Sam Coster of St. Louis has Stage IV Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and is in need of a stem cell transplant

J.O. PARKER joparker@registermedia.com

Family, friends, neighbors and former classmates at Grinnell High School are working the frontlines in the fight against cancer that is raging a battle in Sam Costers body.

Coster, 25, a 2008 graduate of GHS, was diagnosed in the fall of 2013 with Stage IV Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.

Id been sick and tired for a few months and was lucky to get diagnosed when I did, Coster said. Mine is particularly aggressive, so at the time of discovery, my insides bones, organs, everything were covered in cancer.

Since that time, Coster has been in and out of the hospital and outpatient clinics too numerous times to count.

Sam Coster, second from left, is surrounded by his girlfriend, Diana Zeng, and brothers, Adam Coster and Seth Coster during his first cancer treatment in St. Louis in November 2013. Coster, who develops computer games with his two brothers, is in need of a stem cell transplant. Coster, along with Nichole Bushong, will be in Grinnell on Wednesday, April 22 to meet with local and area resident to talk about donating and signing up for the National Bone Marrow Registry. Courtesy Photo

Hes undergone six rounds of R-CHOP chemotherapy, two rounds of high-dose Methotrexate, three rounds of R-ICE chemotherapy, three surgeries, a needle biopsy, three bone marrow biopsies, a spinal tap and nine Neulasta shots, which cause crippling bone pain for a few days, he said.

When mentioning the three surgeries, Coster said they were on his left chest wall through one incision point to remove lymph nodes for biopsy purposes.

Ive been thinking about getting a tattoo of a zipper on it, he said with a chuckle.

The rest is here:
Be the Match event gives hope to former Grinnell graduate

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