Corporate exec wins his battle against aplastic anemia

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

(HealthDay News) -- Neil Horikoshi was living in Tokyo , constantly on the run as a top executive for IBM Corp.'s global business development, so he was used to feeling tired.

"I traveled all over the Asian Pacific," Horikoshi, now 53, said. "If I told you I'm tired, you'd tell me, of course, I am."

But in February 2000, he'd felt so fatigued the week before a planned trip to India , he decided to get a check-up before flying. His doctor performed a blood test and got back with Horikoshi promptly.

"He told me, 'I've made an appointment for you to see a specialist. You are not going to India . Do not shave. Do not get yourself hurt,' " Horikoshi recalled.

Horikoshi's blood counts were all dangerously low, and the doctor could not say why. All he knew was that his patient was in mortal danger. "Had I boarded a plane Monday morning, I would have died in the air or in India , and no one would have known a thing," he said.

The specialist ordered an immediate blood transfusion that took about six hours to complete, flooding his body with red blood cells and platelets.

"At the end of six hours of blood transfusions, I said, 'Wow, I feel great!' " Horikoshi said.

Horikoshi took an evening flight to Honolulu for a bone marrow biopsy that revealed his illness as aplastic anemia.

"My first reaction was, 'What is this thing? How did I get it?' " he recalled.

Horikoshi's personal theory is that his jet-setting corporate work caused the condition, because his constant trips between New York and Tokyo required him to regularly fly the polar route. "I read a study that you get the equivalent of three to six chest X-rays every time you do that," he said.

In his mid-40s, Horikoshi was too old for a bone-marrow or stem-cell transplant. His doctors recommended that he undergo antithymocyte globulin, or ATG, treatment, a standard treatment for aplastic anemia patients.

"It's a very potent, powerful stimulant to get your bone marrow to produce blood," he said.

The week-long treatment wasn't pleasant. "It's extremely strong stuff," Horikoshi said. "It burns your veins. Over time, I got an incredible case of hives."

But that treatment, combined with regular doses of the immunosuppressive drug cyclosporin, brought his blood counts back to normal.

Horikoshi had to undergo a second round of ATG treatment in January 2001, a few months after he first tried to go off cyclosporin, but other than that, he has felt fine.

He now lives in Potomac , Md. , and still works for IBM. When asked what his future holds, Horikoshi said he plans to live life to the fullest. He also helps fellow aplastic anemia sufferers by serving as board chairman for the Aplastic Anemia and MDS International Foundation.

"Fifteen years ago, the results from aplastic anemia were 100 percent death," he said. "My straight answer is, I'm going to live a great life, and I'm not going to worry about this at all."

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