New Year Comes With a New Lease on Life for Man
On the 15-inch color television above him, James Wisener watched from his hospital bed as carefree revelers pranced beneath a blizzard of confetti and rainbow-colored streamers in New York’s Times Square. In the dawn of a new millennium, Wisener was marking something different: a celebration of his life.
Eight months ago, he was diagnosed with a fast-moving cancer that marched briskly through his system, making him a candidate for a speedy bone marrow transplant. That happened Thursday, making the new year a whole lot brighter and inspiring for the staff at UCI Medical Center in Orange.
“I feel blessed and fortunate to be able to start the new year with a whole new beginning,” he said.
Wisener also has had his difficult days. It wasn’t easy celebrating Christmas--his 43rd birthday--in a drab, gray hospital room. He is expecting his hair to fall out again. And on Friday, the last day of 1999, Wisener officially lost his job as an executive of a security company when another business bought out his employer.
“They laid me off today, right in the middle of this bone marrow transplant,” Wisener said Friday. “But in the big scheme of things, it’s not a problem.”
In the midst of the tumult, Wisener quickly lists his blessings.
There’s his wife, Victoria; and their four children: Brittany, 16; Katie, 14; Brent, 12; and Trent, 11. Add to that a strong support group that includes the friend who brought him a stuffed gold smiley-face doll with spindly black legs, and another friend who smuggled homemade ice cream (“the richest coffee-flavored ice cream I’ve ever tasted”) into the 12-foot-by-14-foot hospital room where Wisener has been confined the past 11 days.
He draws inspiration from the worn New American Standard Bible he keeps close to his bed and his view from this room that overlooks the Crystal Cathedral.
“Look what I have: an opportunity for a new start, and most people don’t get that,” he said.
He must remain in the hospital at least two more weeks, until his white blood cell count increases. All visitors to his room must scrub and wear surgical masks to prevent the transfer of any germs while his immune system is weakened. Wisener’s diet is also restricted--he can’t have fresh fruits or vegetables that might harbor bacteria.
Wisener, born in Tokyo but raised in the Bay Area, is grateful for his doctor, Dr. Winston Ho.
“He’s the absolute best,” Wisener said. “The docs and the nurses here are very caring. Very diligent.”
The nurses put an extension on his IV tube so he could continue his regime of sit-ups and lifting weights. He’s trying to stay strong because he’s got big plans for 2000.
“Job or not, my wife and I are going to travel. We’re going to Hawaii, back to Europe. We’re just going to go,” he said. “Life is really too short not to.”
Wisener has a prediction and advice for those who are more tentative on the threshold of the new millennium.
“It’s going to be a great year,” he said. “It doesn’t get any better than this. Any person who doesn’t take full advantage of every day, or put things into perspective, needs to.”
