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Leukemia vs. lymphoma: What you need to know

Table of contents

Martha

I want to share the story of how my mom, who has acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) inspired me to fight for my dreams, overcome every obstacle, and create a new beauty brand.

Jesse

My name is Jesse Jordan. I'm a 37 year cancer survivor. I was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) when I was 17 months old. Cancer has been one of the defining moments of my life and it helps me keep the right perspective towards life. The moment I take life for granted, cancer reminds me of how precious life is and how blessed I am to be here. I believe I am meant to share my cancer story with others. Cancer increases my awareness of life every day and reinforces my commitment to help others. My hope is that my personal cancer story can give hope to others.

Leo

Five-year-old Leo was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) in June 2019. His parents had noticed bruising on his legs, petechiae around his eyes, fatigue, and shortness of breath, but because the symptoms didn’t present all at once, they didn’t think it was anything serious. Thankfully, on a Friday afternoon, Leo was due for a check-up where the nurse noticed the bruising on his legs and ordered a blood test.

FDA Approves New Formulation of Important Childhood Leukemia Drug

Coping With Cancer

When someone is diagnosed with cancer, everyone in his or her family is affected. This holds especially true when a child has cancer. Different families have different ways of coping, but there are some sound strategies that anyone can employ. For useful tools and tips that may help, see the following pages:

Munira

I will never underestimate my parents' sacrifices to provide my siblings and me with the millions of opportunities we have due to their hard work. My parents were born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Both were born to families who instilled the traditional family value of grit in every walk of life. My parents both obtained a high school diploma with the intent of seeking higher education, but the obstacles of living in a developing country robbed them of the chance.

Robert

My story starts in March 1983. I was lucky to have been chosen to attend Squadron Officer School in residence at Maxwell, AFB, Alabama. I was, I thought, a healthy 28-year-old and newly married with a promotion to captain the following month. Then, a worrying symptom suddenly occurred. Everything was going dark briefly under physical exertion. I shrugged it off as heat exhaustion until just climbing one flight of stairs resulted in a blackout without unconsciousness. It was then I decided to drive home for the weekend to advise my wife and decide my course of action.

Liza

I’m from Ghana, and I am a stage 4 nodular sclerosis Hodgkin lymphoma (NSHL) survivor! I was diagnosed in October 2018 right after my undergraduate diploma. Before being diagnosed, I was misdiagnosed for almost a year as the symptoms started in 2017 when I was still in school. Unfortunately, some doctors missed it, and others also tried to disregard my symptoms. As a result of the misdiagnosis, the cancer advanced from the early stages to an advanced stage where my bone marrow was infiltrated.

Oya

My three kids are my precious jewels, the reason I get up every morning. As a single parent, providing a good life for them is what fuels my drive to succeed. Little did I know that need to care for them would end up saving my life.

Mara

I was in my second to last year of nursing school and just over one year into my marriage when the headaches became too much to bear. I was 21. I was tired all of the time, but I was working in a busy ER and going to class when I wasn't at work. I had lost some weight, but I had been exercising more and getting a lot while working in the ER. I had a cough, but they tell you that you'll be sick a lot when you're in nursing school. Unfortunately, I happened to touch my neck one day while studying with classmates for a big exam. There was a lump there that I had never felt before.

FDA Broadens Treatment Options for Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma

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.

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.

Kiana

In July 2013, during what was supposed to be a normal sports physical, I turned my head to the side to talk to my doctor, and my mom noticed something, "Is that a lump on her throat?" she asked. An ultrasound and biopsy afterward revealed that I had papillary thyroid carcinoma, a type of thyroid cancer that required major surgery to remove my thyroid and a few affected lymph nodes from my neck, along with radiation treatment. Though they caught it early and I didn't need chemotherapy to treat my cancer, the treatment was still very difficult for me to deal with.

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.

Don

Like so many individuals diagnosed with blood cancer, I had zero thought that I might be ill, much less with a disease that could take my life.

I had signs and symptoms that something wasn’t quite right in my body, annoying things like shortness of breath, lightheadedness, and fatigue. However, nothing registered in my head until after my diagnosis.

It’s September 2005, and I am pretty much invincible, bulletproof! I could, in fact, leap tall buildings in a single bound! Yes, in my mind I was Superman!

Ira

In August 2014, at age 48, I was literally in the best shape of my life. I was an avid cyclist, averaging more than 150 miles per week, leading groups of riders for my cycling club, and completing multiple 100-mile century rides in a single season. Over the course of just a few days, while cycling, I noticed a sudden setback in my performance. Virtually overnight I lost stamina, speed, and endurance. Roads or hills I had ridden countless times before instantly became unmanageable. Thinking I was battling the flu or a virus, I visited my doctor. Blood tests revealed an abnormality.

Mario

I’m a very simple guy. I’ve worked in the financial industry for almost 10 years, however, my passion is cooking. In 2019, I had just lost 225 lbs. I was preparing to go back to culinary school.

There was a family incident in March of that year, and it put a lot of stress on us. I kept developing a strong workout routine to really help me get on the right track.

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.

Doug

I have always been a builder. Professionally, I am an architect.  ​You could say that I’ve spent my life building spaces where people could grow. I never imagined, however, that I would someday have to rebuild my own. In February 2015, after experiencing months of excruciating and debilitating back pain that doctors mistakenly attributed to deteriorating lower lumbar discs, I had an MRI that revealed multiple vertebral compressed fractures.

Edmund

U.S. veterans’ sacrifices can occur on the battlefield … or much later.

Houseboys sprayed Agent Orange on weeds around the Quonset huts of Edmund Montefusco and his fellow soldiers in Korea in the early 70s, but it was decades before Edmund’s rare, slow-growing hairy cell leukemia made itself known.

Mike

My personal story with blood cancer started in 2020 but nobody really knew how long it was brewing. A day came when back spasms started raging and my Primary Care Physician (PCP) sent me to physical therapy (PT). It didn’t take more than 1 visit to PT to know that was a bust and finally my PCP sent me to the Hematologist. This is where my blood cancer story becomes reality, in no more than 5 minutes, the Hematologist sent me directly to the Huntsman Cancer Institute.   

Family Planning Options

Many patients will be able to conceive naturally after cancer treatment. Patients are generally counseled to wait at least 2 years after treatment is completed before attempting conception. Check with your doctor to find out how long after treatment you should wait. If you are not able to conceive naturally, there are a number of other ways to build a family.

Art

I was living in San Jose and had gone walking with a friend in a local park that followed the stream. It was December 15, 2006. Tom noticed that I had difficulty climbing up the five-foot stream embankment that the path went through. I myself didn’t recall this. Ten days later while visiting my wife’s children in Fairfax, the children and I went on a trail as we always did on Christmas morning. I found myself badly winded and returned to their home while they continued the hike. Then I noticed that I was not attracted to the Christmas feast.