In this episode, we speak with Rebecca Heimsoth, a young mother and survivor of myelodysplastic syndrome who underwent a bone marrow transplant in April 2022. Diagnosed shortly after turning 33, Rebecca shares her deeply personal journey of navigating transplant recovery, chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), and parenting two small children. Her story is one of resilience, support, and a constant fight to reclaim her life after cancer.
We begin by learning how Rebecca’s transplant process unfolded with the support of her family. Her mother stepped in as her full-time caregiver while she temporarily relocated over an hour away from home for five months, separated from her children. Her youngest sister was a full match donor, which initially reduced concern for GVHD—until lung GVHD symptoms appeared five months post-transplant. This diagnosis triggered new fears, especially around survival, and marked the beginning of her chronic GVHD journey, which later expanded to include fascia involvement. Rebecca explains the physical and emotional toll—early menopause, chronic fatigue, cognitive effects, and mobility challenges.
We discuss how she manages flare-ups with physical therapy, walking, stretching, and even cupping. Despite the physical setbacks, Rebecca remains actively involved with her family, thanks to a flexible job, long-term disability support, and a strong support system. Her husband takes on parenting duties when her health dips, and her kids have learned small routines to help protect her from illness, such as wearing masks and showering after school. These steps, while difficult, have helped them all cope as a unit.
Rebecca also opens up about the mental health side of survivorship—dealing with PTSD, depression, and a sense of loss over her former self. She credits her psychologist, psychiatrist, and peer support groups as vital tools for managing the psychological weight. Online and in-person GVHD groups have connected her to other young adults navigating similar terrain, helping her feel less alone.
Despite not returning to her full-time career, Rebecca is finding meaning in her part-time work and family life. Her goals have shifted—from professional advancement to simply watching her kids grow up. Whether it's family vacations or bedtime snuggles, she cherishes these moments. Her ultimate aim is to be present for her daughter’s high school graduation in 2037. Every step forward, no matter how small, is part of the victory.
Want to connect with a Young Adult Survivor Group? Find Kim on Instagram at @YourCancerBestie - http://instagram.com/yourcancerbestie
Thanks to our Season 19 sponsors, Incyte and Sanofi.
00:40 – Introduction to Rebecca Heimsoth
01:00 – Diagnosis at Age 33 and Initial Symptoms
02:07 – Preparing for Transplant and Family Separation
04:20 – Emotional Toll and Health Concerns
06:20 – Importance of Physical Therapy and Walking
06:53 – Balancing Flare-Ups, Appointments, and Parenthood
08:20 – Role of Caregivers: Mom and Husband’s Support
09:43 – Kids’ Resilience and Coping with Germ Concerns
11:13 – Creative Ways to Explain Cancer to Children
13:57 – Impact on Friendships and Social Life
16:25 – Finding Online Support Networks and Groups
17:43 – Meeting a Fellow Survivor in Person
21:35 – Advice for Managing GVHD Symptoms
23:16 – Navigating Nutrition with a Busy Family
24:40 – Cognitive Health and Chemo Brain Hacks
27:52 – Life After Transplant: Gratitude, Travel, and Parenting
30:56 – Career Impact and Redefining Success
32:23 – Living for the Milestones and Creating New Goals
32:51 – Final Reflections and Words of Thanks
00:40 – Peggy Burkhard: Well, hello everyone. So, today, we have with us Rebecca Heimsoth of Missouri. So, Rebecca is a survivor of four years, and she's going to share today her personal story as well as details and how she has dealt with GVHD in her survivorship with a young family in tow. Welcome, Rebecca.
01:00 – Rebecca Heimsoth: Thank you for having me, Peggy.
01:02 – Peggy Burkhard: Rebecca, share your story with us if you could. Tell us about your transplant and your family.
01:07 – Rebecca Heimsoth: I got diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome about a month after I turned 33 in September of 2021. I really had just been having a lot of little symptoms that led to my diagnosis, and so my primary care just did a blood count for me and referred me for anemia, and then I had my transplant April 18th, 2022, the following year. My kids were three and five when I got diagnosed, and so that was a huge, huge stressor for me and my husband. Because I was terrified that I wasn't going to survive the transplant, and then leave him to raise our two kids alone. So, they were kind of my whole reason for pushing as I did through the transplant. My hospital room, I just had tons of pictures everywhere of them. Everyone loved it when they came in.
