Search Results

Ashley

It started in September of 2020, the start of this new journey in life called acute myeloid leukemia (AML). September 13th was the day that something needed to change. Something was just not right. She just was not herself and couldn’t figure out what was wrong. She knew it was time as a doctor told her to get to the hospital to get some fluids. Fluids were not what was needed, but in hindsight, fluids were just what was needed to find out what the root cause of the problem was. After hours of tests, life changed.

Natasha

Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation

In autologous stem cell transplantation, the procedure uses the patient’s own stem cells for the transplant. The stem cells are collected from the patient in advance and are frozen. After the patient undergoes high doses of chemotherapy, either with or without radiation therapy, the stem cells are then returned to the body. This type of transplant is often used to treat blood cancers such as Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma.  

Legal and Financial

Advance directives are a patient's instructions about future medical care in case he or she can no longer speak for himself or herself. Ideally, an advance directive should be in place before a person becomes ill or before a crisis.

Dan

My name is Dan. I was first diagnosed with multiple myeloma (MM). After a battery of excruciating, painful biopsies and bloodwork, my doctors prescribed chemotherapy and Velcade once a week, then twice a month. My myeloma numbers were going way down, and my platelet count was diving straight to the bottom, single digits. My routine appointments with my doctor not in my city were going south. The doctor told me to stop taking all my cancer medications. What was happening to me was my MM was completely going into leukemia, a disease called myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS).

Daniel (Lil Sicky)

Cancel blood cancer with web3! Daniel is a 27-year-old lymphoma patient who combined his medical diagnosis and love of digital art into an NFT project supporting The Leukemia & Lymphoma (LLS) patients and their families.

In November 2021, Daniel was diagnosed with stage three nodular sclerosing Hodgkin lymphoma (NSHL). Like so many others during the COVID-19 pandemic, he has been isolated to protect his health and has been unable to work.

Christen

Originally from northern New York, Christen moved to Denver, Colorado, in 2015 after completing her Bachelor of Science of Nursing at Le Moyne College to pursue a career in cancer care. Through a close relationship with her grandparents, she saw how her grandma, a retired registered nurse, graciously cared for her grandpa while he lived with esophageal cancer for close to a decade. The unwavering love, dedication, and courage they shared inspired Christen to seek out a specialty that allowed her to provide compassionate, holistic care to those in need.

Holly

I noticed a bulge on my lower abdomen in December 2022. I had a negative ultrasound and CT. What was initially believed to possibly be a lipoma (benign tumor of fat) was later biopsied, and by May 2023, I was diagnosed with subcutaneous panniculitis-like T-cell lymphoma (SPTCL). It was a rare form of cutaneous lymphoma. I was young, active, and healthy, so I thought. 

Olivia

I'm officially nine months in remission and just celebrated my first birthday (27!) since finishing chemotherapy treatment. In January 2022, I was diagnosed with stage IVB Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) after taking almost nine months to officially be diagnosed. Unfortunately, delayed diagnoses are often the frustrating truth for many adolescent and young adult cancer patients. However, during those nine months, I learned invaluable lessons on how to advocate for myself and persevere until I had answers.

Christina

As a Greek Latina indie author, I found it empowering to share my fight with lymphoma through social media and with my current writing. Many have told me that it’s inspiring, and I hope that leads to more attention and support for those fighting blood cancers like lymphoma.

Jakob

I was diagnosed at two and a half years old in December 2003 at Valley Children’s Hospital. Some early symptoms that I had were paleness, unexplained fevers, and extreme fatigue. My babysitter noticed my naps were getting longer and longer as the days passed, and I was taken to my pediatrician because of the previously mentioned symptoms. I was diagnosed with pre-B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (pre-B ALL). My length of treatment lasted three years and two months. I had oral, intramuscular, intrathecal, and IV chemotherapy over the course of the entire treatment.

Tiffany

I was first diagnosed in July 2015. The doctors in Joplin kept saying I had strep (which I did, at first) and it never got better. Appointments after appointments and I kept getting this. Despite the several medicines they had me on, I was still not feeling good. Nothing helped. Finally my friend forced me to go back to the hospital, where I had been four days later, and I was FINALLY diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Unfortunately, they did not have any doctors to treat it there.

