Search Results
Kari
I am writing this in 2022, but I never would have believed when acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) struck my daughter in 2013, that it would feel like we were back at step 1.
Steven
My name is Steve. My purpose is to give others hope and the possibility of tomorrows. I am a leukemia survivor, specifically myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Today, one year after my bone marrow transplant, I am 100% cancer-free!
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.
Peter
My story starts a year and a half before diagnosis when a serious body surfing accident led to blood tests showing significantly low red and platelet counts. My primary care physician (PCP) retested several times in a short period, and when the counts came back closer to normal, she chose to stop her inquiry without scheduling further tests or redoing the same test, say, six months later to see if the lower values were actually correct. There was no discussion of what it would have meant if the lower counts were, in fact, an accurate representation of my blood health.
Supportive Care and Disease Complications
Supportive (palliative) care for myeloma helps manage the complications of the disease and the adverse side effects of the drugs used for treatment, including:
Aaron
Aaron was taken to urgent care after he developed a rash that didn't seem right. The next day, he was admitted into The Children's Hospital, and 36 hours later he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
Jane
In 2008, I retired from teaching art, mostly because I was feeling tired all the time and didn’t want the program I was running to suffer because I couldn’t keep up. I figured it was old age. I was enjoying my first full year of retirement when I woke up with a backache. After two months of tests, in July 2010, I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a treatable but not yet curable blood cancer in the plasma cells of the bone marrow.
Micah
My wife was diagnosed with Pre-B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in June of 2018. For nine months I watched her battle her cancer and her treatments. I learned so much about what families with a cancer patient go through ― the uncertainty, the anxiety, and many protocols and precautions to keep your loved one safe. It was a very scary time for us, full of unknowns. But we lived each day at a time. The uncertainty brought us closer together and allowed us to live every moment with gratitude. My wife was in full remission before the end of the year, and we had so much to celebrate!
Jean-Paul
This is the fourth anniversary of Jean-Paul being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). We had just gotten back from San Francisco, and Jean-Paul got scratched by Oskar. We thought we would go to the emergency room to get an antibiotic shot and maybe a tetanus shot and then go to dinner. Instead, we spoke to the doctor, and 1.5 hours later the doctor had already reached Jean-Paul’s oncologist (this is Jean-Paul’s second diagnosis of cancer, the first was testicular cancer in 2016). They set him up to start chemo the next day. We were shocked and did not believe it.
Varad
I graduated in 2021 with an engineering degree and landed a full-time analyst position at a promising startup. My future was brimming with plans, and by 2022, I was gearing up to leave India for the United States — a dream I had nurtured for years.
Luz
My name is Luz, and my story begins in a magical town in Mexico where I spent a wonderful childhood surrounded by my family. As the youngest of nine siblings, I learned the value of support and connection, values which continue to guide me today as a happily married mother of three beautiful daughters. For over twenty years, Chicago has been my home.
Bryana
Hello everyone! My name is Bryana and in September 2022, at 23 years old, I was rushed to the hospital unable to breathe. I recently went on a trip to Las Vegas and had gotten sick while there, but never expected what was coming for me next. I was initially diagnosed with pneumonia but when I had a CAT scan done, the radiologist noticed an abnormal 5cm mass in my chest pushing on my bronchial tubes. My oxygen levels were low and my CBC came back abnormal, I had a severely low amount of WBC which brought up suspicion.
Mya
It was the end of my senior year in high school, and I was thrilled to be admitted into NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts to achieve my double bachelor's. I worked hard. Despite the many restrictions of the pandemic, I volunteered, performed virtually, and worked two jobs all in preparation for a bigger life.
Thomas/TJ
This picture is of my brother and my son. Both fought valiantly from acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and Hodgkin's lymphoma respectively.
It started in 2009 when my son, Thomas came home from his freshman year in college. He was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma and was treated right away. He went through the regular protocol which lead to the next level and then trial drugs, radiation, and autonomous stem cell transplant.
Debra
In October 2011, while at work, I fell after attempting to sit on a chair, and I went to the emergency for x-rays. As soon as the technician began the process, he entered the room to ask if I had scoliosis. I replied, "no" and he proceeded with the exam.
Christy
I fell in love with distance running in 2010 while training for my first marathon as a member of Team In Training, raising money for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Since then, I have completed five full marathons and one ultra-marathon (49K). I started getting into mountain running in 2016, and aspire to run some mountain races here in Alaska, including Mount Marathon in Seward!
Kiernan
On Oct. 24, 2011, my husband, Rob Smith, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). He had a bad case from the beginning. He was FLT3 positive and had poor cytogenetics. He received so many rounds of treatments I can not keep count. He battled for 11 months and following a bone marrow transplant, which was part of an experimental trial in Seattle, he died in September 2012, just four days after his 40th birthday.
Ann
After being in remission from acute myeloid leukemia (AML) for 12 years, things were going well for me. Then a day after my 48th birthday, I was diagnosed once again! It hit me really hard, and I could not seem to get past the words from the doctor, "You have_____."
Suzanne
In January 2021, I received my diagnosis after five months of multiple doctor visits, blood work, and biopsies. I had no common symptoms such as night sweats or fatigue, just a small lump behind my ear. It was removed, and the pathology came back as non-cancerous. About six or so weeks later, another lump showed up. I decided to switch doctors, and they also didn't feel it was cancer based on my chart. But after they removed it, the pathology shared a much different story.
Martin
In February of 2020, at 32 years old, Martin was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Soon after being diagnosed, the COVID pandemic struck the world, and Martin was laid off from his job along with hundreds of others working for the major airline Avianca. With this, he lost his income and health insurance.
Dana
I was diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in January 2018. I was lucky enough to get into City of Hope which is about 25 minutes from my house. I received all my treatment there. The first treatment was R-CHOP chemotherapy which required me to be in the hospital three to five days every three weeks for six months. I relapsed after six months and did an autologous bone marrow transplant in March of 2019. After about eight months, I relapsed again and prepared for an unrelated donor transplant.
Natalie
In December 1986, a week after my 15th birthday, I was diagnosed with acute undifferentiated leukemia (AUL) after having unclassifiable arthritis for two years. They now believe that I had pre-leukemic arthritis. So, when I was diagnosed, it was a blessing and a curse. It was a curse given how it turned my life upside down. I was now battling for my life and having to deal with the side effects of the treatment. It was a blessing because now I finally had a diagnosis, and there was a treatment that could be given to finally cure my condition.
Elisa
My story begins in 1972 as a young, two-year-old child in a third-world country in Central America known as El Salvador. As a child, I recall the sunny days running around while being surrounded by a loving family. Nine months later, this would change as I began to feel weak and struggled to walk the streets in my neighborhood. As my condition became worse, my grandmother took me to the public hospital where I was seen by the oncologist who diagnosed me with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).