Seminary Prof Prepares for Transplant

Calvin Theological Seminary (CTS) professor of pastoral care Ron Nydam and his family are in the process of preparing for a bone marrow transplant that could occur in late March at Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, Mich.

Professor Nydam had been diagnosed as having a reoccurrence of leukemia and began chemotherapy in December. But physicians told him then that he needed a transplant of blood stem cells in order to more successfully treat the leukemia’s return.

In early March, the Nydam family learned that a donor and back-up donor for Ron Nydam have been located.

The Nydams say they are extremely grateful and feeling blessed to learn of the donors as well as to have received a great deal of care, support and prayer from friends, family members and many others over the last months.

They are also thankful that Calvin Theological Seminary and Calvin College came forward to hold a bone-marrow drive late last year on their behalf.

“Emotionally this has been real trip . . . some days have been really good . . . others we have faltered. As the weeks go by, we continue to be thankful for all the support so many of you offer,” Cheryl Nydam, Ron Nydam’s wife,  recently wrote on the Nydams’ CarePages website.

CarePages websites are free patient blogs that connect friends and family over the Internet during a health challenge. Once a family member or friend visits the website, he or she can sign up to view the information that is being provided — in this situation, on www.carepages.com/rjnydam. 

More than 100 people participated in the National Marrow Donor Program “Be the Match Registry” event sponsored  by (CTS) and Calvin College. Cheryl Nydam is a medical assistant for Calvin’s Health Services.

The bone marrow donors’ names remain anonymous under the National Bone Marrow Donor Program guidelines, meaning it is possible the blood for Ron Nydam could have come from one of the people who donated (a swab of cells from their cheeks) at the drive at CTS.

But it is more likely that the donors are men or women who took part in other drives in other places over the years.

As the Nydams and others at or connected to CTS have faced health challenges over the last several months, this has also been been a time in which the CTS community has had the opportunity “to be learning again what it means to support and surround one another with prayer in times of need,” says Rev. Jul Medenblik, president of the seminary.

“We are thankful for the formative time this has been for faculty, staff and students, and others, as we continue to be a community of prayer for Professor Nydam and others,” says Medenblik. “We invite others to join us in prayer.”

Once the Nydams are in Detroit, the goal will be for doctors to eradicate the leukemia cells and to then transplant the donated stem cells.

Over a period of about 100 days, doctors will monitor Ron Nydam’s progress to determine if the stems cells take hold, building healthy bone marrow and a new immune system for Ron Nydam.