Amanda

The word “warrior” seems too tame to describe Amanda Monteiro, a volunteer with The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS). She’s fueled by her desire to prevent another child from being diagnosed, another parent from having to say goodbye. 

Judy

I was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) on April 6, 1987, just four months after my 30th birthday. 

My beautiful daughter had turned three in February. I loved being a mom, and a teacher. I was extremely active as many young parents are and was looking forward to spending more time outside "playing" as the weather improved in the great Canadian north. Life was good.

Cynthia

Cynthia was on a family vacation in 2015 when she began experiencing back pain so severe that she had to be in a wheelchair for the rest of the trip. When she returned home, Cynthia went to see her doctor who referred her to an oncologist. After several tests, Cynthia was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. She was devastated. Chemotherapy and radiation soon followed, along with horrible side effects, sleepless nights and countless blood transfusions. But Cynthia was not going to let cancer defeat her.

AnnaKate

In my junior year of college, I felt so sick that I would sleep through online classes, throwing up every couple of days. I thought I was just stressed and not sleeping enough at night. However, a month later, a relentless cough took over. It was nonstop ― cough after cough and nap after nap.

Donna

The cancer diagnosis was devastating, and the loss was more than anyone should have to bear. We lost our wonderful son, brother, fiance & friend Larry, on August 15th. He was 30 years and 18 days old. He had his whole future ahead of him with his soul mate, Vicki. Together, they were planning a wedding for seven weeks away, making plans for children and looking forward to a long life. He never made it down the aisle, never got to raise those babies and was taken from this earth way too soon. Larry was a bright light in our lives and is missed every second of every day.

Bob

I thought I was super healthy.

It was October 2017, and I had just run a half marathon a few days before. I went to get my blood tested to see if I still was eligible to donate a kidney to a friend who needed one. Four years earlier, I had gone through all the testing and was approved to be a donor for her, but her kidney function had improved enough that she didn't need a transplant right then. By late summer 2017, her condition had deteriorated, so I went back in to restart the process.

Blood Tests

When your doctor orders a blood test, he or she chooses from a list of chemical studies to be performed in a laboratory on your blood sample. These lab tests can provide important clues about what's going on inside your body.

If your doctor suspects you may have cancer, he or she may test your blood to:

Side Effects

Cancer therapy for non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) 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 side effects.

Before you undergo treatment, talk with your doctor about potential side effects. In recent years, new drugs and other therapies have increased the ability to control side effects.

Treatment

In general, the goal of treatment is to destroy as many lymphoma cells as possible and to induce a complete remission. Complete remission means that all evidence of disease is eliminated. Patients who go into remission are sometimes cured of their disease. Treatment can also keep non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in check for many years, even though imaging or other studies show remaining sites of disease. This situation may be referred to as a “partial remission.”

Diagnosis

Having the correct diagnosis is important for getting the right treatment. Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) may be difficult to diagnosis. You may want to get a second medical opinion by an experienced hematopathologist before you begin treatment. A hematopathologist is a specialist who studies blood and bone marrow cells and other tissues to help diagnose diseases of the blood, bone marrow and lymph system.

Diagnosis

An accurate diagnosis is one of the most important aspects of a person’s care. Obtaining a precise diagnosis will help the doctor

• Determine the MDS subtype 
• Estimate how the disease will progress
• Determine the most appropriate treatment

Since MDS can be a difficult disease to diagnose, you may want to get a second medical opinion by an experienced hematopathologist before you begin treatment.

Chemotherapy and Drug Therapy

There are many different types of drugs used in the treatment of MDS.

Immunosuppressive Therapy. Drugs that suppress certain parts of the immune system can help some patients with lower-risk MDS. In some types of MDS, lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell, may attack the bone marrow, causing it to stop making enough healthy blood cells. Immunosuppressive therapy lowers the body’s immune response to allow bone marrow stem cells to grow and make new blood cells. The main immunosuppressive therapy drugs used to treat MDS are:

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is the use of potent drugs or chemicals, often in combinations or intervals, to kill or damage cancer cells in the body. Chemotherapy drugs are often called anticancer agents. The drugs must be toxic enough to kill leukemic cells, which is why chemotherapy can be hard on your body; the drugs' toxicity can harm your healthy cells as well. However, successful chemotherapy depends on the fact that cancerous cells are more sensitive to the chemicals in the drug than normal cells are.