A reason to celebrate: St. Luke’s team, patient honor milestone transplant

In just a little more than a year, John Williams has experienced a range of emotions he never would have expected — even being part of a milestone he could not have imagined.

Just after a routine physical in January 2025, Williams was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. He had not felt abnormal, but his white blood cell count dictated immediate action.

“It was crazy, my doctor said I needed a blood transfusion,” said Williams, 34, who lives in Moscow. “Within a week, I was in Boise (at St. Luke’s Cancer Institute) and because it was so aggressive, it wasn’t easy to figure out if I had time or just weeks to live.

“It was such a whirlwind, it took a while to process.”

Chemotherapy had initially worked, but after a period of remission, Williams felt pain in his shoulder joints and in December it was determined the cancer had returned.

With chemotherapy no longer successful on its own, an allogeneic stem cell transplant was determined to be the best treatment for Williams.

“It relies on the donor’s immune system to recognize the recipient’s cancer cells as foreign,” said Dr. Travis Williams, St. Luke’s Cancer Institute blood cancer medical director. “You need to identify the right sort of donor and have a patient in remission enough to let that new immune system develop. It’s a small population.”

The idea of being a transplant recipient was certainly something John had never fathomed.

“It honestly was a little intimidating at first — someone I don’t know is giving me a new chance, in some ways you become a new person,” he said. “But I read about it and thought it was pretty amazing and was excited.”

On Feb. 25, John arrived to a celebration.

It turns out, he was going to be the 100th person to have an allogeneic stem cell transplant at St. Luke’s. The first was in 2018, with seven total performed that year. In 2025, St. Luke’s did 20.

Focused on increasing access to care, St. Luke’s is the only health system in Idaho that facilitates transplants; that means patients from surrounding states or even northern Idaho like John will often come to St. Luke’s.

And St. Luke’s abilities to treat cancer patients continue to grow, with the addition of CAR T-cell therapy in 2022. As of today, more than 60 patients have received the treatment for types of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, multiple myeloma and acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

“We are getting better and better at what we do, and our outcomes are showing that,” Dr. Williams said. “Having multiple options allows us to help more people in our communities.”

After his transplant, John spent some time in the intensive care and inpatient rehabilitation units. He is currently staying at the St. Luke’s Guest House, as patients are asked to stay within a half-hour drive for 100 days to assure they are not at risk for related complications and that they are on the path to long-term recovery.

“I feel fantastic, almost back to normal,” John said. “My mom is helping take care of me. We have been going out for walks, doing a little tai chi. I’m excited to see my dog, who I haven’t seen since I came down here. Ready to go back to work, go fishing with my dad, all that.”