Woman Gambles--and It Pays Off : Treatment: Bone marrow transplants are now being tried in breast, testicular and ovarian cancer patients.

To Kathy Berry of Diamond Bar, the war on cancer has been a success.

Berry’s doctor diagnosed her stage-three breast cancer in 1988. Stage four is terminal. By the time the cancer was detected, her right breast had begun to collapse with diseased tissue. When she awoke from exploratory surgery, the nurse was crying.

Bone marrow transplantation, although experimental, gave the 41-year-old Berry, a single mother of two, a chance. In the procedure, the bone marrow, which is the crux of the body’s disease-fighting immune system, is removed before the patient undergoes toxic doses of chemotherapy. The spared bone marrow is then reinfused to regenerate the patient’s immune system. The patient is hospitalized for weeks in isolation to prevent exposure to germs. Although the treatment has been successful for leukemia patients, it has only recently been tried in breast, testicular and ovarian cancer patients. For these illnesses, questions about the effectiveness of bone marrow transplantation remain.

“There are no statistics to show that with this procedure I’ll live many more years,” said Berry, who underwent the procedure in December, 1989, at the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte. “But without it my chances were worse. And I was determined to see my kids graduate from high school.”

On a warm day last June, Berry watched her oldest child, Rick, receive his diploma at Diamond Bar High School. Afterward, she went down onto the football field and, as she approached him, was stunned to see tears streaming down his face.

“Mom,” he said, “I didn’t think you’d be here for my graduation.”