When Maureen McConnell-Wester retired in 2012 following her 46-year career as an international flight attendant, she and her husband, Rob, looked forward to spending time traveling and enjoying life together.
After spending seven years living in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where her husband took a job, the couple returned home to Cumming, Georgia, expecting to settle into what Maureen described as a "fabulous retirement."
That was in 2019. By August 2024, a routine wellness visit upended everything.
The day after her annual checkup, Maureen learned that her white blood cell count was abnormal. Additional testing followed, and within days, physicians suspected acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). Her doctor instructed her to report immediately to Northside Hospital Forsyth.
"To say I was shocked would be an understatement," Maureen said.
After two days in the hospital, she was transferred to Northside Hospital Atlanta’s leukemia inpatient unit under the care of The Blood and Marrow Transplant of Georgia (BMTGA) clinic at Northside Hospital, where Dr. Melhem Solh was best equipped to manage her care.
There, Maureen began intensive treatment under the guidance of her leukemia cancer team.
"Every day, on their rounds, they gave me the hope and care I so desperately needed," Maureen said of her care team.
Following her hospitalization, Maureen continued treatment as an outpatient. Along with taking medications, she relied on a continuous chemotherapy infusion pump that she wore around the clock for two months. Throughout the process, Rob accompanied her to frequent clinic visits for blood work and treatment adjustments.
"Every other day, my adoring husband, my 'rock,' drove me to the BMTGA clinic for blood work and to replenish the chemo pump reservoir," she said.
The road was not without challenges. When her chemotherapy pump malfunctioned, Maureen required readmission for observation. Despite the setback, she found comfort in returning to the BMTGA clinic and the Northside leukemia unit filled with familiar faces.
Since Maureen did not have a complete remission following initial intensive chemotherapy for her ALL, Dr. Solh recommended an additional therapy: chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, commonly known as CAR T-cell therapy. The treatment is an advanced form of immunotherapy that reprograms a patient’s own T cells — a type of white blood cell — to recognize and destroy cancer cells more effectively.
"I had 100% faith in his recommendation," Maureen said.
In late March 2025, the CAR T-cell process began. Atlanta Blood Services (ABS) collected Maureen's T cells, which were sent to a CAR T-cell manufacturing laboratory in England for genetic modification before being returned to Northside for infusion.
Before her cells were shipped, Maureen tucked a handwritten note into the package for the English laboratory team. Weeks later, she received a response from the manufacturing staff, reminding her that the treatment process extends far beyond the walls of Northside Hospital, involving specialists working on her behalf — both seen and unseen — who are invested in patients’ success.
About a month later, Maureen received her first CAR T-cell infusion. Fortunately, she experienced relatively few complications during the three-week process that involved daily visits to the BMTGA outpatient infusion facility for monitoring.
"The effects were minimal, mainly fatigue," she said.
Maureen continues taking daily oral targeted medication to eliminate any remaining cancer cells. She is regaining her strength every day and steadily returning to many of the activities she enjoys. She remains grateful to Dr. Solh and other BMTGA physicians, outpatient and inpatient nurses and support staff, especially her dedicated nurse practitioner, Kim Page. They all guided her through her battle against ALL.
"Without [them], I doubt that I would have had such a great experience and amazing success," she said.
Maureen is equally thankful for the support she received from family, friends and neighbors, who provided meals, transportation, assistance with errands, encouragement and prayers throughout her treatment.
"We are very fortunate to live in this community," she said.
LEARN MORE ABOUT CAR T-CELL THERAPY AT NORTHSIDE.