02:00 – Peggy Burkhard: I bet.
02:01 – Rebecca Heimsoth: I'm an hour and 45 minutes away from my transplant center, so I did have to move to be close during my transplant. So, for about five months, I lived away from my kids. My husband stayed here and kept their routine with them, and my mom luckily was at the point of retirement, so she retired and was my caregiver during those five months. So, that was kind of like a special little blessing to spend time with my mom again, one‑on‑one.
02:50 – Peggy Burkhard: Oh, I'll say that sure worked out as far as timing.
02:53 – Peggy Burkhard: So, you have GVHD, you have chronic GVHD, we know it can be a long haul, hopefully not too long. Tell us about that.
03:03 – Rebecca Heimsoth: So, we went in thinking transplant was going to be the hard part. I actually got three opinions before I went to transplant, and most of them are concerned about relapse over GVHD. So, I ended up going with a recommendation of one of the doctors to do a couple rounds of lower intensity chemo beforehand just to try to get rid of as much cancer as I could before the transplant. So, I guess the reason I was low dose for GVHD was because I had a full match sibling. My youngest sister ended up being a full match. So, because of that, we weren't really concerned about GVHD. And so, we got blindsided whenever I started having the symptoms and we did all the testing. It was about five months after my transplant when I started having the lung issues, and my pulmonary function test came back with reduced levels, and that was terrifying because when you Google lung GVHD, the prognosis isn't great. And so, that was another panic inducing moment, like I don't know if I'm going to be here for my kids, kind of situation. So, that was what kind of started my whole GVHD journey and since I now had some other organs involved.
04:14 – Rebecca Heimsoth: But besides the GVHD, there's also other side effects from transplant that I'm dealing with, like the early menopause, and having to try to get my hormone replacement therapy correct for my body because I really need to be thinking about preventing osteoporosis, early onset dementia, cardiovascular disease. I also deal with chronic fatigue, it's probably a combination of just all the treatments and medications I've gone through, and I'm still on. There's the sun sensitivity and increased risk of skin cancer and other secondary cancers that I have to think about and do a lot of preventative care. And then just dealing with the chemo break too on a daily basis, just like keeping track of my personal life and doing things for work and my kids' schedules and everything. So, it just takes so much more effort to do what I used to do, and I need a lot more time to rest.
05:14 – Peggy Burkhard: Oh Rebecca, you are my hero. I'm listening to you and thinking of all you have on your plate, God bless and just keep doing what you're doing. Because it sounds like even though it's crazy, busy, you're doing it and you're getting through it. And I don't mean to minimize any of all this. I can't imagine at your age having to worry about dementia and osteoporosis, but then you're here.
05:36 – Rebecca Heimsoth: So, just a tradeoff (laughs).
05:39 – Peggy Burkhard: We hear that all the time. We talked about lung GVHD, let's tackle the fascia GVHD that you have experienced.
05:48 – Rebecca Heimsoth: So, the lung GVHD, we tackled and I was able to get off prednisone for a while, which was wonderful, and we had that under control. But after I got off the prednisone, that's when it started to get into my fascia. And so, basically, that's like the connective tissue between your skin and your muscles gets scarred. And so, basically when I'm having a flare up, the inflammation makes my skin very tight and stiff, and it's very uncomfortable. I'm very fortunate that it hasn't gotten into my joints. Some people, it gets to their joints and they have issues with range of motion, but it is all over my body. And so, when I do have a flare up it's just I have to do a lot of stretching and PT and things like that to kind of help keep my body functioning as best I can.
06:35 – Peggy Burkhard: And does that make a difference? Does the physical therapy and the movement really help?
06:40 – Rebecca Heimsoth: Yes, with both. With my lungs, I can tell a difference if I haven't been regularly walking or working out, they just feel tighter. Like I can breathe better after I've had just a small walk even, and then with the fascia, the stretching continually really helps with my symptoms from that.
07:00 – Peggy Burkhard: Good to know. So, let's get into the nitty gritty. You're trying to manage these appointments, the flare‑ups, you've got two little kids to take care of, a husband, extended family. Rebecca, how do you do it all?
