Combination Chemotherapy Plus Infusion of White Blood Cells in Treating Patients With Hematologic Cancer

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: * Diagnosis of relapsed or persistent acute leukemia, myelodysplasia, aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), or chronic myeloid leukemia in transformed phase (accelerated phase or blast crisis) after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) * Aggressive NHL defined as diffuse mixed, diffuse large cell, diffuse small noncleaved cell, and lymphoblastic histologies * No active acute graft versus host disease (GVHD) or extensive chronic GVHD PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: Age: * Not specified Performance status: * ECOG 0-2 Life expectancy: * More than 4 weeks Hematopoietic: * Not specified Hepatic: * Not specified Renal: * Not specified Other: * No severe psychiatric illness or mental deficiencies PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: Biologic therapy: * See Disease Characteristics * At least 6 months since prior allogeneic BMT * No other concurrent interleukin-2 * No other concurrent immunomodulatory medication (e.g., interferon) Chemotherapy: * Not specified Endocrine therapy: * No concurrent steroids Radiotherapy: * Not specified Surgery: * Not specified Other: * No concurrent immunosuppressive medication (e.g., cyclosporine) for GVHD