’s extremely proud of the way Alma tolerates the drug. My little girl has absolutely no reaction to it. She’s been doing so well that Dr. Cortes says she only needs to see him once a year. You can understand how we appreciate the ability and understanding of MD Anderson.

I deeply believe in my heart that the people at MD Anderson are dedicated and compassionate, and I can’t say enough for them. The thing that really amazes me is people go to MD Anderson with life-threatening diseases every day, and the people there keep their chins up, remain encouraged and keep helping people.

We feel it’s important to support MD Anderson not only because they’ve saved our lives, but also because I want to do anything I can for an institution that’s compassionate toward everybody. We’ve been married for 65 years, and thanks to MD Anderson, we’re hoping to easily make it to 75. I have nothing but high praise for MD Anderson."

Do you promise? Tell us why you’re committed to Making Cancer History^® by sending an email to Promise@mdanderson.org.

"We've been married for 65 years, and thanks to MD Anderson, we're hoping to easily make it to 75. I have nothing but high praise for MD Anderson."

Lawrence Turner

survivor

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