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Chemotherapy and Drug Therapy

Chemotherapy is generally used only in patients with blast-phase CML as a way to get the CML back into chronic phase. Very high-dose chemotherapy is used to prepares patients for an allogeneic stem cell transplantation.

Signs and Symptoms

Many people are diagnosed with CLL even though they do not have any symptoms. The disease may be suspected because of abnormal results from blood tests that were ordered either as part of an annual physical or a medical examination for an unrelated condition. An unexplained elevated white blood cell (lymphocyte) count is the most common finding that leads a doctor to consider a CLL diagnosis.

Generally, CLL symptoms develop over time. As the disease progresses, a person may experience

Splenectomy

A splenectomy is the procedure done to remove the spleen. Before effective drugs became available for hairy cell leukemia, splenectomy was the first-line treatment for the disease.

Making Treatment Decisions

Adults living with blood cancer must make decisions about treatment, family, work or school and finances. If your child has been diagnosed, you must make similar decisions for your son or daughter.

You'll need to choose:

Side Effects

Therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) can produce side effects. For most patients, treatment side effects are temporary and go away once therapy ends. For other patients, side effects can be severe, sometimes requiring hospitalization.

Before you start treatment, talk with your doctor about potential side effects. Drugs and other therapies can prevent or manage many side effects. Many treatment side effects go away or become less noticeable over time.

The side effects you may experience depend on:

Treatment

Parents are advised to

• Seek treatment from a hematologist/oncologist who is experienced in treating JMML, or from a hematologist/oncologist who is in consultation with a cancer center.
• Speak with their child’s doctor about the most appropriate treatment. 

Without treatment, JMML progresses rapidly. There are two widely used JMML treatment protocols: stem cell transplantation and drug therapy.

Helping Siblings Cope

When a child is diagnosed with cancer, everyone in his or her family is affected by the experience, including the child's brothers and sisters. Siblings can feel angry, anxious, lonely or sad. They may even feel guilty for being healthy or for resenting the attention their sibling is getting. You can help your children cope with a sibling’s diagnosis in some of the following ways:

Ernest

During my summer internship at General Motors in Flint, Michigan, I suddenly started feeling extremely restless. Soon after a lump the side of a golf ball appeared on my neck and I got an extreme sore throat. A doctor told me I just had a sinus infection and gave me Theraflu. 

Jared

At 31, I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). As my career was finally taking off as a celebrity makeup artist and I finally felt “grown-up,” it came to a screeching halt. My life became cancer and getting better. Although I struggled with the isolation, I connected with many other patients via social media.

Todd

This cause is dear to me because my grandmother, Anne Zavorskas, passed away several years ago from Hodgkin’s disease--a form of leukemia. Also, many years ago, my mentor’s son, Ryan Hurley, had a recurrence of leukemia, which he was first diagnosed with at the age of three. He died at the age of 19. Unfortunately, leukemia at the time caused more deaths than any other cancer in children under the age of 20.  These instances led me to my desire to donate time and money to this particular charity. I have volunteered my time and fundraising expertise ever since.

Logan

July 3, 2021, was the day that my life changed forever. I had been dealing with odd symptoms for months, and after multiple visits with dismissive practitioners, I finally had the ear of a doctor who believed me. A tumor located in my mediastinum was discovered via a CT scan. This news was devastating. I was due to be married in one month and how could someone who is just beginning her life possibly have something like this happen?

Michael

In 1995, Michael’s daughter Carley was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), M-7 – a  rare form of blood cancer – at just two and a half years old. For the following year, Michael and his wife, Liz, practically lived at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego while Carley underwent heavy chemotherapy treatment.

Matthew

In September, 2012, Dr. Matthew Levine noticed that his regular exercise routine and rotations in the ER were more physically draining than usual. When Dr. Levine realized he could no longer run a mile like he used to with ease, he contacted his physician.

