Search Results
Carolyn
In November 2014, my daughter Valerie was born. Shortly after, I was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection by my doctor and received 3 rounds of antibiotics because it just wasn’t going away. Life was hectic as I learned to care for my newborn and I was getting into a new routine. Some of my lymph nodes became swollen. I was having night sweats. I developed a rash and high fevers.
Katie
I want to share my blood cancer journey. It all started back in October 2019 when I was at Gonzaga University. I started to experience the symptoms that I’m sure we’re all far too familiar with ― stomach pain, digestive problems, nausea, chest pain, and fatigue, all of which I was dealing with in addition to 20+ hours a week of tennis practice and a 15-credit class load.
Nathaniel
Hi! Nathaniel here, but you can call me Nate. I am an 18-year-old North Carolina Scholar, 2015 graduate of Franklinton High School who graduated with high honors. I am a future student of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, majoring in mechanical engineering. I am a son, brother, grandson, nephew, cousin, boyfriend, friend, percussionist, musician, scholarship recipient, car and truck enthusiast, minority mentor, and an all around "Renaissance Man" with a philanthropist heart. I also have cancer
Daniel
I was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in March 2010 at the age of 48. The cancer advanced rapidly and I was treated with a fludarabine/cyclophosphamide/rituximab (FCR) regimen at MD Anderson in Houston and locally in my hometown of Raleigh, NC between January and July of 2011. The treatment achieved a partial remission. However, in September of the same year I was diagnosed with a large diffuse b-cell lymphoma tumor in my lung.
Chelsea
Initially, I joked with my boss at work about the lymph node swelling in my neck and about taking another sick day off. I finally decided to see my primary care physician about it, who is typically very jovial. That day he wasn't joking much and referred me to a local ENT. Every test and scan from that first opinion pointed to a malignancy. I was in deep denial about being diagnosed with cancer, even after my second opinion at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston when the nurse asked if I wanted a snack.
Rino
This is the story of Rino La Paglia, a son, brother, boyfriend, uncle, cousin and friend to many who knew him.
Rino was first diagnosed with T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma in February 2008. He was 33 years old at the time, and was in remission by 2010. Everything was great, Rino went back to being a electrician, softball player and living life to his fullest. Then, in October 2015 Rino found out, his cancer came back, he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic lymphoma (ALL).
Andreas Strasser, Ph.D., MSc, FAA
A Pioneering Researcher Developing Targeted Therapies for Leukemia, Lymphoma and Myeloma
A cancer researcher trained in cell biology, immunology and molecular oncology, Dr. Strasser has made major contributions leading to discoveries that have found that defects in cell death can cause cancer and impair responses to chemotherapy. With this knowledge, his research team is able to develop new treatments.
Sophia
My wife and I would have never heard of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) if it were not for losing our 12-year-old daughter on March 12, 2013 to undiagnosed leukemia. If you've heard me speak of my daughter Sophia, you've heard this word: perfect. Her laugh, her eyes, her beautiful smile were all perfect. Sophia was a loving, kind and compassionate child. She loved her friends, her dogs (Katie & Daisy), and her family. Perfect. Sophia's story is very different from others.
Cynthia
In June 2014, I dislocated my knee. I saw the doctor and after an MRI and an X-ray was told I needed physical therapy and rest. I did both and my knee saw a slight improvement but on New Year's Day 2015, while playing with my children, I dislocated my knee again.
Storm
When ten-year-old, Storm Owens was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, he was just finishing his spring season with his hockey team. Despite the effects of chemotherapy, he continued on-ice training with his coach and remained confident that he would beat this. He was determined to get back in the net by the fall season.
In early October, Storm's scan results were negative and his port was removed. On October 18, 2016, he was cleared to return to the ice and had just two practices before his first game on October 22, 2016.
Becky
In 2019, I was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoma (TCL). In 2021, I had a stem cell transplant. As of November 23, 2023, I am cancer-free.
Roberto
In the fall of 2014, I was living my dream. I had just finished my freshman year at NYU, where I studying musical theater. I was living in the East Village, experiencing everything that New York has to offer. Even though I was a long way from my family in Miami, I absolutely loved it. However, I soon started to feel lethargic, coupled with a lymph node that was popping out of my neck and getting bigger. Something just wasn’t right. I was downing 9 Advil a day and started seeing doctors to try and figure out what was going on.
Cheryl
My father passed at age 60 of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). He would have been 100 on November 16. I dedicated the 50-Mile Challenge to him.
Jayne & Jenny
My sister Jenny and I both have chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), and I was doing the Facebook challenge, “50 Miles in November,” for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) in honor of us.
Kristen
I was diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma (BL) when I was 21 years old. It was the summer going into my senior year of college, and I had just returned home from a semester abroad. I assumed the stomachaches I was experiencing were because of the food and drinks I had while enjoying my time in Europe. I was actually told I had H. pylori and started antibiotics that were supposed to alleviate the stomach pains. But then a lump on my neck appeared, and I thought the worst.
Matthew
Three months into my husband’s yearlong deployment to South Korea, Captain Matthew Marggraf started noticing a painless lump forming on the side his neck. Thinking it was just his body adjusting to its new environment he thought nothing of it. When he visited home for two short weeks for our wedding and honeymoon in October we noticed the now golf ball sized lump. They urged him to get it checked out as Hodgkins lymphoma ran in his family.
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.
Douglas
In December 2007 my life completely changed. I had a biopsy done just four days before Christmas, and my oncologist called me on Christmas Day to tell me that I needed to come in and see him after the holidays to discuss my pathology report. I was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma. I endured five surgeries in just four weeks and spent my 36th birthday in the hospital. I never once thought that cancer was going to beat me. My mindset was that I had cancer, but it did not have me.
Michelle
In 2011, I had started graduate school, had a two-year-old son, and ran a small business with my then husband. I was very fatigued and having night sweats and itchiness. I thought I was just stressed, and I was, but after several months of trying to get health insurance and then many tests, it was confirmed that I had Hodgkin lymphoma.
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.
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.
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.
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.