The reason that these years have been the best, is that I think that I might have had a somewhat positive impact on your lives. And an impact on your understanding of what cancer is and what it can do, to both those of us that it has personally attacked, and those of us who know someone who is going through it. -Eric McLean
Illness Narrative: Eric’s Story
By: Dawn Dent with Eric McLean Foreword The following narrative of what my ex-boyfriend (whom I’m still very close to) went through during the course of his leukemia was an…
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It begins…again
There are things in life that I will never understand. Today, after over four years of remission, my cancer has relapsed and I was diagnosed with leukemia. My worst nightmare,…
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Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas! I got to start my Christmas day off with two pieces of what the hospital calls “sausage,” some corn flakes w/ milk, and a bowl of mixed fruit.…
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Lions, Tigers, and Bone-Marrow Biopsies…Oh My!
Today I am feeling much better. My fevers seem to be a bit more controlled and not going above 99.5. My cough is slowly getting better. My headaches are gone…
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Let the chemo begin…
Well, today was my first day of chemotherapy. To begin my day I decided to get as prepared for this shit as possible. I got up and took a shower…
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CHEESECAKE!!!!
Well last night definitely did not end well. Almost right after I finished posting yesterday’s blog, I became very nauseous, and then ended up vomiting and dryheaving for the next…
Read More Full house!
Hi everyone! Spirits are still pretty high. The side effects from the chemotherapy still haven’t been showing their true colors. I expect them to come full circle by Monday or…
Read More Spinal taps and radiation!?
Well, I had mentioned in yesterday’s blog that I would begin today by addressing some of the treatment concerns that I have had. I have a different doctor this time…
Read More First round of chemo complete!
Well everyone…as 2007 comes to a close, as does my induction round of chemotherapy. I completed my 5 day regimen of chemo this morning. The next steps from here involve…
Read More Spinal tap tomorrow…ugh.
As most of you noticed, I didn’t post anythng yesterday. No worries…nothing is wrong. I just wasn’t having the greatest of days and not a whole ton happened. I only…
Read More Headache blah…
Hi everyone. I still have a pretty intense headache from that spinal tap so I am going to keep tonight’s blog fairly short. Started off my day with an…
Read More Can’t move!
Well I told myself I wasn’t going to post anything again today and that is mainly because I cannot seem to shake this headache. I have had it since the…
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Biopsy bumped up to today
The last couple days have been going absolutely terrible. Every day thus far has been worse than the last. The cells are still dying throughout my body and they won’t…
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There goes the hair!
Well, today I got the results back from the bone marrow biopsy. That was the biggest event of the day. My mind has been running at a million miles per…
Read More And so we wait…
About the time I heard the news from my doctor yesterday about my bone marrow biopsy results, I started getting some slightly elevated temperatures. Sometimes these higher temperatures are classified…
Read More Had a scare today
Well the day started off with a high temperature again and when my blood results came back, they noticed that my hematocrit and platelets were low but my white count…
Read More Headaches going away….
The last couple of days have been pretty lax. I still can’t seem to get rid of these headaches and now I am having some pretty extreme back pain. I…
Read More Harley!!!!
Today I had another bone marrow biopsy. They gave me some fentanyl and vercid to somewhat sedate me. It’s a conscious sedation that makes me feel a little loopy, but…
Read More Good and bad news
Well, I’ll start with the good news. Today I was supposed to get back my biopsy results from yesterday. Dr. George came in to tell me that the leukemia cells…
Read More HUZZAH!!!!
My mom came in this morning and kept me company for most of the day. We sat around and watched TV and talked for awhile about all sorts of things.…
Read More Going home! …for a week perhaps
Hey everyone! I just got the word that I WILL be going home tomorrow! I’ll only get about a week or so off and then I have to come…
Read More Home sweet home
Yesterday I was officially released from the hospital. They gave me my discharge papers and a handful of prescriptions of meds that I would need to take while I stayed…
Read More Donor match?
Well…I’ll come right out with it. My younger sister, Lindsey, is a perfect match to be a donor. They said over the phone that she was an equivalent match like…
Read More More news!
Hi everyone! It’s been a few days since I have written anything, and I can’t seem to get any sleep tonight for whatever reason; so I thought I would blog…
Read More Glad to be out again
Today, I was once again released from the hospital. When I was readmitted this past Thursday for my round of consolidation chemo, the last thing I expected was that they…
Read More Radiation…fun.
