BATON ROUGE — Our Lady of the Lake Hospital on Wednesday celebrated its first autologous bone marrow transplant in almost a decade.

William Carruthers had multiple myeloma, a type of cancer that damages the bones, immune system and kidneys, as well as severely reducing red blood cell count.

"Right off the bat I have been on chemo for eight months before this so I lost a taste appetite and 35 pounds," Carruthers said.

Vice President of the Cancer Institute at Our Lady of the Lake Susan Foret said the autologous bone marrow surgery, which uses healthy blood stem cells from your own body to replaced cancerous bone marrow, has only recently been added back to the hospital. It's been eight or nine years since the surgery was offered at the hospital.

"This is a monumental time for us at the lake. Even in the Baton Rouge market, we got our first oncologist, Dr. Hana Safa and Dr. Nakhle Saba have brought that program here, and it allows us to provide life-saving events," she said.

Carruthers told WBRZ that when he first received his diagnosis, he was shocked. However, he did not take it as hard as his family, who motivated him.

"I live for my kids and my granddaughter, they're my whole life I don't want to lose that live for my kids and my granddaughter, they're my whole life I don't want to lose that," Carruthers said.

Carruthers said he will not be able to hold his family during his 100-day recovery period.

"The little one calls me her Pepaw she comes around and comes to sit in my lap, that is going to be the hardest part," he said.  "I won't be able to hold my grandkids, have them come in and sit next to me that's going to be tough."

Carruthers said he urges everybody to keep up with their checkups because you will never know when an appointment will save your life like one did for him.