More than 50 years ago when Chris Lundy was 21, he had a bone marrow transplant (BMT) at Fred Hutch Cancer Center that saved his life. At that time, transplant for blood disorders was a new and evolving procedure that had been pioneered at Fred Hutch. Lundy, now one of the oldest known living BMT survivors, recalls that his case was included in the seminal 1975 paper titled simply “Bone-Marrow Transplantation” and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

“I was a pretty sick puppy,” said Lundy, who lives in San Diego.

In this episode, Lundy reminisces about his time in Seattle and what it was like to be a “guinea pig” when his life was on the line.

Watch the interview at the top of this article or on FredHutch.org.

Listen to the audio interview
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Tune in for more episodes of From Bench to Bedside and Beyond. And if you’re interested in being a guest, please reach out to brochman@fredhutch.org.

Bonnie Rochman is a senior editor and writer at Fred Hutch Cancer Center. A former health and parenting writer for Time, she has written a popular science book about genetics, “The Gene Machine: How Genetic Technologies Are Changing the Way We Have Kids—and the Kids We Have.” Reach her at brochman@fredhutch.org.

This article was originally published September 25, 2025, by Fred Hutch News Service. It is republished with permission.