In Summer of 2020, Jeanetta or “Jeani”, from Las Vegas, began experiencing extreme back pain while out of town visiting her mother. She pushed through the pain until she returned  home where she met with several doctors. The physicians noted that her pain levels seemed like that of someone who had been in a traumatic accident or had a major injury. This was cause for concern for Jeani and her family. This concern led to several blood work tests which, ultimately, led to a myeloma diagnosis on October 26, 2020. She was told she needed a blood and marrow transplant.

Like many other myeloma patients, Jeani looked for care outside of her home state of Nevada. Several of which would ultimately not be covered by her insurance. She had also heard rumors of a new blood and marrow transplant program in her very own city (the first in the state) and met with MountainView Hospital’s Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program Medical Director, Dr. Shahram Mori. With the delay of her insurance’s approval, Jeani chose to move forward with her transplant at a facility in California. As Jeani was waiting to begin her BMT journey many miles away from home, she received a call that her insurance approved her care at MountainView Hospital, just minutes from her home. Jeani stopped her care in California immediately and returned to Las Vegas for a blood and marrow transplant during the first week of January 2022.

“I am so glad that this program is here because now I don’t have to travel back and forth to California or Utah,” Jeani said.

Jeani would’ve had to drive at least four times to California to complete the entire process of her transplant.

“I need someone else to go to my appointments with me too so having to travel for my care was going to be very difficult for me and my family,” she said.

Jeani calculated that her travel for her and her support system would’ve possibly costed almost $3,000.