Bowon’s story — CAR T-cell therapy for multiple myeloma

Bowon came to Shanghai from Thailand on the recommendation of a doctor in Singapore, with his wife — who is a nurse.

A diagnosis he could barely feel

Before treatment, Bowon says, he did not feel very different at all. He was working, carrying on more or less as though nothing had happened. It was the laboratory results that told the story: his white cells, red cells and platelets were all low. That was the point at which he understood what the myeloma was doing.

Why Bowon looked beyond Thailand

Treatment options for myeloma in Thailand were limited, so he and his wife began looking elsewhere. They spoke with doctors in Singapore too, but fewer cases were being treated there. What they found was that far more of this work was being done in Shanghai.

Referred by his doctor in Singapore

Bowon is the only patient on this site who arrived by direct clinical referral. His doctor in Singapore recommended he speak with Dr. Lily Zhou. After that conversation, he says, they both decided.

What the care involved, day to day

What he returns to is not the treatment but the explaining. The team went through everything with them, repeatedly, and he is clear about why that mattered: it let him understand his own situation, and it kept him willing to fight it.

A nurse’s view of the ward

Bowon’s wife is a nurse. She worked at one of the best hospitals in Thailand, and says they were always proud of the service they gave there. She watched this ward the way someone in the profession watches a ward.

The thing she singles out is access — that you can reach the doctors easily and talk to them directly. What she took home was not reassurance so much as a note to self.

What comes next

Bowon is a Buddhist monk, and when he goes home he wants to give more time to meditation. He also still works — as a board member, as a consultant — and is candid that finding the balance between those responsibilities and his own practice is something he will have to work out.