Cadet Looks to Future After Transplant

A year has passed since the day Brian Bauman learned he has leukemia, a diagnosis that darkened his hopes of becoming a pilot.

Since Halloween 1995, the Air Force Academy cadet has undergone months of chemotherapy, total-body radiation and a lifesaving bone-marrow transplant from a stranger in his homeland.

Now, with an excellent prognosis, the 22-year-old Bauman is leaving the Veterans Affairs hospital and heading home to Minnesota. He is looking toward the future.

“Right now it feels good to be this far in the recovery process. It just means I’m getting closer and closer to having my life back how it used to be. For that I’m grateful,” Bauman said at a hospital news conference.

Bauman, who was majoring in physics and math last fall, says he plans to return to the academy in Colorado next year to finish his senior year.

He now plans to concentrate on becoming a doctor.

“It’s the best way to help other people and I think I’ll be good at it,” said Bauman, who appeared tired but in good spirits.

When Bauman was diagnosed, doctors said his best chance of survival was if he could receive bone marrow from a sibling. But Bauman was orphaned in South Korea and adopted by a Minnesota couple at age 3. The Seoul orphanage that handled the adoption had no record of his birth parents.

The best matches come from blood relatives or members of the same ethnic group. So after a search of American donors failed to find a match for Bauman, his American parents asked the South Korean bone marrow bank for help.

A nationwide search in South Korea found a soldier who was a match. Bauman had the transplant July 5.

Bauman said he was surprised at how much attention he got while a donor was being sought.

“I don’t find myself to be a special interest story or anything. I’m just a regular Korean American guy,” Bauman said.

Although his battle with cancer isn’t over--he has to return to Seattle for follow-up tests next year--doctors gave him an excellent prognosis.

“Brian has now successfully completed the first and probably most significant phase of his marrow transplant process,” said Thomas Chauncey, director of the hospital’s marrow-transplant unit.

“During the past few months, his marrow has grown successfully and he is now no longer at significant risk for infectious and bleeding problems. Overall, he has done extremely well.”

While the spotlight may have saved him, Bauman is looking forward to a normal life in his hometown of Pine City, Minn. He plans to visit friends, grab a slice from the local pizzeria and start working out again.

But the first thing he’ll do?

“Drive my car. I haven’t driven it for a while, so it’ll be nice to get behind it.”