Search Results
Dean
I was losing the battle with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and lymphoma in August of 2013 when I ran across this quote from Albert Einstein, "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." I decided to adopt this as my standard to live by. It gave me new insight and a passion for living that fueled my will to live.
Riley
In November of 2021, I found a lump on my neck that lead me to my primary care doctor's walk-in clinic due to the amount of growth I had seen over a few weeks. I believed it to be related to thyroid or my previous diagnosis of lupus of the skin, which I later found out I did not actually have. The doctor at the clinic sent me for a CT scan of my neck and an ultrasound at which point it was determined that I had lymphoma. I received a few more CT scans that showed more masses in my lungs and the majority of my upper body.
Haley
I was diagnosed on February 21, 2020, with stage 3B nodular sclerosing Hodgkin lymphoma (NSHL). I was attending UNLV and working on finishing my prerequisites to apply to the nursing program. One month later, COVID hit the U.S. and shut everything down. I had to go to all of my appointments alone. I was able to freeze my eggs before starting treatment two days later on April 3, 2020. I felt like my entire world had been turned upside down, just for the entire world to descend into chaos. It was a very scary and stressful time.
Neil
It all started with what I thought was an injury to my right hip from "banana boating" while on a family vacation in Myrtle Beach in 2006. The pain wouldn't leave, so I went through physical therapy with moderate success. But night sweats, incredible nightmares, and utter exhaustion were also taking place. The doctor decided to do a scan. The abnormalities showed that a referral to an oncologist was needed. It all went downhill very fast from there with liver failure and fainting spells. I was a Spanish teacher and could barely make it through the day.
Lily
My name is Lily Tran. On December 7, 2007 my father passed away. A week after returning home from the funeral, I was sick with pneumonia. My primary care doctor prescribed me antibiotics and an inhaler. Two weeks later, I was still not feeling well. I was swelling and I was experiencing a sharp pain on the right side of my stomach. In January 2008, I went to the ER and they did an ultrasound of my stomach and saw something was wrong with my gallbladder and admitted me to the hospital for an operation to remove the gallbladder.
Paula
My Cancer Story/Journey so far:
I was diagnosed 21 years ago at age 44 with low grade indolent B cell follicular lymphoma.
I went for a routine colonoscopy and they found a very small swollen lymph node in my ileum. I had absolutely no symptoms at all. After two colonoscopies in two weeks and four medical consultations I went through CHOP chemotherapy. Today they would have just done "wait and watch." At the end of my treatment even my oncologist said if I had come to him without other recommendations he would have done nothing. Anyway that is history.
Chrystal
I was first diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in June 1991, about a month shy of my 21st birthday. I was in school for cosmetology, had just signed divorce papers from my first husband and was dating the man who would become my second husband. Life was great for me.
Nancy
Being a lymphoma survivor means that you have lived through something very challenging. There is no doubt that cancer is one of the most challenging diseases. The treatments for this disease are very intense physically, mentally, and emotionally. As a retired oncology registered nurse, I saw the pain and desperation in the eyes and lives of my patients and their families. Never imagined that I was to become a cancer patient myself.
Laura
I was diagnosed with stage IVB Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) about a week after my 30th birthday in 2018. I was a new mom to an 8-month-old baby and had been experiencing several symptoms of Lymphomas the months after having my son, but I assumed they were from having a child and would never thought in a million years that it was cancer. I received all of my care at The University of Michigan Cancer Center. My NP Dava and my doctor, Dr. Gitlin were top-notch in both my medical and mental treatment and care.
Emily
Summer 2019 I was feeling great and cancer was the last thing on my mind. I had just run a half marathon and was planning to do a few more destination races. Shortly after the half marathon, I started getting awful knee pain. It was excruciating but I never thought much of it, assuming it was just an injury. After making an appointment at a sports medicine facility an MRI revealed there was a good size tumor in my left knee. This doctor told me it is most likely a giant cell tumor which is benign. From there he referred me to an orthopedic specialist down in Boston.
