Cooper back, still battling

EVERETT — A windy afternoon last week reminded Mike Cooper he should start bringing a hat wherever he goes.

The Snohomish County Councilman isn’t shy about the clean-shaven look he has sported since his second round of cancer treatment. It’s just that he tends to get cold without his familiar shock of thick, sandy hair.

Cooper is back in the public eye after a more than two months away. It can take even close acquaintances a moment to register his new appearance, but there’s no mistaking the retired firefighter’s booming voice or determined approach.

“I’ve been feeling better the past couple of weeks,” Cooper said. “I was getting bored.”

Treatment for multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, has kept Cooper away from County Council meetings since mid-February. The 58-year-old started easing back in late April by sitting in on a public hearing and attending a workers’ memorial.

He returned to full-time work this week.

Cooper said doctors initially told him he might need to spend three or four months on the sidelines because his stem-cell transplant sapped his immune system, making him more prone to infection.

With key votes looming on the council, Cooper is anxious to get back into the legislative fray. Even so, he might work shorter days, take an occasional nap and avoid crowds.

“You probably won’t see me shaking hands with many people,” he said. “I just have to recognize that I don’t have the immune system I had before.”

Multiple myeloma starts in the bone marrow, where blood cells are made. It affects plasma cells, a type of white blood cell. Symptoms include kidney damage, bone pain and fatigue.

About 20,000 new cases are diagnosed in the U.S. each year and about 60,000 people are living with the disease, said Dr. William Bensinger, a University of Washington professor and director of a Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center stem-cell transplant program.

“It’s a disease that’s easy to treat and very hard to cure,” Bensinger said. “It’s rare for patients to beat the disease completely.”

The outlook is improving, with the median survival now up to five years, Bensinger said. The kind of stem-cell transplant Cooper had, which uses the patient’s own stem cells instead of a donor’s, is proven to help.

Cooper received his diagnosis in July, after being hospitalized with failing kidneys. He returned to the council in early August. He continued chemotherapy sessions into November and was on dialysis until early this year.

In February, Cooper started taking medications to get ready for his stem-cell transplant. Then, doctors removed his blood, separated out stem cells and put the blood back in him during two three-hour sessions. Potent chemotherapy followed.

“For a couple of weeks, you’re pretty sick,” he said. “Think about the worst case of the flu you’ve ever had.”

Around that time, he started to lose his hair.

Attending to him were specialists from the University of Washington Medical Center, Fred Hutchinson and the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, which combines resources from the UW, Fred Hutchinson and Seattle Children’s Hospital.

During treatment, Cooper drew strength from his wife, Chrystal, their three grown children and three grandchildren, the youngest born in April. There was his church, First Baptist of Mountlake Terrace, his firefighting family and people from his political life.

Colleagues at the Shoreline Fire Department, where Cooper worked for more than 25 years, stopped by his house to help.

“The firefighters are like having 20 brothers and sisters right there,” he said.

Before his election in 2007, Cooper spent years in union politics and the Legislature. His county council district covers Lynnwood and Edmonds.

He grew up in Edmonds, where his father was the long-time fire chief, and graduated from Edmonds High School in 1970. Edmonds Mayor Gary Haakenson said he has followed Cooper’s cancer fight from the start.

“He’s very positive and he’s taken that stance since the first day he found out,” Haakenson said. “Just that fact in and of itself shows the toughness that guy’s got, not just physical toughness, but mental toughness.”

Doug Dahl, a battalion chief with Fire District 1 in Edmonds, has admired Cooper’s leadership since he was a young firefighter and Cooper was union president.

“He’s always been a guy who’s been willing to stand up for what’s right,” Dahl said. “All of his hard labor work blazed a trail for all the younger firefighters like myself.”

Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com.