In the interim, Dr. Levine began developing bruises on his body and a throat infection. He knew that after the testing, the diagnosis would not be good. On Monday, September 17, 2012. Dr. Levine learned he had acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Steve

I was diagnosed with stage 4 follicular lymphoma on May 16, 2018, a date I will never forget. The cancer was already in my bone marrow and when I asked my doctor how long would I live if I did nothing, she said about 90 days. Dr. Amy is scary smart and I told her I needed to attend my son's wedding in a few months; let's see if you can get me there, even if it is in a basket. I started R-CHOP chemo treatments almost right away. The side effects, discomfort and pain were a 9 everyday. Shockingly, for the weekend of the wedding my pain & discomfort dropped down from a 9 to a 1.

Dani

My daughter was a professional dancer out on tour when she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). She was 25 years old dancing in Detroit, Michigan, at the time, feeling short of breath and having night sweats. Being a dancer, you are in the best shape of your life, and you know when something is going on with your body. So as a mom not knowing what was wrong, I started to panic and told her to start at the urgent care. Two days later I was on a plane heading to Detroit where they told her they thought she had leukemia.

Louis

Louis had been on a journey to achieve greater health. For 10 months, he had been on a healthy diet and exercise program and had lost 80 pounds. His doctors were pleased and he was able to stop taking most medications he was on.  However when he went for an annual physical he was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) at only the age of 33.

Fely

Hello, my name is Fely Agustin, I am 38 years old and a mother to two teenagers. One is going to be a freshman in college and another a freshman in high school. I am married to a wonderful husband of almost 17 years. I was diagnosed on May 6, 2015 with Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia (WM).

Joan

In October 2014, I was handing out candy to my neighborhood’s tiny ghouls and goblins, but the scariest thing that Halloween was a phone call from my doctor. My heart pounded as the doctor told me I had myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a rare blood disorder in which the bone marrow stops functioning properly. My current MDS diagnosis is refractory anemia with ringed sideroblasts. My treatment consists of red blood transfusions and Reblozyl® injections.

Steven

In 2017, I was 52 and in pretty good shape. I was at the gym working out, and after a certain lift, I could not get off the bench by myself. After being helped up, I somehow drove myself home. The next morning, I could not get out of bed without my wife lifting me up. We went straight to the doctor and got an MRI. Then we got the news “you have cancer,” and it is eating your vertebrate in your neck. I was sent to a spine and neck specialist and also to a cancer doctor to find out what kind of cancer. Multiple Myeloma (MM) was the diagnosis.

Myra

At age 2, Myra began having fevers and joint pain. Her parents took her to their pediatrician where she had bloodwork done. The results came back normal except it showed she was a little anemic.

“Myra never had any bruising or any issues other than the recurring fever,” according to her father.

Zainab

I'll never forget the call I received on April 17, 2017, when my then-three-year-old niece, Zainab, was diagnosed with leukemia. At the time, she was a bubble-blowing, pose-striking, diva princess. But for the next 2½ years, she became a tiny superhero whose mission was slaying the evil villain cancer. I've always felt a special connection to Zainab starting from the day she was born ― on my birthday, which I also happen to share with my younger sister Noura.

Marlana

My pawpaw, Archie, raised me my entire life. He was in the Air Force and stationed in Korea. He didn't have to, but he took me in as his own. And when I was 11, they got legal guardianship of me. My Dad was still in my life because he was raising my little brother, so I saw him often. but he just didn't raise me. Sometime around 2010, my Pawpaw was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). He went through treatment and chemo which caused him to go into remission.

Penny Man (Jonathan)

My name is Jonathan, but I really like to be called "The Penny Man.” I have been collecting pennies for over 15 years and then donating them to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). I first started collecting in high school in 2006 when a classmate of mine passed away from leukemia. My teacher, Mrs. Jean Cassetta, started a schoolwide campaign in partnership with LLS in memory of our friend Andrew, and I never stopped saving pennies since.

Krista

Where do I begin? I am a 2x acute myeloid leukemia (AML) survivor with being diagnosed for the first time in 2008 at the age of 38. My family and I received amazing support through The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) both emotionally and financially with the co-pay program, webinars, and information guides.

Mollie

Although I was a cancer patient many years ago, survivorship is a journey I take every day. Ever since my diagnosis, I’ve spent my free time engaging with the childhood cancer community and learning more about myself.