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Who's Who on Your Healthcare Team

A number of healthcare professionals are involved with your care. Your team may include:

Facts and Statistics Overview

Leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), and myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are types of cancer that can affect the bone marrow, the blood cells, the lymph nodes, and other parts of the lymphatic system.

Click on the links below to view statistics about each disease:

Clinical Trials

When it comes to finding the right treatment for your child's cancer, a clinical trial may be an option. Your child will have access to new or improved therapies under study and not yet on the market. Discuss with your child's doctor the possibility of participating in a clinical trial, where treatment is administered in a safe, closely monitored environment.

Click here to read more about clinical trials.

Myelodysplastic Syndromes

• Is a diagnosis of cancer
• Is a group of diseases that affect the blood and marrow, with varying degrees of severity, treatment needs and life expectancy
• May be primary or treatment-related. Primary MDS has no obvious cause. Treatment-related MDS has an obvious cause.

Click here to access MDS statistics.

Greysun

Hi! My name is Greysun! I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) on March 23, 2011. I was fortunate to get outstanding medical treatment at UNC Children's Hospital and the cancer center. I have been through many rounds of chemo followed by up to six weeks of hospitalization after each one. I have had radiation to my brain followed up by my first bone marrow transplant.

Allie

On July 18, 2020, I rang a bell in the lobby of the Cincinnati Children's Hospital that signified the end of my chemotherapy treatments and the beginning of my remission. At age 15, I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). I entered the hospital on December 1, 2019, with dangerously low red blood cell and platelet counts.

Myelofibrosis

• Is a rare type of blood cancer characterized by the buildup of scar tissue, called “fibrosis,” in the bone marrow.

Krisha

I started noticing some things were "off" with my body. In early August 2022, my daughters noticed several large, unexplained bruises on my legs. I just brushed them off as being clumsy or running into something. Then, while lying in bed reading to one of my daughters, my lower jaw and lip went numb, like when you have Novocaine. I got up and moved around, and it got better. This started to be a daily occurrence, and about a week or so later, I woke up and could not open my mouth. I thought I had TMJ, so I called my dentist. He had me come in and looked at my mouth/jaw.

Side Effects

Cancer treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma can produce side effects. The goal of treatment is to kill the cancer cells, but cancer treatments can damage healthy cells too which causes side effects.

Patients react to treatments in different ways. Some patients may have very mild side effects.  For other patients, side effects can be more severe, sometimes requiring hospitalization. For most patients, treatment side effects are temporary and go away once therapy ends.

Nicholas

It started with a stiff neck. Then came fatigue and a sore throat. I started feeling full after only a few bites of food. Workouts were getting more difficult to complete. My heart rate was consistently north of 100 just lying in bed. Rationalized. It's maybe strep. Could be mono. I prescribed myself antibiotics and popped ibuprofen. Nothing was working. Reluctantly went to an urgent care after weeks of feeling like this. Bloodwork was done.

Sarah

In August of 2014, after a routine medical procedure, doctors suspected that Sarah may have a lymphoma type cancer. Soon thereafter, with her husband by her side, doctors confirmed that Sarah indeed had cancer, stage 2 Hodgkin lymphoma.

Gwendolyn

Gwendolyn describes herself as a wanderlust who never likes to let the grass grow under her feet. After college, she moved from her hometown in Florida to Houston and spent the next few years moving around Texas for work. She started her new life in Texas where her son, Sterling, was born and raised. She loves traveling, but following a trip to Belize, she started to notice white spots on her skin and other strange issues happening with her health. After doing some research on her own and going to the doctors, she was told she likely had lupus.

Virginia

I have been living with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) since August 6, 1997. The way I see it, I’m alive today because of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). The pill I take each day that keeps my leukemia in remission exists today much because of research grants awarded to Brian Druker, M.D., PhD., of Oregon Health & Science University.

Lori

Our daughter Britta Wolfarth was 19 when she was diagnosed with AML. We were shocked because we thought it was a blood disorder due to her lupus. The same day for the guy diagnosed she started treatment at West Penn in Pittsburgh right away.

Britta underwent months of chemo and radiation. Britta had to have a bone marrow transplant. Her first owner fell through but the transplant team at West Penn never gave up and found us another donor 2 months later from the National Registry.

Marie

In early 2017 we found out my husband Miguel had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma diffuse large B-cell. It was the most frightening and overwhelming time of our lives. To this day I am amazed at how we got through it.

Layla

"Our LLS chapter has been there for us, with support and information that has helped immensely. We've formed a friends and family Ttam for the Light The Night Walk and it feels so rewarding to raise funds to help others who, like Layla, are bravely battling blood cancers." Alecia | Layla's mom

Ashlyn

My name is Ashlyn, and I am a leukemia survivor. At the age of 17, during my senior year of high school, I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). AML is a rare cancer that affects your bone marrow and blood. My life changed on March 21, 2023, when I got this news. How could this be possible? Why me? Will I survive? These were some of the first few questions that entered my mind. I went through five rounds of chemotherapy and nine grueling months of being inpatient in the hospital. I wasn't able to go on my senior class trip to Disney World or attend senior prom.

Julian

I was a 10-year-old kid when I was diagnosed with leukemia. I was a happy, energetic kid who loved being outside and was a straight-A student. However, my whole childhood was put on hold indefinitely once I had cancer. Rather than having sleepovers at my friend’s houses, I was sleeping over at the hospital. It was hard to lose my energy, smile, confidence, and hair as treatment took over my life. It was really hard to understand as I was just a kid getting injections, procedures, chemotherapy, and surgery without truly understanding why.

Julie

My name is Julie. I’m a loving mother of three outstanding kids, a successful businesswoman, wife, breast cancer survivor, and now mother of a true cancer warrior. Ellis, my now 9-year-old son (age 4 at diagnosis), was diagnosed on March 21, 2020 with leukemia. This diagnosis was mere days after the world spiraled into shutdown from COVID-19.Our life, as my family and I knew it, was forever changed the week of March 15, 2020.

Side Effects

Most ALL treatment side effects are temporary and subside once the body adjusts to therapy or after the therapy is completed. If side effects become severe, children may need to be hospitalized.

Side effects common to ALL and its treatment include:

Polycythemia Vera

• Is one of a related group of blood cancers known as “myeloproliferative neoplasms” (MPNs). Too many red blood cells are made in the bone marrow and, in many cases, the numbers of white blood cells and platelets are also elevated.
• With careful medical supervision, PV can usually be managed effectively for many years.

Follow-Up Care and Survivorship

Use this Survivorship Workbook to collect all the important information you need throughout diagnosis, treatment, follow-up care and long-term management of a blood cancer.

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).

Michael and Ashlee

Michael and Ashlee have a unique mother-son relationship. They share a podcast about their cancer journey. They have a website and a YouTube channel, and, yes, they even do rap songs about their hospital experiences together.

Allie

When I was in fourth grade, back in 2015, my older brother Nate (a freshman in high school at the time) was rushed down by ambulance to the U of M Masonic Children’s Hospital. His spleen was holding 10x the normal amount of red blood cells. This led to the discovery of his cancer. He was later diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).