Tim Blair
The thank you card Tim Blair chose to send to his medical team at Colorado Blood Cancer Institute (CBCI) after his blood cancer treatment featured an orca whale, rising from the water, powerful and surging upward. For Tim (69), a retired massage therapist from Santa Fe, NM, it felt like the perfect image of what survival can look like: a hard rise after a long time underwater. “It seemed to represent me personally and this moment of emerging from where I’ve been,” he explained.
Tim’s journey began in 2020 when a lump suddenly developed in his upper leg, leading to a lymphoma diagnosis. His treatment began with six months of aggressive chemotherapy, which resolved the cancer for a time. For the next several years, he regularly met with his oncologist, working to return to the life he loved: walking in nature, reading, practicing yoga and meditation and enjoying time with family. But in 2024, signs of recurrence appeared. He went through another six months of chemotherapy, lighter than before but still exhausting.
After this round of chemotherapy, Tim’s oncologist felt he needed more specialized care and referred him to CBCI, expanding his care across state lines to Denver, CO. The relationship began via a telehealth visit with Michael Tees, MD, board-certified, fellowship-trained hematologist/oncologist. “Things moved really quickly after that,” Tim recalled. The initial plan explored whether stem cell transplant was a good option. After additional chemotherapy and a PET scan, Tim learned that he was not a candidate. Instead, the team recommended CAR T-cell therapy, an advanced, personalized treatment that involves collecting the patient’s T cells, reprogramming them to better recognize the cancer, and infusing them back into the patient so they can fight the disease.
As he prepared for infusion, Tim returned to a practice that had helped steady him for years. A big believer in visualization, he leaned on it throughout his treatment. “My niece is into visualization,” Tim said. “Before PET scans, she would have me visualize healthy activity in my body, that my cells are fighting off the cancer.” When the time came for CAR T-cell therapy, he took the idea further by bringing a handmade sign into his infusion room. In brightly colored handwriting, it said, “Welcome home, T-cells.”
Within days, Tim and his wife, Lian, were making the drive north. “I remember being anxious in the car,” he said. “I had to lay down in the back of the car while my wife drove.” In Denver, the pace was intense: pre-testing, a bone marrow sample, T-cell collection and then weeks of daily monitoring. Through it all, Tim remembers not only the team’s clinical expertise but also the human connection. “The care team was just really service-oriented. And, overall, great,” he said. “Every visit, everyone seemed to know the whole situation. The continuity was just stunning.” Even the long, four-hour collection appointment felt more manageable because of the staff’s calm competence, warmth and kindness.
When Dr. Tees was out of the office on parental leave, Johnathan Lockhart, MD, stepped in to guide Tim and Lian through the next phase. Dr. Lockhart prepared them for what might happen after infusion, including the potential complications. Tim appreciated the honesty and clarity. “It was great he went through all that,” Tim said. “It allowed us to be prepared.”
Two days after infusion, Tim developed a high fever in the early morning hours. After a visit to the emergency department at HCA HealthONE Presbyterian St. Luke’s, he was admitted for six days, including four in the ICU. It was the hardest stretch of the journey, physically and emotionally. “For me, this just wasn’t normal,” Tim said. “This is not an everyday thing.” Lian stayed with him the entire time. “She slept in the ICU… and was just radiating love at me the whole time,” Tim said, crediting her steady presence with helping him keep going when he felt foggy, uncomfortable and not quite himself.
Then came the moment that changed everything. At their final visit, the PET scan showed no uptake and no evidence of active cancer. Lian remembers the room filling with joy. “He was beside himself with joy,” she said of Dr. Tees. When they got home, Tim reached for a handcrafted card he’d held onto, waiting for a moment worth it. The orca on the front made perfect sense, capturing exactly how it felt to surface again.
