DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: Confirmed diagnosis of primary tumor and/or recurrence that has a low curative potential using other therapies, including but not limited to: Acute leukemia Myeloma Breast cancer Ovarian cancer Hodgkin's disease Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma Neuroblastoma Ewing's sarcoma In the absence of recurrence, malignancies for which an autotransplant regimen is considered a reasonable therapeutic alternative are also considered Greater than 25% of bone marrow normal cellularity and less than 10% of volume composed of tumor cells No active brain metastases or carcinomatous meningitis (controlled CNS metastases eligible)