Hi everyone! It’s been a week or so since I last wrote and I have quite a few updates as far as everything goes. I would first and…
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Four hospitals in one day…?!?
Wow…where do I begin? My younger brother Steve’s fiance began having lower back pain later on last week. Then all of a sudden she started having contractions! Keep in…
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Some mental relief
Hi Everyone! Sorry it’s been so long since I last wrote…honestly there just hasn’t been much going on for me to relay to all of you. My mom and…
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Tonight on NBC!!!
My older brother Mike and I are going to be on NBC tonight on the 5:00 news on the Madison network. They said that we would go on at about…
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Transplant nearing! $5,000 mark hit!
Well, it’s been awhile since I’ve last written so I figured I would give everyone a detailed update as far as what has been going on with me. Last…
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A week to go
Well…it is less than one week until I go back to Froedtert. This time I will be there for six weeks or so. I have had an amazing time the…
Read More One more time
Hi everyone, I’ve had a pretty good past few days. On Saturday I spent the day in Milwaukee with three of my very good friends from high school. We…
Read More It’s midnight, and I’m feeling the best I’ve felt in days.
Well the title of the article pretty much says it all. Day 1 that I got back I was already feeling horrible. The cytoxin chemotherapy does that to you I…
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1000 rads down….200 to go.
Hi Everyone, Anyway…thought I would use today’s journal to show you what exactly Total Body Irradiation is and looks like. Step 1:(enter Mary McLean/Mom) Eric is not up to continuing…
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Thank you!
I would first like to thank the Two Rivers High School for promoting the basketball event under my name to help raise money and awareness for cancer research. From what…
Read More Insomnia is lurking
Hey everyone, My white blood cell count is bottoming out. This now means that I am neutropenic and my diet is now somewhat restricted. I can’t eat fresh fruits…
Read More Non-stop nausea
I haven’t written in a few days and there are a couple of reasons for that. The main one is this damn nausea. Every single day since the transplant…
Read More Wish this mouth pain would go away…
Last night I almost had a good night’s rest. I forced myself to stay awake until midnight. The reason for this is because every night at 12:00 they come into…
Read More Blood Counts
Key: CTX = Citoxin chemotherapy TBI = Total Body Irradiation MTX = Drug used to suppress Lindsey’s cells so they don’t attack my body WBC = White Blood Cells ANC…
Read More Feeling better
I’m starting to feel much better. My mouth and digestive system have been my main issues. I haven’t been able to keep one bite of food down and it’s been…
Read More One week down…259 to go!
Well everyone…it has been about a week since my last update so I figured it is about time I get one out to all of you. I have now…
Read More Bring on summer!
Hi everyone! First off, I would first love to talk about the wonderful weather we have been having here in Wisconsin. When I saw the temperature gauge sitting at…
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Hangin in there
Hi Everyone It’s been awhile since I last wrote, so I thought I would get a few words out there to let everyone know how I have been doing.…
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Ups and downs
Well, it’s been one very crazy week. Where do I even begin. I guess I can kind of start where I left off last week talking about how my younger…
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Busy busy busy
Hi Everyone, It’s been a very busy time of the year for me and my family. A couple of weekends ago I went up to Two Rivers to attend…
Read More News from Harley
Hi Everyone, I’ll just come right out and say it. This past Friday, Harley-Davidson called me and informed me that my start date is July 14th. The conversation only lasted…
Read More One week to go
I just woke up and I feel terrible. My joints are aching like no tomorrow, and my head is absolutely pounding. So I figured…it’s time to write something in my…
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Life is good
Hey everyone! Well I finished Day 1 at Harley today. It was truly a surreal moment as I walked through the front doors of the Harley-Davidson headquarters on Juneau Ave.…
Read More Movin’ right along
Well, a couple weeks have gone by now since I’ve last written. A few things have happened…but not too much. For one, as I said in my last post,…
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Doctor – 1 vs Gall Bladder – 0
It all started last Saturday the 9th while I was attending Jason’s visitation. I will start off by saying that the visitation went as well as it could have. It…
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Ironman in less than one week
Hey everyone It’s been awhile since I last wrote and I apologize for that. The truth is, I’ve been extremely busy. But before I get into anything with myself,…
