LOCAL : Marrow Patient Leaves OC Hospital

The first adult to receive a bone-marrow transplant in Orange County was released today from St. Joseph Hospital in Orange.

Kenneth Summersgill, 31, of Colton, who suffers from Hodgkin’s disease, had been in protective isolation since Dec. 20, when he was injected with bone marrow taken from his hip several months earlier. The transplant has enabled Summersgill to produce white blood cells to fight disease without transfusions, said Dr. Richard W. Opfell, who performed the operation.

Summersgill, who was in good spirits today, should need the care of visiting nurses only for a week or so, Opfell said.

“He’s now producing white blood very nicely,” Opfell said. “The graft has taken very well. He has a 50-50 chance of living out a normal life span without any other problems with the Hodgkin’s disease.”