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Allen Alvarez thought the sniffles and fatigue he was experiencing more than three years ago were just a common cold. But Alvarez, a sergeant in the U. S. Marines stationed in Stuttgart, Germany, at the time, soon realized it was more than a cold he was battling.

"I got back to my room and started throwing up blood," Alvarez said. "I went to the doctor there and he saw something in a chest X-ray he took. An MRI showed it was cancer."

Alvarez, 34, of Boyds, has been free of Hodgkin's Lymphoma since January 2009. He was diagnosed with the cancer in October 2006.

He credits his remission to a stem cell transplant he received at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., in June 2008.

Stem cell transplants are commonly used in lymphoma patients, said Dr. Deborah Banker, a scientist with The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society specializing in stem cell research. Many patients who undergo the procedure live without any cancer reoccurrences, she said.

Banker said the procedure can be grueling. Doctors remove the stem cells from the body, freeze them and give the patient a very high dose of chemotherapy. The frozen stem cells are then injected back into the body and the cells reintroduce themselves to the patient's immune system, she said. Recovery can take months, she said.

"The outcome tends to be good for patients that can stand the treatment," Banker said. "The first real hurdle is having the reintroduced cells take to the patient's body."

A career in the Marines is what Alvarez wanted before doctors discovered cancer in his chest, he said as he talked in the basement of his Boyds home last week.

He wanted to stay in Germany so he started his chemotherapy there. But in October 2007, after his body rejected the chemotherapy he was receiving, he was flown to Walter Reed for a stem cell transplant.

"At the time, you think you're all right. But then it starts to take a mental toll on you," a teary-eyed Alvarez said. "You start wondering if you're going to make it."

Alvarez and his then fiancée, Ramona, were planning their storybook wedding in Florida when doctors discovered the cancer. Ramona Alvarez, 28, and expecting twins in April, said the big wedding plans were put on hold. Instead they slipped off to Denmark in August 2007 for a quiet wedding.

She said she was with him every day until he was flown to Washington, D.C. She moved from her home in Germany to Rockville in June of 2008 to be close to Alvarez as he recuperated, she said.

Alvarez is transitioning from military to civilian life and Ramona from a career dog trainer to a mom. The expectant parents said they are happy about the arrival of their first children.

To spend more time at home with their budding family and still earn an income, they bought a Fetch! Pet Care franchise.

The couple started the franchise on Jan. 20 with eight pet sitters who will care for pets in Germantown, Alvarez said. The nationally known company, which is headquartered in California, provides bonded and vetted in-home pet sitters for pet owners while they travel.

"I just wanted to have something for down the line in case something happened to me," he said. "This business is for the children and my wife."