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IronMike 2008
It’s finished! Well, at least my brother is with the Ironman this year. Mike finished the race in under 12 hours…successfully accomplishing his goal with a total time of 11:46:04. …
Read More Beating the Demon
Growing up, I always did the best I could to look out for my siblings. It was my job to make sure they were never bullied (except for sometimes by…
Read More Another tragedy
On September 17th, a Wednesday, sometime at night, a 2nd cousin of mine got into a motorcycle accident and very sadly, did not make it. Her name is Lisa Martin. …
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My outlook on life
I’m going to take a different approach to my entry today, so please bear with me… The past couple of months, I have been spending my nights outside in my…
Read More 5 years later
Yes, that’s right! As all of you know, in June of 2003 I was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. On October 21st of 2003 I received a stem cell transplant…
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‘Tis the season
I know, it’s been awhile since I last wrote. Quite frankly, it’s just because I haven’t had a whole lot to say. Every time that I write on here, I…
Read More Happy Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving! I suppose that’s a good way to open things. Let’s see here…what could I possibly be thankful for? Well, I’ll start out with the obvious and say that…
Read More About one year ago…
I looked down at my upper left arm this morning, as I got out of the shower, and I could still see the faint bruise that my old roommate Derrik…
Read More Question number one
Question: Why are you going to stop writing in your journal? Answer: Alright, I’ll address this question now because if I don’t, I am sure that my inbox will…
Read More Blog from the hog
Well, this is it. Today is December 24th, 2008. I woke up this morning and got in the shower. I was in the exact same place I was 365 days…
Read More Wisconsin weather…gotta love it
So…I suppose this is my first post since the one year mark. I know I kind of said that I really wasn’t going to write anymore. And the main reason…
Read More The smoke clears
So…what happened with the Harley-Davidson layoffs? Well, in case you did not hear, Harley-Davidson made a company decision to lay off 1,100 workers last week. They announced the layoff decision…
Read More 78 degrees in March?!
What’s up everyone? It’s about that time again…blogging time. I guess I’ll start off again this time by talking about some of the other health issues that I’ve had lately. …
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The beast is loose!
I suppose the title of the blog entry this week could be looked at in a couple of different ways. The beast, could refer to my Harley, or it could…
Read More Quick update
Because I said I would get a quick update out to let you all know what the next steps are, I figured I would post something on here seeing as…
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Ups and downs
I know…it’s been awhile since I’ve last written. Part of that is just because there hasn’t been a whole ton to write about. I suppose the other part is that…
Read More Tick tock tick tock
There have been many low points in the life of Eric McLean, but yesterday overshadows every single one of them. I woke up like I do every other Friday morning…
Read More What’s next?
Hey everyone, It’s easily been the most insane past 4 days that I have ever experienced. List of emotions or adjectives from the past few days: Sadness Anger Terrified Hopeless…
Read More Viva Las Vegas
Hey Everyone, I know it’s been awhile since I’ve last updated each of you, so I apologize for that. The truth is, as you have probably noticed from the news…
Read More Upcoming events / YouTube Channel
Hey Everyone, So…I started doing these confession things in my YouTube channel…it’s sort of another way for me to write these journals – instead I get to use video, which…
Read More Caribbean…here I come!
Hey All, I thought I would get one more journal entry out there for everyone before we left just to give you all an update. On Thursday, three friends…
Read More Eric’s Confessions #3
For everyone that has been keeping up with Eric’s status, we strongly urge you to watch his latest video update that he posted tonight on YouTube titled “Eric’s Confessions #3”…
Read More Hazmat Nurse
Eric’s Nurse Amber garbs up to change out Eric’s chemotherapy! Though the situation is quite serious, Eric still manages to find some humor. 🙂
Read More Hospital Day 1 – July 13, 2009
Eric’s first day at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee. If you want one of the orange LIFE bracelets he talks about in the email, just send an email to [email protected]
Read More Eric’s Confessions #4
This is the second day of treatment and some more reactions to what I am all going through….I wrap it all up with the grand tour of my existence for…
Read More Eric’s Confessions #6
Eric’s 6th day of being in the hospital following his induction chemotherapy
Read More Eric’s Confessions #8
Learn why another transplant is not an option, what the next course of action is going to be, and how Eric is going to overcome all of this!