07:13 – Rebecca Heimsoth: Well (laughs), we thought after my transplant that life would kind of get back to how it was before transplant, and so, it hasn't done that exactly. Instead of working full‑time, luckily, I have a very flexible job, and my bosses are wonderful. And so, I work as I feel able and work part‑time. We haven't had to worry financially because I do have a long‑term disability policy that has supplemented my income, so we were very fortunate in that regard. I still have to drive an hour and 45 minutes to go to a lot of my follow‑up appointments. I would probably say right now, I spend maybe two to four days a month driving to my transplant center or one of the other follow‑up doctors I see because I kept most of my care in the same system. And then of course, there's all the medications I have to manage because some of them have to come from a specialty pharmacy or straight from the hospital. And so, there's lots of phone calls and everything that comes with that. And then I also feel like it's just such a rollercoaster every time I have a flare up of my GVHD symptoms because every time, there's the concern that with the increased symptoms, they're not going to go back to how it was before. And so, there's just a lot more anxiety until we get the flare under control with medication or something.
08:35 – Peggy Burkhard: Rebecca, tell us about your caregivers and how that all worked out for you.
08:40 – Rebecca Heimsoth: Like I said, my mom was my caregiver during my transplant, and it was a little weird at first just because we had hadn't lived together in so long since I moved out for college. But we got a really nice routine going, and we would FaceTime with my kids every night before they went to bed, so it was very nice to spend that time with her. And then I feel like that helped my kids a lot too, just to see my face every day on the screen even though they couldn't see me face‑to‑face, so that helped a lot. And then after the hundred days, I returned home and especially in the beginning, my husband had to pick up a lot of slack. There was a time period where, I mean, we couldn't keep them out of school, so they would bring home illnesses and I would have to not be around them. And so, he would have to deal with drop‑offs and pickups and making their meals and all that again. So, every time I get sick now, it's not quite as bad, but he does still pick up some of the slack around those times.
09:40 – Peggy Burkhard: I’m thinking about how fortunate you were to have your husband be able to focus on the kids while your mom focused on you, not everyone has that. So, that was a real gift I'm guessing. And I'm sure you wanted to be at school with the kids doing all the things that you want to do, but hopefully, this is temporary and you'll get back to all that. So, tell us about the kids. How are they doing through it all?
10:03 – Rebecca Heimsoth: So, I know they say kids are resilient, but I don't know, sometimes I feel like with all the extra nagging about germs and stuff we do, I hope it's not making them feel guilty if they do get sick and bring it home to me or something like that. We do a lot of things to try to prevent it. When they get home from school, they shower right away and change in out of their school clothes. We use lots of hand sanitizer in the car, wearing a mask is no big deal to them, they do that anytime we're in public. We don't make them wear them at school, but anytime they're in another public place they do wear masks and they're very good about it, never complain. When I first got home, it was kind of we still had a lot of anxiety around the germs so I didn't do a whole lot of hugging and snuggling with them, and that's something I've had to get more comfortable with. Again, the further I get out from transplant, that it's okay to give them a hug, you're not going to get sick of one hug. And so, as long as they're not showing any symptoms of anything now, we're back to snuggling on the couch and hugs, and this is a bedtime and stuff. But yeah, it was a very weird period there I guess where we just had to figure out what was comfortable for us again.
11:14 – Peggy Burkhard: And I'm thinking it gave your kids a “to‑do” where they could feel that they probably were making a difference for mom. Like it probably made them feel good that they could do something to contribute. I know they're kids, but probably, made things easier for them that it was a concrete thing they could do.
11:34 – Rebecca Heimsoth: Because they couldn't really understand much when I first got diagnosed of what was going on, and actually my daughter is the one who kind of came up with what we called the cancer cells bad guys the whole time. And so, she's the one who called them that originally, and we just stuck with it. I've used that term several times to explain to my nieces and nephews and other kids that I had bad guys in my blood, and so, they gave me medication that killed them. And then Aunt Bethany gave Mommy her good guys and so now my blood’s good again. So, that's been a really good analogy we've been able to share with younger kids to help them understand what happened in my body.
