Scott W Harden - Medical Status

Scott is currently undergoing an allogenic bone marrow transplant to treat relapsed peripheral T-cell lymphoma. Transplant progress is tracked with frequent blood tests.

The transplant itself appears to be successful, but Scott experienced several dangerous complications along the way that are delaying his recovery.

Updated: 2026-07-31

Transplant Chart

In an allogeneic bone marrow transplant, chemotherapy destroys the existing bone marrow, which is then replaced by donor stem cells. White blood cell (WBC) count is a key metric for evaluating transplant progress. WBC count approaches zero several days after chemotherapy and recovers as donor stem cells engraft and produce new blood cells. Additional chemotherapy after transplant helps moderate the activity of the newly engrafted immune system, reducing the risk of graft vs host disease (GVHD).

Timeline

2026 Jun: Allogenic bone marrow transplant

Pre-transplant chemo: fludarabine and melphalan
Transplant: stem cells from an unrelated anonymous donor (7 of 8 HLA match)
Post-transplant chemo: cyclophosphamide

2026 May: PET CT indicates remission
2026 Apr: Chemotherapy: ifosfamide, carboplatin, etoposide
2026 Feb: Chemotherapy: duvelisib and romidepsin (aborted due to HLH reaction)
2025 Dec: Antibody therapy: anti-CD94 (aborted due to incomplete response)
2025 Nov: Relapse identified via CT and confirmed with surgery

2019: Treatments considered successful. Stable health for 6 years.
2019: Autologous bone marrow transplant
2019: Radiation therapy
2018: Chemotherapy: cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (CHOP, 5 rounds)
2018: Indolent disease became aggressive
2012: Diagnosed with Peripheral T-Cell Lymphoma

Photos

Updated my profile photo before starting invasive treatments

Dec 2025, Gainesville, FL

Spending the day in the Clinical Research Unit

Dec 2025, Tampa, FL

Preparing for a long day of chemotherapy infusion

March 2026, Gainesville, FL

Losing my hair and Cushing's Syndrome makes me look different, but I'm feeling all right

April 2026, Tampa, FL

Pet CTs show disease progression over the last year, partial response to antibody therapy (Jan 16), and remission (May 4)

May 2026, Tampa, FL

Getting some computer time in between doctor appointments

May 2026, Tampa, FL

How Can I Help?

Donate blood: During this process I am unable to make enough blood and platelets to support myself, and I rely on transfusions from blood donors to keep me alive. I owe my life to anonymous blood donors, and if you donate blood and encourage others to do the same, it goes a long way toward helping people like me!
Join the bone marrow registry: A healthy person with the right genetic match can donate some of their bone marrow to someone with blood cancer, allowing them to make healthy blood on their own, curing their disease! It can be hard to find a donor with a good genetic match, so the more people join the National Marrow Donor Program, the more people can be cured! Join the National Marrow Donor Program and you could save the life of someone like me!

Impact on Open Source Projects

Scott is an avid open source contributor and maintainer of several projects in the field of data visualization and signal analysis. Scott reduced open-source work in 2025 and stopped it completely in early 2026 to focus entirely on health. Scott is excited to return as an active maintainer after his health recovers.

Miscellaneous

Personal website: https://swharden.com
GitHub: https://github.com/swharden
2019 medical blog: https://swharden.com/med/
Contact: You are welcome to reach out to me directly, but as my energy drops it becomes harder to respond. Those around me will keep this page up to date if I become unable to update it myself.