Search Results
David
My dad, David, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) on March 1, 1993, after looking at his blood under a microscope in college class. He started three years of intense chemotherapy on March 8, 1993, and finished it on January 26, 1996, while a third-year medical student. He was told that there was a 50% survival at five years and 30% survival at 10 years and that he would likely not be able to have children. During that time, he got married. Two years after finishing chemo, my oldest brother was born. I have three older brothers and an older sister.
Christopher
Christopher was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) on July 9, 2012 when he was 10 years old. After feeling tired and experiencing bone pain and headaches for three weeks, he went to the doctor. A requested blood test revealed leukemia cells.
Krystina
On June 13, 2014, my sweet daughter Krystina Sharpe Perry was diagnosed with PH positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Unfortunately, all her chemotherapy treatments didn't seem to work.
After a year of chemotherapy, Krystina and her doctor decided to do a stem cell (umbilical cord blood) transplant. She had the procedure on July 1, 2015 but her body couldn't fight the infections. With a low immune system and three trips to the intensive care unit, her kidneys, lungs and heart just couldn't continue to function.
Kate
On May 17, 2018, our family was thrown into the world of blood cancer. Our family's patriarch, our bonus dad, and our beloved "Candy Boy," as he was affectionately nicknamed by his youngest daughter, found out that he was in the aggressive stages of acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
Liam
One of the Boston Bruin’s biggest fans, Liam Fitzgerald garnered national recognition as the “fist bump kid” and went on to raise almost $153,000 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) to help fight blood cancers.
Jude
At age five, on my fourth day of kindergarten, I was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). With the 85% survival rate for ALL, I was confident I would go through this for the next three years but one month later after the induction period, my doctor told us I didn’t respond and I may need a bone marrow transplant.
Nicole
I’m an eight-year survivor of leukemia. I was a happy, healthy young adult. I noticed my body was bruising, and I would fall asleep at work. I didn’t think anything of it, but the bruising kept coming. I have twin girls, and on their birthday, July 1, I went to the ER. They ran all kinds of tests. I felt fine actually. They came back and were talking about white blood counts and oncologists. I knew right then and there it was cancer. I had an appointment with an oncologist on July 5, my mom’s birthday, and went back to the ER. This time I was admitted. I had no idea what was going on.
Cathy
I decided to call my cancer the “little c” rather than the “Big C.” I wasn't giving it that much power over my life!
Bill
My name is Bill Bannon. I am a semi-retired child support magistrate for the Minnesota State Courts. In April 2017 I experienced shortness of breath, a sore-throat and bleeding gums. I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), was stabilized, and started on intensive chemotherapy. It was soon learned that I had a FLT-3 mutation of this cancer, the most serious and difficult to treat. The only possibility for any chance at survival was a bone marrow or umbilical stem cell transplant (BMT). I chose to continue my treatment at the University of Minnesota.
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Nicole
Just two weeks into my junior year of high school, I was pulled out of class at lunch and packed a small overnight bag, not realizing I wouldn’t return to school for the entire year.
My name is Nicole, and in 2022, I celebrated the 10-year anniversary of that life-altering day.
Anna
As many of you know, in 2015 our daughter Anna was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). She had a very successful treatment, and God answered my wife and my prayers. As of March 2023, Anna has been cancer-free for five years making her a cancer survivor. On October 21, Aimie, Anna, and I will participate in the Light The Night (LTN) walk for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). Funds raised through LTN allow LLS to fund treatments for patients who have blood cancer. As you can imagine, this cause is very special to Aimie and me.
Starlet
When I was born, I was healthy and hardly ever got sick. Well, when I turned one, I had fevers that would come and go and then my mom started to notice I would limp and bruise easily. My mom decided to take me to the hospital after a persistent fever and the limping and bruising got worse. The doctors then referred us to Valley Children’s where they did blood work on me.
After the results came in my parents heard the words no one ever wants to hear: their one-year-old daughter is now diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
Beth
Shortly after Thanksgiving of 2008, I started feeling sick and extremely weak. By late January of 2009, I was diagnosed with stage IV aggressive Burkitt’s lymphoma.
Rob
I have this thing inside me called chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML). It’s a rare form of leukemia that affects the blood and bone marrow. Only 1,100 cases are diagnosed a year in the U.S. Four out of a million. I do not want to be that special.
Aila
Aila was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) on October 5, 2023. She was nearly 16 months old and was just getting used to being a walking toddler and enjoying the exploration of her world. Aila had been feeling sick for a few weeks before she was diagnosed. She had fevers, irritability, fatigue, sleeping long hours, and a decreased appetite. In the last several days before she was diagnosed, she started getting unexplained bruising and petechiae (broken blood vessels) all over her body.
Gregg
The date was May 15, 2015, in the local office of the hematologist/oncologist and I was given this message after the results of my bone marrow biopsy taken a week earlier.
Carter
In May 2019, when Carter was just two years old. While attending his cousin’s graduation in New York City, I knew something was not right because he was not feeling well. We rushed him to New York Presbyterian Hospital where he received several blood and platelet transfusions. He was then transferred to Cornell Medical Center where many tests were performed that resulted in the diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). When we heard those three word’s Carter has cancer, we did not expect that news!
Stephanie
I was diagnosed with blood cancer when I was a 19-year-old sophomore in college. That summer, I had started to get deep, constant coughs. I went to the doctor’s office at least three times, only to be diagnosed with a cold or bronchitis.I continued to feel unwell for several months.
Erica
By the time I was 32 years old, I was a 3-time cancer survivor. At 22 years old, I was diagnosed with MALT lymphoma, at a time (1999) when the doctors knew very little about it and believed it had only been found in men over the age of 80 in their stomach (mine was found in my neck).
Jeff
A little over two years ago, I was diagnosed as having chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). I was shocked and devastated by the news and immediately began seeing an oncologist. My team from the cancer center has been uplifting, positive, and supportive from the very beginning! They have been successfully treating my cancer and have taught me not to fear my disease.
Joshua
Joshua is a nine-year, two-time blood cancer survivor. He was first diagnosed at age six with non-Hodgkin T-cell lymphoma. Joshua remembers it was January 15, 2005, when he told his mother and grandmother that his “heart was hurting.” After being admitted to St. Mary’s Hospital and undergoing blood tests and X-rays, Joshua was diagnosed with lymphoma and, a few days later, started chemotherapy. He recalls laying down to take a nap at his grandfather’s home and waking up with most of his hair still on the pillow.
Dulcy
I was 18 and had just moved away to go to nursing school, when I was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). In 1997, the only treatment option for CML was a stem cell transplant, a far cry from the oral treatment options available today.