12:18 – Peggy Burkhard: I think that is a great way to explain it to little ones. So, isolation, oh boy, we all know from COVID what people have been going through as transplant recipients for years. Do you want to touch on some of that?
12:33 – Rebecca Heimsoth: Yeah, I mean, we were coming out of COVID isolation, I felt like, in the public. And then I got my diagnosis, and we went right back in, and I actually got delayed for my transplant twice because of COVID, so (laughs) that really sucked. But we just had to do what we did to get me to transplant. And then one of the hardest things too was when I was home right after my lung GVHD diagnosis, my pulmonologist basically told me that the first two years that you have lung GVHD, he sees people get into trouble if they have repeat illnesses. And so, for us, we were just very focused on those two years and making sure I avoided getting sick if at all possible. So, there were instances where my daughter had RSV where I isolated from her for three weeks just to make sure I didn't get it. So, that first winter post‑transplant was pretty hard because I stayed in my bedroom for several weeks at a time whenever one of them got sick, but we made it and now—
13:38 – Peggy Burkhard: You sure did.
13:41 – Rebecca Heimsoth: We made it to the other side. But yeah, it's also been nice. My husband works from home too and I can work from home as well, so at least we can limit exposure too. It's mainly our kids that bring it home.
13:52 – Peggy Burkhard: Yeah, from school.
13:53 – Rebecca Heimsoth: So, I feel like he even gets hit a little hard when they bring stuff home too just because he's not around a lot of people every day as well, so—
14:01 – Peggy Burkhard: Sure. And he's on the front line. Oh, it sure seems like a team effort, and it sounds like you have a very special family, Rebecca. Alright, let's talk about friends. You were so young when diagnosed, how did your diagnosis and treatment affect your friendships?
14:17 – Rebecca Heimsoth: So, with isolating, it's very hard because all our friends had young children as well and all the germs. So, it was very hard for us and our friends too, to even feel comfortable wanting to come over and see us. We did a little bit of outdoors kind of activities, I guess, but other than that we had really limited, for a long time, seeing people. And so, I think it got to the point where people just knew we weren't going to be able to come to things, and so they kind of stopped inviting us even though, like, an invite would've been appreciated even though we knew we couldn't come to an indoor birthday party for kids in the middle of January. But I also feel like too, once my cancer was gone and I kind of made it to that milestone, my first‑year re‑birthday, like the check‑ins from people have kind of dwindled as well. I will say that it was kind of surprising during my transplant who really stepped up and what gave us the most support. In particular, I can think of I had a friend who called me every single day on her commute home just to check in on me since she knew I was … me and my mom were just sitting around this townhouse we were staying at in the city, and so she called to check in on me. And then also my coworkers were awesome. They provided my husband with meals so that he didn't have to cook, they even picked my kids up from daycare and took them to get him a Father's Day present. And took him back for a surprise, and then they sent me tons of cards and care packages and did virtual weekly lunches with me too just so I would have some outside contact and see people.
15:52 – Peggy Burkhard: (Laughs) Oh I love it.
15:54 – Rebecca Heimsoth: (Chuckles) And took him back for a surprise, and then they sent me tons of cards and care packages and did virtual weekly lunches with me too just so I would have some outside contact and see people.
16:06 – Peggy Burkhard: Wow, that's great.
16:07 – Rebecca Heimsoth: So, that was very special.
16:08 – Peggy Burkhard: Sure. I hope people are listening because these are the little things that you can do to make a big difference, right?
16:14 – Rebecca Heimsoth: Yes. Because it was hard because people wanted to bring me and my mom food and stuff. But since I was on such restrictions with the neutropenic diet and everything, we couldn't accept that kind of stuff. So, my husband did get tons of gift cards and stuff too, so he could just pick up meals on the way home and not have to cook too so that was really nice.
16:35 – Peggy Burkhard: We know what a help that can be, that's awesome. Rebecca, tell us, was there any support online that you found helpful?
