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Just three days after Christmas, my world was turned upside down. I was admitted to the hospital because I was unable to keep any food down and felt terrible overall. Upon admission, I had a multitude of issues, just a few being extremely high uric acid levels, severe dehydration, pancreatitis, and nephrosis. They also discovered that I had lost 20 lbs.! Later in the hospital, I would lose 20 more.

Jane

In October 2015, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). After growing up never getting sick, I had cancer. It was incredibly difficult to comprehend at the age of 13 that I was about to endure something most people won’t experience in a lifetime. I went through four rounds of chemotherapy and was in remission in January of 2016. Once you’re in remission, you believe that that’s the end. You’ll have a few check-ups here and there, but in your head, you envision no more cancer.

Thomas

I had bariatric surgery on May 11, 2022. At the time, I weighed just under 600 pounds, and I understood that there was a higher possibility for complications. My three-hour procedure turned into a six-hour procedure, and my overnight stay in the hospital turned into a week. During surgery, they discovered my spleen was significantly larger than normal, and in the days following my surgery, I kept losing blood. After two exploratory surgeries, four units of blood, and a trip to the ICU later, I was finally released from the hospital with no confirmed cause of bleeding.

Erin & Meghan

I always loved fall. It is such a special time. My birthday is the first day of fall. I love unpacking my favorite boots, lighting pumpkin spice candles, and making warm soups. Fall always signified that special holidays and quality time with family were quickly approaching. These were events to get excited about! But in the last few years, fall has taken on a new meaning for me.

Chaneta Juliet

Hi, my name is Chaneta, I like to go by Juliet. This past year has been an interesting one, to say the least. I’m a singer-songwriter who wrote and released an album in October 2017. I thought the year was going to be an amazing one–promoting and performing–unfortunately, I performed one time and I began to literally unravel. In December 2017, I caught the flu. Normal stuff, not too bad right? Well, about three weeks in, it got worse. It turned into walking pneumonia. Chest X-rays revealed a blood clot lodged in my right-side lung.

Tricia

My story is truly about the little family that could. In 2002, I felt I had it all: a loving partner, a new job offer, and plans to start a family. Upon my return from a business trip in May, that feeling shifted as a large lump appeared on the side of my neck. Several doctor visits, tests, and sleepless nights later, I received a phone call on the way to a meeting from a doctor. He asked me to pull the car over. He told me I had cancer. Everything stopped.

Joshua

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.

Kathryn

My symptoms became pretty intense in December 2017. I was 21 at the time and living a healthy and active lifestyle, but my symptoms were starting to interfere with my quality of life. I was experiencing a cough, fatigue, unexplained weight loss, and pretty intense back pain, along with several swollen lymph nodes primarily on the left side of my collarbone.

primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma (PMBCL)

Joshua

My name is Joshua. I was born and raised in South Florida and moved to Oregon after high school 8 years ago. I can’t say that I had a difficult childhood growing up just difficult circumstances that were challenges to overcome. I am what most people would consider an introverted type of personality, and while I was raised in a home with very caring parents and sisters, I’ve just always found it difficult to fit in, especially once I got to high school. I’m tall, at almost 6 feet, and very smart, always in advanced placement classes.

young hispanic woman with large green eyes an pink lipstick wearing a grayish blouse

Ariana

In the blink of an eye, our lives can crumble underneath us like a tsunami drowning the life out of a city. Many of us unknowingly stand on the edge of an eroding cliff and one slip away from relinquishing our most desired aspirations. At 19 years old, I stood inches away from the edge of that cliff when I was diagnosed with essential thrombocythemia (ET). This was one of the most defining moments in my life that propelled me into a tenacious desire to become a physician capable of fully understanding the fragility of life.

middle aged white man in a ball cap with a scruffy beard and mustached wearing a black t-shirt lying in a hospital bed giving a thumbs up

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.

Emmanuel "Manny"

Our son Emmanuel “Manny,” though born with special needs (Down syndrome), was and is your typical little boy. However, up until the time he turned 18 months old, we had no idea just how “special” he was. See, on July 28th, 2011, Manny was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a blood cancer. This news shook our family to its core and would undoubtedly be our greatest test and blessing at the same time. How so? Allow us to share Manny’s amazing journey of strength as he battled the deadly AML.

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.

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).

Kabir

Kabir is an eight-year-old boy who is very affectionate, loving, and sweet. He has endless interests and loves dogs, superheroes, ponies, mermaids, magic shows, zoos, roller coasters, rock collecting, traveling, eating at "fancy" restaurants, watching television and movies, building Legos, and playing video games. Before his diagnosis, Kabir also enjoyed swimming and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He is caring by nature and an amazing older brother to his younger sibling, Ayaan.

Caitlyn

My world started to turn upside down in January of 2019 after starting to exercise and trying to lose weight. At first, I thought I had pulled a muscle in my leg. The cramping continued to increase and turned into radiating bone pain. I went to get an x-ray to make sure nothing was broken. There were no broken bones or fractures, so they sent me on my way.

Hispanic couple both dressed in black se is kissing him as he rings the bell and holds balloons

Andres

I want to start off by saying that my husband is amazing. My father passed away suddenly in September 2023, and my husband was my rock. He does/did everything he could to help me through my grief and still does. My husband had been complaining that he felt like something was stuck in his throat, but he would clear his throat, and it would go away. The week before Thanksgiving 2023, my husband was watching a funny video on YouTube and laughed so hard he couldn't catch his breath. He leaned forward trying to catch his breath but cut off his airway and collapsed face forward onto the floor.

Supportive Care

Treatment given to relieve the symptoms of a disease and the treatment’s side effects is known as supportive care. The goal of supportive care is to improve the patient’s quality of life and to relieve discomfort as much as possible. Supportive care is an important part of MDS treatment.

Stem Cell Transplantation

What are Stem Cells?

Blood stem cells are produced in the marrow of the bones and can become any kind of blood cell the body needs. Stem cells are constantly dividing and maturing into different types of blood cells, replacing older and worn-out blood cells in the body. They produce billions of new blood cells every day. If the stem cells cannot make enough new blood cells, many serious health problems can occur. These problems may include infections, anemia or bleeding.

Low Blood Counts

Cancer therapy can lower your blood cell counts and chemotherapy especially can affect rapidly dividing bone marrow cells. This hinders the marrow's ability to supply new cells to the blood during treatment and for some time after. Patients receiving treatment for blood cancer can develop

Integrative Medicine and Complementary Therapies

Integrative medicine (IM) is a form of medical therapy that combines practices and treatments from complementary medicine (yoga, acupuncture and massage) with conventional medicine (surgery, chemotherapy, radiation treatment and immunotherapy). Many cancer patients are using integrative medicine (IM) to help ease their cancer symptoms and reduce the side effects of cancer treatment. By integrating complementary therapies into conventional treatment plans, healthcare providers are better able to address the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of their patients.

Family Planning Options

Options for Having a Family After Treatment

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.

Amy

In December 2015, our son, William, started complaining of leg/knee pain. William had always been an active boy, so we figured that he must have just hurt himself doing something physical. After a few days of the pain continuing, my husband thought that maybe it was “growing pains.” We continued to keep an eye on it but weren’t too concerned at this point. By the end of the week, I called our pediatrician for an appointment. William had an exam and bloodwork done. He was also given antibiotics.