Search Results
Stanley
Stanley was only 13 months old when he was diagnosed. He was a happy and healthy baby boy. Showing no previous symptoms or signs of sickness, Stanley was rushed to the ER one late Wednesday night because his parents, Joe and Krissi, thought he might have swallowed something. That was December 16, 2015. By 8p.m.
Gary
In 1999 I had a lump on my neck, and after strong urging from my wife and my mother, I finally went to my family doctor. My white blood cell counts were really high, and antibiotics didn't help. Eventually, a biopsy indicated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
Bryon
In 2017, during a pickup basketball game at the local gym, Bryon Daily was beginning to feel his age, playing against 20-year-olds. A former college track athlete in his early 50s, this fatigue felt different. He also fractured his finger during a routine pass in the game. Bryon’s primary doctor at Kaiser ordered labs including blood and urine, that showed impairment in his protein levels and referred him to a urologist then a hematologist.
Sandy
In the summer of 2006 I received a letter in the mail much like what you get around the holidays telling of the adventures over the past year. My friend had recently moved to Tucson with her family. She shared pictures of their kids and told about the transition from the Seattle area to Tucson.
Nicolas
My name is Nicolas and I am 14 years old. Before my diagnosis I was a completely healthy child, in fact I was rarely ever sick. I played baseball, had straight A’s, and recently had recently got a new puppy. This sense of normalcy came to a screeching halt on January 13, 2018. That’s the day I was admitted into the pediatric ICU and the day I first heard the words, “you have cancer.” My family and I were devastated.
Tatijane
On February 19, 2021, I was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), both B and T cells, and given six to eight weeks to live. I was 24 years old. I was diagnosed alone in the ER because of COVID-19 protocols and unable to see my family and friends in person for a week or two because of testing, port placements, and biopsies. It was like an earthquake that shook up my life as well as all my loved ones’ lives, and all I wanted was to hug my mom.
Ed
Like many who get diagnosed with multiple myeloma (MM), it comes out of nowhere. For me, it was mysterious aches and pains that crept up quickly. An alert doctor ordered tests, and eventually, MGUS, the precursor of MM, was first diagnosed. Within a month, MM was confirmed. MM is a blood/bone cancer that can affect the entire body.
For the next six months, I was involved in many tests, along with drug treatments including chemo. I had a stem cell transplant and have generally had a complete response.
Heather
The world works in mysterious ways, it truly does! When I first volunteered with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training (TNT) program in 2015, I never in a million years thought I would be fundraising in honor of my husband Dave. I started out fundraising for my step-grandmother Margaret and his grandmother Pearl. Eventually, the list of people I ran and fundraised in honor or memory of grew to way over 20! All that time it turns out I was fundraising for Dave, too, we just didn't know it yet!
David
We all have some absolutely remarkable story to tell in one way or another. The vital task we all have is to appreciate it, embrace it, and articulate it in a way somebody will relate to.
Phil
My sweet and wild 3-year-old son, Phil, was diagnosed with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) in the midst of the holidays in 2019 on December 27. Phil began treatment right away, following a 2½-year treatment protocol for his leukemia type and risk level. With every hospital visit, chemotherapy infusion, medication to take, procedures in the OR, or “job” he was told to do, Phil smiled, he laughed, and he cooperated (with a little encouragement and bribery of course!). There really was something so special about him.
Riley
On March 28, 2018, my husband brought Riley, my sweet, spunky six-year-old, to the emergency room for unbearable leg and hip pain, so unbearable she could no longer walk. I had a baby at home who wouldn’t take a bottle, so I had to let Tim, her dad, take her in without me. We were expecting to hear that she had a bone fracture or maybe even that something was broken.
We were not prepared to hear that she had cancer.
Every single day more than 40 parents will hear those exact same words, “Your child has cancer.”