16:45 – Rebecca Heimsoth: Yes. I have been able to connect through a lot of people, through some social media groups, surrounded around young adults who have had a cancer diagnosis. I've been able to connect with a couple people even at the same transplant center as me which has been very nice to have similar, be able to talk about doctors and nurses and stuff that we have in common. And then I've also joined a wonderful young adult group that's all women who've had blood cancer. It was started by someone out of Washington, but there's people all over the world in there, so it's really awesome. People just kind of floated in and out is we have questions especially with the menopause stuff or like any other kind of long‑term side effect. It's always nice to know what other people's doctors are recommending for them. So, we kind of have a resource of real‑life situations.
17:41 – Peggy Burkhard: We can put that in the show notes for people for the women out there. Any others?
17:46 – Rebecca Heimsoth: This is a cool story. I had a friend I met through Instagram who lived in Vancouver. His transplant was two months before mine, and I had the opportunity this spring to actually meet him in Vancouver and spend a day with him, so that was super awesome.
18:03 – Peggy Burkhard: Wow, I love that.
18:05 – Rebecca Heimsoth: He's doing great too, so—
18:06 – Peggy Burkhard: Great (laughs).
18:09 – Rebecca Heimsoth: And then recently through BMT InfoNet, I joined a young adult GVHD support group as well and we meet once a month and that's really awesome too to see faces and just be able to chat about what we all have going on. And we're all a little further out too from transplant. So, it's those long‑term, long‑haul kind of side effects that we can really talk to each other about.
18:30 – Peggy Burkhard: Yes, that's terrific. And I believe you were on one of our maybe our coffee klatch or our book program.
18:36 – Rebecca Heimsoth: Yeah, I did book club this year.
18:37 – Peggy Burkhard: Yeah, that's how we met (laughs). So, yeah, all those support groups, they really help. I remember one lady saying I had never met a person that had had a transplant before this get together. And that really hit me. We just expect that you guys all know each other, but you don't. So, these groups really give you the chance to connect with people that are going through similar situations. So, Rebecca, mental health, this is just such an important part of the story. Would you share some of your perspective on that?
19:09 – Rebecca Heimsoth: Yes. I think the mental health impact has been one of the most challenging things about the transplant. Because while you're in transplant, you're focused on the physical aspects of the transplant, and they prep you very well for that. You know you have a manual; you know what to expect on each day of the transplant, and about when you'll start engrafting and about how long this takes and this takes. But once you get past that a hundred days, there's not a step‑by‑step playbook because it's different for everyone. So, after you know the immediate danger of transplant passes, then all of a sudden, your brain's trying to catch up with what your body just went through. And then adding other long‑term side effects and diagnoses like lung GVHD, that really messes with you mentally. So, I've dealt over the years with anxiety, depression, panic attacks, PTSD, all stemming from the health, I guess, traumas I've gone through the last couple years just to be here. So, yeah, in part too, I guess my body has felt just … it was under attack from the cancer, we got rid of the cancer, but then now I'm under attack from my sister's stem cells with the GVHD. So, it's been hard to celebrate remission sometimes because my body still feels under attack from the graft‑versus‑host disease and just everything that I'm still having to deal with, like appointment fatigue and remembering to take my medications, refill them all, and you have to learn a whole new language when you are dealing with a lot of medical diagnosis. I knew nothing about blood at all (laughs) before this, and now, I can tell you all the different types of blood cells you have and what their functions are, and what's doing what and everything. It's just a whole new language and not everyone speaks that (laughs), so it's nice to connect with people who understand.
20:11 – Peggy Burkhard: Absolutely.
20:12 – Rebecca Heimsoth: But yeah, me and my husband, we do a lot of research on our own as well so that we can continue to make educated decisions about my care because it is crazy to think about how much the field has advanced as far as treating GVHD just in the last 10 to 15 years and everything that's coming. So, there's more options coming, and we like to stay on top of it so when it does come, we can talk with my doctor about it and be informed.
20:41 – Peggy Burkhard: Great. And boy, in the last even seven years, it's just unbelievable the advances, so you're very wise to keep up with that.