Chaneta Juliet
Hi, my name is Chaneta, I like to go by Juliet. This past year has been an interesting one, to say the least. I’m a singer-songwriter who wrote and released an album in October 2017. I thought the year was going to be an amazing one–promoting and performing–unfortunately, I performed one time and I began to literally unravel. In December 2017, I caught the flu. Normal stuff, not too bad right? Well, about three weeks in, it got worse. It turned into walking pneumonia. Chest X-rays revealed a blood clot lodged in my right-side lung.
Sandra
I'm a survivor of multiple myeloma and MDS. Now I just want to raise awareness for the cause its seriousness.
Having both these diseases is tough, but I'm trying to take it all in and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society offers wonderful support.
Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-Cell Therapy
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Nicole
It all started back in early January 2013. I went to the local clinic in town because I was having pain in my upper left chest. Being young, I wasn't too concerned about it being a heart problem and left the clinic with the diagnosis of torn cartridge. The doctor said it would heal and I should take ibuprofen to ease the pain.
Heather
Heather Banks draws her inspiration from her good friend, who has been fighting non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma for the past 10 years and her college best friend who is a survivor. She is motivated by her friends’ strength, determination, and positivity. In times of feeling helpless, she channels that energy and puts it into her sewing machine.
Elyssa
My daughter, Elyssa donated her hair for children with cancer only months before she herself was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma. Upon her diagnosis, she had the rest of her hair put in ponytails and had it cut to her scalp so the rest could be donated.
Being diagnosed in her first year of college at University of Connecticut, she immediately went to the disabilities office and applied so she could continue with the semester.
Kay and David LaFrance
As an 18-year breast cancer survivor, Kay was just starting to enjoy retirement in 2018 when she was diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma. Even though she had fought cancer before, she was stricken with despair and disbelief and felt terrified of the road ahead of her. She had to travel to a different city to receive her specialized treatment, which was outside of her insurance network, so much of the costs came out of her own pocket. After a long, hard fight, she is now in remission, but lives with the everyday fear of her cancer coming back.
Steve
Shortly before Steve McHugh and his wife moved to San Antonio in 2010, the rising star chef was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and spent a year undergoing eight rounds of chemotherapy. During treatment, he was in the middle of moving to San Antonio and helping to open a new restaurant. Between managing construction, organizing food vendors and working with the kitchen designer, he was able to find some time to go home and rest.
Andrew
My son, Andrew, was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) in January 2022. He had been very tired for months, and we had a frustrating few months while our primary care physician (PCP) missed his diagnosis and chalked it up to being a busy teen and perhaps needing a sleep study. When he was finally diagnosed, he was stage 4. He underwent six months of intense chemotherapy. Mid-treatment scans showed a complete response, and we were excited and relieved. His post-treatment PET scan, however, showed recurrence.
Jessica
My name is Jessi, and I am a stage 4B Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) survivor. My journey to diagnosis was a long and winding road, filled with misdiagnoses until January 2016 when my battle truly began. That year was the toughest of my life, enduring the rigors of chemo and radiation. But it was also the year I decided to document my journey through my blog, Lymphoma Barbie, not just as a personal outlet but as a beacon of hope for others navigating the murky waters of cancer.
Zoe
My name is Zoe. I am 23 years old, and I am currently on my way to remission from primary mediastinal non-Hodgkin lymphoma (PMBL). It was always my dream to be a young mom, and when I finally got pregnant, I could not have been happier. However, I got to 32 weeks pregnant, and I was severely out of breath. I went to the hospital which led me to finding out I had lymphoma. They found a 12 cm. mass in my chest. My whole life came crumbling down at that very moment. I had no symptoms of my cancer whatsoever, and doctors thought I had a 1% chance of having cancer.
Terry
My life has been an interesting journey. In April 2019, I lost my wife of 20 years, and in August 2020, I lost my older brother to leukemia. My wife was 50, and my brother was 64. After several months of excruciating pain in my abdomen, I was finally diagnosed with non-Hodgkin B-cell lymphoma (B-NHL) in May 2021. I was 58. Upon entering the hospital in June for my first round of chemo, I was diagnosed with acute renal failure. After several days of treatment, I finally started my chemotherapy. I was lucky, or so I thought, no radiation for me.