Read More Pirate Biopsy
Eric goes in for a bone marrow biopsy which will determine what the next steps are in his treatment.
Read More Eric’s Confessions #19
Tomorrow Eric will go back in to Froedtert to discuss his next course of treatment, which may consist of a drug called Mylotarg. You can also click here to read…
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Decitabine/Mylotarg Treatment is working!
Eric went into Froedtert Hospital this morning for his second round of the Decitabine/Mylotarg treatment. We also got preliminary results from his bone marrow biopsy yesterday that this new treatment…
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No “obvious” leukemia present!
We received results from Eric’s bone marrow biopsy that was performed this past Monday and learned that there is no “obvious” leukemia in both the aspirate as well as the…
Read More Eric’s Confessions #35
For everyone out ther having fun this weekend, this will give you another reason to celebrate! Yesterday Eric went in for another biopsy to see if his bone marrow is…
Read More Eric’s Confessions #38
2009 is over and here comes 2010. A lot is going to happen in the very near future as far as my treatment goes. I am heading back to Harley-Davidson…
Read More L.I.F.E. about to become a 501(c)(3)
Hi everyone, We’ve got some super cool news to report. News that I don’t think anyone could’ve predicted. Eric’s bone marrow biopsy last week, and it is still clean! And…
Read More Hayden’s Hope
Hey all, This is a personal request to all of my supporters out there. There is a young girl named Hayden residing in Manitowoc County, WI that is going through…
Read More Round 4. Ready…FIGHT!
As most of you have already read or heard, I have relapsed once again. This will now be the fourth individual bout with cancer that I will be fighting through…
Read More Medical update
Hi Everyone, I wanted to start off tonight by thanking all of you out there who have been sending your all of your thoughts and prayers my way. I…
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Pneumoniaaaa
This week has been a pretty eventful week. On Sunday, we were all blessed with the incredible performance of the Green Bay Packers. It’s been one of my dreams to…
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Gracious & Optimistic
I want to start off tonight by thanking all of the people who made the benefit this weekend possible. There were a lot of people who volunteered their time to…
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Hip Replacement: T-minus One Week
It’s been a few weeks since I last wrote and felt it was long overdue for an update to all of you…so here I go. My older brother, Mike, got…
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One Step Closer to Becoming a Transformer
Today was the big day. This morning I came to Froedtert Lutheran Memorial Hospital for my total hip replacement on my right side. A lot of you might be asking,…
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Bittersweet Symphony
July 16th, 2011 marked the happiest day of my life. Marrying Cari was by far the one thing on my bucket list that I had been looking forward to more…
Read More Round 5 – Update #2
Eric was released from the hospital today for a few weeks to recover! Bone marrow biopsy results last week showed 94% leukemic cells in his marrow which explains the pain…
Read More Biopsy Results
Yesterday’s Bone marrow biopsy results are in – 0% of his cells are leukemic. This is down from 94% from last month. After just 1 chemotherapy treatment, this is incredible.…
Read More Stem Cell Transplant #3 – Day -10
This marks day one of my third stem cell transplant from an unrelated donor. I’ll provide more details over the coming days and weeks.
Read More Stem Cell Transplant #3 – Day: +29
Eric recorded this last week Thursday but has been having internet issues, so it’s been posted today. New twins in the family, PICC line removed, good news about the progress…
Read More Stem Cell Transplant #3 – Day: +51
It’s been 51 days since my transplant and things are looking good! I had a wonderful Christmas and New Years and hope all of you did as well! I just…
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Happy Mother’s Day!
Hey everyone, The past few weeks have been quite strenuous as you probably have read from Cari’s blogs. We’ve been in and out of the hospital for a number of…
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Eric and Cari Together Forever
Hey Everyone, We are taking kind of a unique approach to this week’s blog. We’ll be writing the blog simultaneously and telling the course of events over the past week…
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Happy Independence Day!
Hi Everyone! Let me begin by apologizing for not writing sooner. To my readers out there who have been asking me to write a blog, I am sorry it…
Read More Eric’s Final Confession
This is the final video journal Eric published on August 14th before he passed away surrounded by friends and family on August 23rd, 2012.
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