20:55 – Rebecca Heimsoth: Like we already talked about, staying active is so important. It's probably the best advice my pulmonologist gave me when I got the lung GVHD, is just keep moving. And at the time I was still recovering from transplant so the only thing I could do was walk on the treadmill, and that just helped keep me going every day to have that task to do because that was something I could control. And so, that was a great motivator for me to keep doing that. Also, like we talked about, stretching is so important with the fascia GVHD. And PTs can be a great help if you need to get a routine down or a specific area that needs help. They can also do some massage on the area too to get it more mobile. And then my PT is certified in cupping. So, she taught me how to use a set of cups at home and that helps too when I'm having a flare up and have some really tight areas, that can help to kind of pull the skin away from the fascia and give you a little more range of motion.
21:57 – Peggy Burkhard: Great. Tell us about nutrition.
22:01 – Rebecca Heimsoth: (Laughs) No, I just laugh because nutrition's the one area that's really still kind of hard because we have kids. And so, it's hard with schedules and just their pickiness. So, I just do what I can and I eat my fruits and vegetables, I try to get enough protein, and then whatever else happens, happens. I know there's probably some anti‑inflammatory stuff we could look into, but I just haven't had the time to do that. I'm sure there's some great diet plans out there if you have the time and energy to get into them.
22:36 – Peggy Burkhard: Well, it sounds like you know what you're doing, for sure.
22:40 – Rebecca Heimsoth: (Laughs) Yes. And then also to just make your mental health a priority because it's overwhelming. I mean, I never expected to have disabilities I guess after transplant, and now, with my reduced lung capacity, I get short of breath easily doing tasks, I have the chemo brain and chronic fatigue, just things like that. And so, making sure that you prioritize your mental health to kind of overcome challenges like that is one of the best things you can do for yourself. I see a wonderful psychologist with my transplant center in the BMT department. She's been wonderful and with me through every step from pre‑transplant to now, and then I also have a psychiatrist I follow with who's helped me through several different medications before we found a good fit.
23:29 – Peggy Burkhard: Oh, that's so important.
23:31 – Rebecca Heimsoth: It is. It is very important. And then also just doing mental stimulation in general too. Like some things that I like to do personally or like read, do puzzles, Sudoku puzzles or like I'm really crafty, so doing new craft projects, and my daughter also likes to do that. So, that's something fun we do together is like painting and sewing and stuff like that. So, yeah, I find ways to just stimulate your mind and not just I guess sit on the TV all day (laughs).
24:00 – Peggy Burkhard: Yeah, no, this is great. And you're building memories with your daughter too, that's important. And short‑term memory loss, I know there's a lot of brain fog. How do you deal with that?
24:12 – Rebecca Heimsoth: So, the best ways I have found to deal with the chemo brain and just the short‑term memory issues are lists and lists and writing everything down, and just setting a lot of alarms in my phone. Like beyond just a reminder, I make sure it has an alarm and I do not turn it off. I keep snoozing it until I complete the task (laughs). So, that's how I make sure my kids have everything they need for school and I don't forget to take a medication or something like that. But yeah, I've always wanted to be one of those people with a physical planner in the past, and it didn't happen until after transplant because now I'm having to keep track of everything for work, my medical, the kids' schedules, everything. So yeah, I have a physical planner as well that I write down everything in.
25:00 – Peggy Burkhard: No shame in that, I do too (laughs). And what about connecting with people who really understand what you're going through?
25:09 – Rebecca Heimsoth: Yes, I think that is very important as well. Like I was talking about earlier with the groups I've gotten connected with, just having someone who's been through it and understands everything that comes with having gone through a transplant, just thinking about the magnitude of what we went through and I didn't have an immune system for a while, and just how scary and terrifying that was, and we made it through that. Like having someone who understands that and can relate is so important. I know initially I tried a couple other organizations matching programs, but because the young adult community is smaller, it was hard to connect with those individuals because they were in a different stage of life as me. And so, I continued having to look, and it wasn't until after my transplant where I actually found some other young adults that I could start relating to. So, just keep looking, and you'll eventually find your fit and your group of people, so—
26:08 – Peggy Burkhard: Well and don't forget, there's Imerman Angels and Cancer Buddy is an app. I don't know if you're familiar with it. It's great. It's kind of like a dating app, but it's for cancer survivors to connect with other survivors. It's a really well‑done program if you want to check that out.
26:26 – Rebecca Heimsoth: Another good resource is the GVHD Alliance website because it links all the different organizations that help advocate for people dealing with GVHD. And once I found that, I didn't realize how many different organizations there were out there that provide education and resources, so that was very helpful.
