Search Results

Stephanie

I am 39 years old. At the age of 34 after having been very sick and misdiagnosed for over a year I was diagnosed at the Cleveland Clinic in May 2016 with Hodgkin's lymphoma.

At the point that I was diagnosed, it had advanced to stage 4B, which is the last stage of the disease. I have always had faith and relied on god but I can tell you I drew closer to him and relied on him in way I never had before when these disease came about.

Kimberly

When my husband, NFL linebacker Elijah, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2005, shortly after retiring from the Oakland Raiders, we were stunned. Neither of us had ever heard of it.

Life with multiple myeloma became an instant roller coaster. As his caregiver I knew it was my job to learn as much as possible about what we were facing, while trying to keep things normal for our two young sons. 

Doug

Four years ago, 53-year-old Doug was getting ready to walk in his son's wedding, but he had been recently diagnosed with gastric lymphoma and was worried about his future.

While undergoing chemotherapy, Doug ate a lot of unhealthy foods and gained a lot of weight. While in treatment, he decided he needed to take control of his health and began to make some healthy lifestyle changes not only to fight cancer, but tackle his obesity and smoking habit as well.

Lynn

My wife, Lynn Lancour, spent endless time and resources organizing a bicycle trip from San Diego to St. Augustine, approximately 3,000 miles, to raise funds and awareness for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS).  

Robert

I was diagnosed with stage 4 T-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (T-NHL) nearly 20 years ago in March of 2002. By the grace and power of God and modern medicine, I have been cancer-free for the last 20 years!

Aryanna

My daughter Aryanna was diagnosed with stage 2 non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) when she was two years old. Her treatment lasted three months, and she is a survivor of five years. As a young mom, I had no idea that this could happen to us. It all started with random nights of vomiting and fever. There were quite a few series of events that led up to her diagnosis. As a two-year-old, you think she’s just sick because she’s in daycare. She would get random fevers at night and would vomit, but it wouldn’t last.

Ashton

Finding out Ashton was sick started as a bunch of nothing ― small headaches, fevers, dizzy spells ― but you would never know she was not well. She was working, going to school, and caring for her son. Then the lumps came. They first started in her neck and abdomen. She refused to slow down for care due to trying to be a super mom, but one day the pain in her neck was so severe she finally went to the hospital. We then learned she had non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Soon after, she had multiple surgeries and started her battle off fighting strong with chemo, but it didn’t slow down her spirit.

Mendya

First, I must express appreciation to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) for providing educational resources, knowledge, and financial assistance to those of us affected by blood cancer. LLS spotlights blood cancer and gives a voice to so many like myself. Thank you. As a way to show my support to LLS and to raise awareness, I have raised $210 in September 2023, Blood Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM), via Facebook. This is just the beginning of my advocacy. 

Anna

In 2016 I received one of the scariest calls. My 9-year-old niece had just been diagnosed with leukemia. I live on the opposite side of the country. I was by her side in under 12 hours where I spent the next month trading shifts with her mom as we watched her struggle through treatment. During her hospital stay, we learned of several children from our small community battling the same cancer. I began advocating for these kids and the situation grew bigger than we could have ever could have imagined. That story is for another time. I eventually had to come back home to Seattle.

Yvonne

I am 56 years old and a proud 16-year survivor of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). The journey has been filled with struggles, instability, emotional ups and downs, coupled with chronic pain throughout the day and into the night. The things that have strengthened me the most are my faith in God, my family, dear friends, my church, and other survivors who gave me hope and extended themselves to me as advisers, also, prayer partners and sounding boards during moments of sheer frustration. I met the love of my life during my second year of chemo, something I thought could never happen!

Yarnall Family

To be of service to others comes naturally to the Yarnalls. Bob is a 25-year Marine Corps veteran and a teacher. Kim is a chiropractor for over 22 years.

Rob

My blood cancer story started in 1987 when I was diagnosed and treated for testicular cancer with surgery and chemotherapy. As I progressed to the end of the chemo regimen, my blood counts would not return to normal. A bone marrow biopsy showed that I had developed treatment-related acute myeloid leukemia (AML) as a result of the chemotherapy for the testicular cancer.

Leigh

In August 2019, I developed pneumonia for the third time in two years. I had been finding that my ability to fight off illness was not as good as it used to be. Once it got to the point that I was having problems breathing, I decided to go to urgent care. Two years prior, I had been hospitalized for pneumonia, and I wasn’t looking forward to it happening again. I Googled the nearest urgent care, and it was closed. There was only one nearby that was open, but I had never been before.

