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Jason Edward Tsaggaris was born in Connecticut in 1972. After moving many times, the Tsaggaris family settled in Moon Township, a suburb of Pittsburgh, PA. Jason graduated from Kiski Prep School in Saltsburg, PA in 1990 and then from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA with a BS in Civil Engineering in 1995. Before his diagnosis, he worked for 7 years as an environmental/civil engineer at ENSR Int'l, an engineering/consulting company. He met Melissa in 1997 and they were married in March of 2000. In his spare time, he liked to golf, play volleyball and soccer, teach boys' youth soccer and was, in general, a true sports nut!
Jason was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia M0/1 Abnormal Karotypes on August 15, 2002. He went through induction therapy in August and September at the UPMC-Shadyside Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA. It was followed by two rounds of consolidation therapy, one each in October and November. Unfortunately, he got word on January 6, 2003 that he had relapsed. He was in Houston, TX at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center from mid-February to early September and received his Matched Unrelated (and anonymous) Donor bone marrow transplant on April 18, 2003. He rejected the new marrow and had a 2nd (this time a Haplo) transplant on June 13th using his dad's stem cells. He was released from the hospital after 14 days. His 30-day post-transplant bone marrow biopsy showed his DNA to be 100% donor (his dad's) and no signs of leukemia. On Augst 29th, Jason received word that his leukemia had again returned.
Jason, Melissa, Lex and Peggy came back to Pittsburgh in early September immediately following a boost of his dad's stem cells. Soon thereafter, Jason's white blood cell counts continued to rise as his red blood cell and platelet counts continued to fall. Jason was given the opportunity to begin another round of chemotherapy in an attempt to slow the progress of the leukemia. Given the insurmountable odds and the aggressive nature of the disease, Jason chose to not have any additional treatments.
Jason passed away on Thursday Sepetember 25, 2003.
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