Alesia
In November 2021, I experienced my first panic attack while at work. I went to the urgent care clinic, and they tested me and said I was good and might be experiencing anxiety. At that time, being a teacher in my school was hard and overwhelming, and I started taking anxiety medication. Later on in the school year, I continued to experience COVID-like symptoms but was always negative. I did eventually get COVID, but I was still healthy on paper. While all of this was going on, I was also encountering fatigue that I couldn't explain and blamed it on my job.
Katie
Only a couple weeks into my first year of my graduate program, I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with FLT3 mutation. I was only 21 years old and my entire world got flipped upside down. My whole life changed and I was about 1,000 miles from home.
Jason
I'm Jason, and I am 38 years old. Early last year I was very sick. I had a fever that would not go away for over three months. Every day I broke 103 degrees, and at least six times I hit 106 degrees. I was getting bloodwork after bloodwork done, seeing doctor after doctor when finally, I met my oncologist, and he did a bone marrow biopsy. He called me the next week and told me I had stage 4 Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), and we needed to start tests immediately so we could expedite my chemo treatment.
Signs and Symptoms
Signs and symptoms are changes in the body that may indicate the presence of disease. A sign is a change that the doctor sees during an exam or in a laboratory test result. A symptom is a change that a patient can see and/or feel.
It is common for a child with ALL to feel a loss of well-being because of the lack of normal, healthy blood cells.
Symptoms of a low red blood cell count (anemia) include:
Special Considerations
Surgery. Patients with PV have increased risk for bleeding complications after surgery. Because your surgeon may not be aware of your increased risk for bleeding and blood clots, coordination between your surgeon and your hematologist-oncologist is very important. For elective surgeries, it is recommended that your platelet and red blood counts be in normal range before the surgery occurs.
Side Effects
Cancer therapy for chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) can sometimes produce side effects. For most patients, treatment side effects are temporary and go away once therapy ends. For other patients, side effects can be more severe, sometimes requiring hospitalization. Some patients never have any side effects.
Before you undergo treatment, talk with your doctor about potential side effects. Drugs and other therapies can prevent or manage many side effects.
Disease Complications
In medicine, a complication is a medical problem that occurs during the course of a disease or after a procedure or treatment. Possible complications of ET include:
Disease Complications
In medicine, a complication is a medical problem that occurs during the course of a disease or after a procedure or treatment. Possible complications of PV include:
Vaccine Therapy
Vaccines designed to treat cancer don't prevent the disease in the same way that conventional vaccine therapy prevents conditions such as measles or polio. The therapeutic cancer vaccines are designed to treat an already-present cancer and reduce its potential to grow.
Researchers are working on vaccines that could prevent cancer from recurring. Currently, there are no licensed blood cancer vaccines. Vaccines for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma are still in development and available only in clinical trials.
'Chemobrain'
Chemotherapy and radiation therapy can cause problems with cognitive (mental) functions, such as concentration, memory and the ability to multitask. Most chemotherapy patients experience these effects, sometimes referred to as “chemobrain” or brain fog, to some degree, although doctors are unable to predict who might be affected.
The cognitive effects of chemotherapy for some are long-lasting. A small percentage of patients have long-term effects known as "chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment." The symptoms include a mental fogginess and effects on:
Diagnosis
Diagnosing acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and the ALL subtype usually involves a series of tests. An accurate diagnosis of the subtype is important. The exact diagnosis helps the doctor
- Estimate how the disease will progress
- Determine the appropriate treatment
In children, a diagnosis of ALL generally requires a finding that 25 percent or more of the cells in the bone marrow are leukemic blasts of lymphoid origin (lymphoblasts).
B-Cell Prolymphocytic Leukemia (B-PLL)
B-cell prolymphocytic leukemia (B-PLL) is a very rare and typically aggressive malignancy (cancer) characterized by the out of control growth of B-cells (B-lymphocytes). B-cells are a type of white blood cell that is part of the immune system. B-PLL usually affects older adults with a median age at diagnosis of 69 years, and it is slightly more common in men than women. Most of the time, B-PLL occurs as a transformation or evolution of a more slow-growing B-cell cancer, such as chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Rarely, this is a primary disorder.