Zach

It was 2020, and besides the obvious chaos in the world, at that time my life was going great. My business was thriving, I had just gotten engaged, and my fiancée and I were beginning to talk about starting a family. I was at what felt like the peak of my life. Everything was going my way, or so I thought.

Heidi

My story starts a year before I was officially diagnosed. For months, I had been having GI issues, severe stomach pain, unexplained weight loss, and unexplained anemia. I was seeing the nurse practitioner (NP) at my primary care provider’s (PCP) office who kept prescribing antacids and attributed my symptoms to anxiety. It wasn't until a full year after my symptoms began that I went to a different NP at that office for swelling in my neck that had originally been dismissed as a muscle strain. She didn't like what she saw and immediately sent me for a CT scan.

Chemotherapy and Drug Therapy

Treatment of CLL is started when symptoms develop that are associated with active disease. Before starting treatment, it is important to have another FISH test to see if there are any changes to the genes and/or chromosomes of the CLL cells. 

What to Tell Your Child

Regardless of age, children are usually aware when their health causes their parents concern. Your child may experience a variety of emotions, such as anger, guilt, fear, anxiety and sadness, all in quick succession. Sometimes parents wish to shield their child from information about the illness and its treatment. Keep in mind that your child will use his or her imagination to fill in perceived gaps of information. Talk with your child about the illness and its treatment. Listen carefully to what your child is saying (or not saying) and then answer his or her questions.

Lab and Imaging Tests

Doctors use several different lab and imaging tests to help detect (diagnose) a blood cancer (leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, myelodysplastic syndromes or myeloproliferative disease). You may need to undergo additional tests to confirm your diagnosis.

Once your diagnosis is confirmed, your doctor may need to test you for certain genetic, cellular or molecular characteristics that will help him or her treat your specific diagnosis.

Your doctor considers these test results along with information from your physical examination and detailed medical history to:

Rebecca

On September 5, 2019, my world was forever flipped upside down. I heard the words, “This looks like signs and patterns of lymphoma cancer.” I froze at that moment and kept hearing the word cancer over and over again. Tears streamed down my face, and I remember everything else the ER doctor said was just gibberish to me. How could I have cancer? I’m a 26-year-old young adult who just gave birth to a healthy little boy. This could not be right.  

Boyd

Greetings from a friend in Canada! I am a two-time blood cancer survivor and marathon runner all because of the love of friends in The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS)! I had a life saving stem cell transplant from an American Naval Serviceman named Nathan Barnes who was in Japan when he saved my life. (2011-12). My stem cell transplant was May 2012!! A year after my stem cell transplant a friend took me to Alaska and ran a marathon for me with Team in Training! (2013).

Emily

Emily, a 32-year-old mother of three young children, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in August 2013. After a whirlwind of intense treatments over the next two years including chemotherapy, a stem cell transplant and months of hospitalization, Emily relapsed soon after each treatment. In January 2015, Emily was given a devastating prognosis – doctors said she had six months to live. 

Bishoy

Leukemia Survivor Travels From Egypt to Receive Treatment

At just three years old, Bishoy’s parents uprooted him and his family from Egypt to America after he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He underwent treatment for most of his childhood until finally receiving a clean bill of health at thirteen years old. 

Katherine

Hello! My name is Katherine and I was diagnosed in January 2020 with stage IV classical Hodgkin's lymphoma. My diagnosis came after months of fatigue and diffuse body pain. Initially I was evaluated for lupus or RA, but those diagnoses didn't quite fit. After discussing with my PCP again and noting a persistent cough, a CT and PET-CT showed diffuse lymphadenopathy and lesions on my liver and spleen.

Alexis

CANCER, that one word that sits like a lump in the back of your throat making you unable to swallow...

I was in sixth grade when my hero, my dad, was diagnosed with hairy cell leukemia.

Over the years, my dad has gone through his fair share of chemotherapy.  Usually after treatment, his cancer became dormant, and then resurfaced a few years later.  The dreadful "process" would repeat itself, getting a little harder each time as his body became resistant to the therapy.

Bethany

I was 28, married for two years, and my husband and I had just celebrated our one year anniversary at my business, Gigi’s Cupcakes. But on March 30, 2012, that all changed.