. >> narrator: when albert alberti, 53, was first diagnosed two years ago with mds, a type of leukemiahe was given only months to live. married with three young children, he knew a bone marrow transplant was his only hope for a cure. >> so, albert, how's the skin doing? how's the rash doing? >> not good. >> is it more itchy compared with last week? >> yes. >> yeah, the skin is very, very red. >> narrator: albert had one transplant, but it failed, and then, he had another. both were covered by his insurance. but with each one, he's had terrible complications, including pneumonia and a stroke. >> when the first transplant didn't work, we went to the second one, and i still stayed positive. but then, when i had the stroke, that... that sort of broke me. and i always felt myself as a pretty tough guy, but my emotions lately have been... so it's... it's... it wears at you, these diseases. i had my appendix out once, and it was a week. i was back to normal. broke my arm-- six weeks, and back to normal. it's 11 months and they have no answers. >> we are just still debating about what to give