“In pretransplant meetings, I was told that GVHD is quite serious and the risk of death was a possibility. Trying to wrap my head around the fact that the same thing that could save my life could also possibly kill me was extremely scary and very confusing,” says Nick Wasserman, 34, a business owner in Oregon, Ohio, who had a stem cell transplant in September 2019.
Wasserman says the most challenging part was understanding that this serious complication was not uncommon after a transplant.
Five months after his transplant, Wasserman developed symptoms, including dry skin, a rash that covered 90 percent of his body, severely dry eyes, bloating, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. “GVHD can affect any part of the body — eyes, skin, mouth, genitalia, gastrointestinal system, and lungs,” Muenks says, “and medications like steroids cause weight gain, insomnia, wear and tear on bones and joints, and continued psychological stress.”
Doctors told him he had chronic GVHD of the eyes and GI tract. This left Wasserman fearful and confused. “As the symptoms continued to develop, I started to question whether or not the transplant was going to be successful long term,” he says. “It made living my daily life extremely difficult from a mental perspective. I was constantly pushing myself to remain positive, but it became harder and harder as things progressed.”
GVHD symptoms caused him to shut down around family and friends. He also had to take high-dose steroids for more than a year, and the side effects were difficult to manage. It all took a mental and physical toll.
Luckily, Wasserman’s symptoms resolved by January 2021.
