I'm Not Average: 13 Years Later, Jamie Is Still Here

Jamie Pires fainted in her doctor’s office when she was told she has Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML), a cancer the starts inside the bone marrow.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. Even her doctor thought she was in good health.

She only went to the doctor because she had some hay fever symptoms. 

When Jamie was diagnosed she found there was limited information on CML and not many effective treatments. In many cases, CML patients faced grim prognoses and almost certain death sentences. Jamie’s situation was no different. The first treatment she tried actually make her leukemia worse and she faced the very real possibility of planning her funeral.

However, thanks to advances and innovations in cancer medicines, CML no longer defines her.

She can just be Jamie – a wife, mother, grandmother.  

CML is a disease Jamie will always have, but because of these innovations, she’s happy, healthy and able to manage her disease. Jamie spreads this message of hope to other patients through her work with the National CML Society, where she is the Florida representative.

At one point Jamie didn’t think she’d get to see her son graduate high school. Now she’s helping him with his college courses. She thought she’d never travel the world again, now she’s planning to go to Paris. Thirteen years, Jamie is still here and living well with CML.

Jamie’s story is part of PhRMA’s new campaign, I’m Not Average, to share inspirational stories from individuals about the powerful impact advances and innovations in cancer medicines have had on their lives.

For more information on the I’m Not Average campaign, please visit www.phrma.org/cancer.

Join the conversation about advances and innovations in cancer medicines using the hashtag #NotAverage.