I call her Jenni

I call my wife Jenni. Her name is really Linda Ley, but when I was falling in love with her she didn't look like a Linda. She looked like a Jenni. So now she's Jenni Harker, not because I willed it but because she liked it that way. Remember Camelot? No, you wouldn't. You weren't born in 1967. Sir Lancelot loved the queen, Guinevere, and with his funny French accent called her Jenni (Guinni?). We both remembered the film in 1972 when we were courting (hanging out?), and she loved being called Jenni.

In 2002, the year of the XIX Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, we finally reached a point where we could afford to buy her a new car. She had gamely driven an assortment of used vehicles over the years, including an ancient truck--green Mercury on the front end and yellow Ford on the rear--that I had bought at auction for $460. Heater didn't work. We were living in Canada. It was winter. Now we were looking for a new Ford Escort at the local dealership. We picked out a distinguished looking metallic gray sedan and were finalizing the dickering process when our family doctor, Ken Crump, called. He wanted to see her. She had just been for a routine checkup. She went the next day, and that was the day we embarked on a new adventure.

I had to work that day. When I returned home, she pulled me into the bedroom for a private conversation. With an airy tone, she said, "I have the best kind of leukemia you can have. It's called chronic lymphocytic leukemia."

Oh! The best kind! My face must have reflected the positive spin she was putting on this news, because she said later that I appeared to take it very well. "The doctor says I can live a normal lifespan." Oh! Normal! Define normal.

After we chatted for a while about this best kind of affliction, I disappeared into the basement to look up everything the web had to offer on chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). I learned that the normal life expectancy for a person diagnosed with CLL is seven to 10 years. However, many patients had lived much longer after receiving a bone marrow transplant. One of these was Barbara "Granny Barb" Lackritz, who with her husband created a wonderful web site that aggregated information about CLL. Sadly, Granny Barb died in 2003.

Jenni's blood counts indicated that she needed immediate treatment (her white cell count was 85,000; normal is 12,000). So we quickly found a local oncologist and made preparations for chemotherapy. We had no idea that this first treatment would nearly put an immediate end to her life.