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L A W R E NC E

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Age no limit for stem cell transplants

Storm chance

KU Cancer Center treats more older patients

Low: 68

High: 88

Today’s forecast, page 10A

INSIDE

By Matt Erickson merickson@ljworld.com

Make shopping list for Sidewalk Sale Downtown Lawrence’s annual Sidewalk Sale is Thursday, and over its long history merchants have honed their strategies for creating an enjoyable, and profitable, experience.

SPORTS

Cummins cruises to city golf title Tyler Cummins won the Lawrence Amateur Golf Association’s city championship by a commanding eight strokes on Sunday and next heads to the Kansas Amateur Match Play Championship. Page 1B

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QUOTABLE

I’m sure jurors did what they felt was right in accordance with the law, but maybe the law is wrong, maybe society is wrong; there’s a lot that needs fixing.� — Jessica Nacinovich, a memberof Manhattan’s Middle Collegiate Church, whose members showed soldiarity with Trayvon Martin’s family on Sunday, a day after George Zimmerman was acquitted in the teen’s shooting death. Page 6A

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INDEX Business 5A Classified 5B-10B Comics 9A Deaths 2A Events listings 10A, 2B Horoscope 9B Movies 4A Opinion 8A Puzzles 9B Sports 1B-4B, 10B Television 10A, 2B, 9B Vol.155/No.196 32 pages

If Patti Kennicott had gotten her diagnosis 10 years earlier, she would have had only a few months to live, Joseph McGuirk says. Kennicott, who lives in Ottawa, was 62 when she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in 2010. Ten years before, conventional wisdom among doctors would have been that she was too old to receive a stem-cell transplant to treat her cancer, and her chance of survival would have been slim. But Kennicott, now 65, is still alive. She received a stem-cell transplant at the Kansas University Cancer Center’s Blood and Marrow Transplant program in February 2011. And that’s no longer a rare outcome for someone her age. The KU BMT program now sees more transplant patients in their 60s, and even their 70s or 80s, than ever before, after recent research has shown that stem-cell transplants can indeed be safe for older people. Things have changed a lot since McGuirk, the medical director for the BMT program, started in his field in the early 1990s. Back then, he said, the two-year survival rate was about 5 percent for a 70-year-old who received Kennicott’s diagnosis of AML. “It was terrible, every bit as bad as pancreas cancer,� McGuirk said. Back then, doctors assumed that the intensive chemotherapy and radiation that accompanied stem-cell transplants would be too much for elderly patients — even though some bloodborne cancers, such as AML, are more common in older people. But since about 2000, doctors at KU and elsewhere have found that stem-cell transplants

COMMUNITY BIKE RIDE

What: One-mile, 3-mile and 10-mile routes When: The first ride begins at 8 a.m. on Saturday. Where: Rotary Arboretum, at 5100 W. 27th St., by the Youth Sports Complex at Clinton Lake Admission: Free for all cyclists Registration: Online at ridelawrence.com or on site Saturday

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SCHOOLS

A new ‘career’ path develops ——

Business leaders have own plans for technical education center By Peter Hancock phancock@ljworld.com

Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo

PATTI KENNICOTT, OF OTTAWA, WAS 62 when she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in 2010. Ten years earlier, conventional wisdom among doctors would have been that she was too old to receive a stem-cell transplant to treat her cancer, and her chance of survival would have been slim. But Kennicott, now 65, is alive and thriving. She received a stem-cell transplant at the Kansas University Cancer Center’s Blood and Marrow Transplant program in February 2011. were effective in treating those cancers even without those other intensive therapies, using donors’ stronger immune systems to destroy the cancer. So by the time Kennicott got her diagnosis, transplants for patients 60 and older were commonplace at the KU Cancer Center. KU is also unusual in

that it offers cord blood transplants, a newer technique that uses stem cells from donated umbilical cords, McGuirk said. That can be especially helpful for older patients, who are less likely to have a sibling who can match as a donor. That’s the kind of transplant Kennicott received in 2011, after

Back in January, the idea that the Lawrence school district had for expanding career and technical education programs was pretty simple: The school district would issue bonds to renovate space in the existing Holcom Center building near 25th and Iowa streets, which already provides some CTE classes. The district then would partner with a few area community colleges — Johnson County, Neosho County and Kansas City, Kan. — to offer courses there. That idea was just a $5.7 million part of a larger $92.5 million bond Gaumer package that the school board was seeking. The overall idea was to renovate aging elementary schools, expand the district’s networking technology and position the entire district for the full spectrum of “21st century teaching and learning.� The public approved overwhelmingly, passing the bond issue with 72 percent of the vote in the April 2 election. But now, area business leaders want to refine and expand on the district’s original idea. And they are pushing a larger, more complex plan aimed at serving the needs of students, adults and local employers. “The thought is to create one large community tech center that partners with the school district,� said Doug Gaumer, president of Intrust Bank in Lawrence and chairman of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce board of directors.

unsuccessfully undergoing two types of chemotherapy. Two years later, she’s healthy. She tends to her flowers, cooks and spends time with her family, with her second great-grandchild on the way shortly. “I feel fantastic,� KenComprehensive needs nicott said. Gaumer said there Now KU Cancer CenPlease see STEM, page 2A

Please see CENTER, page 2A

Bike ride encourages cycle of exercise By Nicole Wentling nwentling@ljworld.com

In July, the decision to leave an air-conditioned home for some time in the great outdoors can be a tough one, but one local group hopes to make it a bit more appealing. The Central Rotary Club aims to get Lawrence residents off their couches and onto their

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bicycles in the third annual Community Bike Ride this Saturday at the Rotary Arboretum near Clinton Lake. “We have an objective to help people realize there’s a great alternative to staying inside,� said Stephen Lane, chairman of the event. “This is why we do it. We have to just hope that they really get out there.�

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So far, the club’s signature event has been deemed a success. A little more than 100 people attended the inaugural Community Bike Ride in 2011, and 225 attended last year. Lane expects the trend to continue, and estimates that about 300 will participate this Saturday. There are three routes for cyclists to choose

from: the 1-mile loop around the arboretum, the 3-mile family ride to Clinton Lake Overlook Park and back, and the slightly more challenging 10-mile ride to Interstate 70 and back. The 10-mile starts at 8 a.m. and the 3-mile begins at 8:30. The 1-mile loop, which is also open to those who would like to Please see BIKE, page 2A

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