Inclusion Criteria:

- Male or female 18 years of age or older

- Must have a confirmed diagnosis of gastric or rectal cancer for whom the treatment
plan is preoperative chemoradiation followed by surgery

- Must have a baseline hemoglobin >/= 10 g/dl and < 15 g/dl

- Must have adequate hematologic function

- Must have life expectancy of more than 6 months

- Karnofsky performance status of at least 50%

- Must have adequate renal function

- Patients with reproductive potential must use an adequate contraceptive method during
treatment and three months after completing treatment

- Patients must be able to read, understand, and complete the three Quality of Life
questionnaires in English.

Exclusion Criteria:

- Prior chemotherapy for patients with rectal cancer

- Gastric cancer patients who have received more than 2 cycles of chemotherapy

- Anemia due to factors other than cancer/chemotherapy

- Patients with prior treatment with epoetin alfa or any investigational forms of
erythropoietin within the previous 6 months

- Known hypersensitivity to mammalian-cell derived products or to human albumin

- Pregnant or lactating women

- Untreated Central Nervous System metastases

- Any significant, uncontrolled disease/dysfunction of any of the major organs

- Uncontrolled hypertension or history of uncontrolled cardiac arrhythmias, pulmonary
embolism, thrombosis

- New onset or poorly controlled seizures

- History of active second malignancy

- Major infection requiring hospitalization and antibiotics or surgery within 14 days
of study entry

- Blood transfusion within 1 month of study entry

- Androgen therapy within 2 months of study entry