FARGO — This Roger Maris All-Star Week a local family is celebrating their loved one's journey of recovering from leukemia. In December of 2022, 57-year-old Ryan Johnson of Casselton first noticed something was wrong when he was at work. "I told Heather, my wife.
I said, 'Man it feels like somebody took a sledgehammer and smashed me in the chest.' And she just like, 'Why are you here? Why didn't you go to the emergency room?'" Johnson said. After testing, he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and was eventually admitted to the Roger Maris Cancer Center.
"It's a cancer that affects the bone marrow, and so the cancer cells crowd out a normal healthy bone marrow and replaces it with cancer cells. So effectively patients end up having poor bone marrow health, which is how they become sick," said Dr. Seth Maliske, a hematologist with Sanford Health who is the medical director of the bone marrow transplant and cell therapy program at the Roger Maris Cancer Center.
When looking for a donor for a bone marrow transplant, his siblings wanted to help if they could. "I immediately wanted to get tested and I wanted to be the match. I wanted to be there for him," said Robyn Larson, Johnson's sister.
Larson got her wish, as she was a full match. When the transplant happened in May of 2023, the procedure itself wasn't all smooth sailing for Larson. When trying to collect her stem cells through apheresis, she developed anaphylaxis, resulting in a change of plans.
"I think I st.