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Nishimura
‘feels blessed’
by transplant

The police captain has a
bone marrow transplant at
a California med center

By Rod Ohira
Star-Bulletin

Honolulu police Capt. Alvin Nishimura said today that he "feels blessed" after a bone marrow transplant last night at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, Calif.

Bone marrow for the leukemia-stricken policeman arrived yesterday afternoon at the medical center.

In his hospital room this morning, Cynthia Yip Nishimura said her husband "is not feeling too great" but "really feels grateful to everyone ...

"We feel blessed that the donor came through. We're grateful for that."

Friends, family and people who don't even know Nishimura have written notes and encouraged him, she said.

"Everyone in the police department came out," and the chief was especially supportive, she said.

She said her 50-year-old husband underwent four days of full-body radiation treatments and chemotherapy on Saturday and Sunday to prepare for the transplant procedure.

It's because of that, not the transplant, that he wasn't feeling too well today, she said.

She said it will take at least three weeks "for everything to rejuvenate."

Nishimura needs the bone marrow to rebuild his immune system, which is currently defenseless against acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The transplant procedure, which usually takes about five hours, involves the infusion of marrow intravenously through an implanted catheter.