26:48 – Peggy Burkhard: Oh, I'm so glad to hear that because we are a part of the alliance, the GVHD Alliance, and that is why we work so hard, so that we can have all those resources in one spot for people like you. So, I'm glad to hear that you appreciate that, and that you're utilizing it. So, Rebecca, life today, I know we've covered a lot. Is there anything more about just what you're going through and the future?
27:12 – Rebecca Heimsoth: So, sometimes, I just feel like I haven't gotten to enjoy being in remission because of the GVHD rollercoaster, but then, there are these moments where I'm just like so thankful to be here and get to experience life. My family has gone on several vacations. Our first vacation, we took after my transplant, I was about a little over a year post‑transplant, we went to the beach. And while we were there, my husband and I, we just had these moments where we would look at each other, like are we really here? Like we just didn't know if we would ever be on a family vacation again altogether. And so, it was very emotional and surreal, and we just had a great time at the beach and we've gotten to do a lot of other stuff since then. With the lung GVHD, at first, I was very nervous because our family is big outdoors and we love hiking in the mountains and stuff. And with the reduced lung capacity, like just going up the stairs at home, I get short of breath. And so, I was very nervous that I wasn't going to be able to hike anymore and do that kind of stuff. But we've been able to work around that, and we don't go as high altitude. We do the real short beginner trails, which is okay because my daughter also does not like hiking, so (laughs) that works out for her benefit. But yeah, so once the lung GVHD calmed down, the symptoms are not as bad, and I was able to do more than I thought I would be able to with that diagnosis. And then just watching my kids grow and hit all their milestones. My main goal during transplant was to make it to my hundred days so I could move home and see my son, who's my oldest, go off to kindergarten. And so, it was really surreal, two years later watching my youngest, my daughter, start kindergarten because already, I had surpassed the goal with him, and now I had met the goal with her. So, it's great to see them both in elementary school and just thriving, and getting to hear about their days and all the fun activities they get to do with their friends, it's just been wonderful to be able to be here for that. And it wouldn't have been possible if my sister wasn't able to donate her stem cells to me too, so they think that's kind of cool that (laughs) that she got to do that for me. But yeah, some days, it's still kind of tough because I thought I'd get back to being this super energetic, high achieving person that I was before cancer, and I'm not there yet. Especially I feel like in my career, I was in my early ‘30s and my career was just really kind of taking off. And so, being back to just working part‑time has kind of been a bummer. But I'm keeping up and through therapy, and just a lot of mental work on myself and personal reflection, I'm adjusting and just being content with doing what I can, and knowing that I'm still contributing even though it's not how I expected my career to be right now.
30:16 – Peggy Burkhard: You sure are.
30:18 – Rebecca Heimsoth: Yeah. Just trying to learn to be able to be proud of myself for what I'm still accomplishing, I guess that's different than what my original goals were. And then too, there's all of the body image issues that come with being on steroids and all the chemo and stuff like that. But my body's still here and I'm moving around mostly unassisted and being able to just do that, I really have a lot of appreciation for everything my body has put up with, even though my bone marrow decided to go rogue (laughs). But yeah, my biggest goal is just to see my daughter graduate from high school in 2037. So, it feels kind of weird that that's my goal in my 30s compared to my peers. But with all the advancements they're making in GVHD, we do think that's a good possibility that I'll be there. And you come to the point too where you have to just live your life and you have to do what you can and appreciate the little things you are able to do, and making the memories with them because that was the whole point of going through the transplant, was to be here for the little things as well as the big things. So, I'm here because of all these treatments I've gone through and I'm just going to keep making memories with my family as long as I can, so—
31:43 – Peggy Burkhard: Wow. Rebecca, I am just so wowed by you and appreciative. Your gratitude is extraordinary, and I commend you for looking at all the positives. I know this isn't easy and I know you're going to inspire so many people today with your honesty and your integrity and your beautiful family and how you're managing it all. So, I just want to thank you again for sharing your story with us today.
32:11 – Rebecca Heimsoth: Thank you, Peggy. And I'm grateful for everything you and the National Bone Marrow Transplant LINK are doing for survivors like us.