Hope After CML

By: Jeffrey Mello, Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

I grew up in Massachusetts. It was a normal start, but I always wanted something bigger. That drive took me to New York City, where I was accepted into the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. After school, I began performing and also directing for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. For more than 20 years, New York was my home. I performed, taught, and built my life around theater and music.

In my 20s, I was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML). That began 15 years of treatment. Every day for a decade and a half, I carried cancer with me. The drugs kept me alive, but they weren’t a cure. I kept working, kept teaching, kept performing, all with the reality in the back of my mind that at some point the treatment would stop working.

Eventually, it did. The disease progressed to stage 3, and a bone marrow transplant became my only option. At Memorial Sloan Kettering, I spent more than 250 days in the hospital. Leslie—my partner, now my wife—was there every night. She slept in a recliner next to my bed for months. Her presence was as critical as any medicine.

Surviving the transplant wasn’t the end. It was the start of another fight. I developed graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), which still affects me today. Years of steroids led to avascular necrosis—my hip collapsed, and I’ll eventually need both knees replaced. Pain management is now a permanent part of my life, and with my family history, taking opioids comes with its own weight.

While I was recovering, I also lost the rest of my immediate family. My dad died at 59. My mom died at 59. My younger brother died at 36. All three passed unexpectedly from overdoses, one year after the other. I was learning to walk again while planning funerals. It was survival in the most literal sense, and it nearly broke me. The only reason I made it through was because Leslie never let go of my hand.

Five years out from transplant, I’ve reached milestones I never thought I’d see. After nearly two decades together, Leslie and I finally married. With the help of IVF, we welcomed our daughter, Olivia, into the world. She is the center of our lives and a living reminder of why I fought so hard to survive.

After more than 20 years in New York City, we moved outside Philadelphia and purchased our first home. That move gave us stability and a fresh start. It also gave me the chance to return to my passion. I began directing and teaching again, sharing my experience with kids and adults at a local theater. To be back in the rehearsal room, shaping stories and helping students grow, feels like coming full circle after everything that’s happened.

The truth is, life after transplant is not easy. GVHD is always present. My body has permanent damage from steroids. Pain management is constant. And the grief of losing my father, my mother, and my brother never really fades. But alongside all of that is the life I’ve been able to build: a devoted wife, a daughter who lights up every day, a home, and work that gives me purpose.

I know my journey can help others, because it isn’t polished or simple. It’s raw. It’s been years of hospitals, side effects, funerals, and hard choices. But it has also been resilience, renewal, and unexpected joy.