Search Results
Myles
I’ve always known that I wanted a career in sports in some capacity. My dream since I was in the third grade has been to become a professional football player, but I also was taught the reality of that dream. When you’re little of course you just want to be what you want to be, but as you get older you start to learn what can be in your reach and what the true reality is. As I grew older, I started to think about life after high school football and even college football, if I am blessed with that opportunity.
Sonny
The last conversation I had with my daughter Sonny was one that I will never forget. As she sat there exhausted from the leukemia and CDiff and sepsis that was ravaging her body; we talked about how much of a fight she put up. She could only respond with a short, “I know Momma”. To which I replied, “You don’t have to fight anymore baby.” Again, “I know Momma”. I told her that her Poppa was waiting in Heaven on his tractor to take her for a ride like she used to love when she was little.
Diana
My introduction to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) began in the early 2000s. I joined a Light The Night Team to support research and programs for cancer patients. I then discovered Team In Training and ran my first marathon and my second as a Team Mentor. At the time, I knew cancer was a terrible disease, but it wasn’t until 2012 that cancer became more personal. In May 2012, my cousin Richard, who was like an older brother to me, passed away from pancreatic cancer. Just two years later, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Naomi
My story begins when I was 11 years old, and I remember it being the summer after my sixth-grade year. I had just made the volleyball team and was so excited about that and the upcoming school year. I don't know if you remember middle school, but it was a bit of an awkward time, so I was looking forward to getting older, becoming surer of myself, and making more friends. Unfortunately, at some point during the summer, I started to feel fatigued.
Bruce
I was diagnosed with stage III mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) in October 2004 following a routine physical exam. I wasn’t feeling ill, but since I quit smoking many years ago, as a precaution, my primary care physician recommended having a computed tomography (CT) scan of my lungs to see if I had any residual damage.
Mark
My wife, Linda, and I celebrate and lament our first anniversary; I was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) on June 5, 2023. While death is not impending, our future has radically changed. There are losses, namely a more predictable and imaginable future. Certain certainties are broken that cannot be fixed. We search for new norms that require reimagining hopes, dreams, and aspirations. Of course, we will not give up on illness-specific hope that remission comes sooner than later and that side effects subside. No proof exists that we will get what we hope for.
LLS Scholarship for Blood Cancer Survivors
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) knows how challenging it can be to plan for your future during or after cancer treatment. Hospital stays and interruptions in school may mean pausing your goals. And the high cost of cancer care can make affording higher education difficult.
Pain Treatment
Pain can be managed effectively in a number of ways, depending on the cause and type of your pain. Treatments may include:
Options for Egg Preservation
You may be able to take certain steps and precautions to preserve fertility before, during and after treatment.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA)
The Affordable Care Act’s Patient ProtectionsThe Affordable Care Act requires health insurance plans sold through www.healthcare.gov and its state-based marketplaces to comply with a number of requirements. Many of these – including the ones described below – are meant to ensure that patients have access to meaningful health insurance coverage. It’s important to be aware that some health plans, available today through non-governmental sites, may not include these patient protections.
Graft-Versus-Host Disease
Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a potentially serious complication of allogeneic stem cell transplantation and reduced-intensity allogeneic stem cell transplantation. In this treatment, a patient’s own damaged or diseased blood-forming stem cells are destroyed. Then they are replaced with healthy stem cells from a donor.
Childhood Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
Because of new and better therapies, cancer survival rates for children have improved dramatically during the last several decades. Scientists continue to search for the causes of childhood lymphoma so they can develop better treatments with less toxic side effects.
Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy, also known as “radiotherapy,” uses high energy x-rays or other types of radiation to kill cancer cells. While most blood cancers cannot be cured with radiation therapy alone, it may be combined other treatments such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy and stem cell transplantation. Radiation therapy may also be used to relieve symptoms of blood cancer and improve quality of life. For example, radiation therapy may be used to shrink an enlarged spleen, liver or lymph nodes. It may also be used to manage bone pain caused by cancer cells growing in the bone marrow.
Insurance Coverage
Health insurance helps pay for costly medical treatment and can protect you and your family from financial hardship. Some people have private health insurance coverage either through an employer (often called a group plan) or through an individual policy they've purchased. Even if you have coverage, however, certain treatments and charges may not be covered or paid in full. And there's the potentially overwhelming task of filing or appealing health insurance claims, especially when you're undergoing cancer treatment.
Dave
It all started for me the day our first child turned two months old. She was extremely colicky, and we would spend hours every night trying to get her to sleep. This particular night, I bounced on our exercise ball to try to get her down, and that caused some extremely bad back pain. I could tell something was seriously wrong. When I woke up the following day, the pain was significantly worse, and there was no way that I could even work.
Tim
I knew multiple myeloma (MM) was a blood cancer. After all, my mom was diagnosed with myeloma at 62 years old in 2005. It’s extremely rare that I should also be diagnosed in 2021, but it happened. There’s no strong data that shows that it’s hereditary at this point. But more doctors are seeing family members being diagnosed. It's also becoming one of the most diagnosed cancers among African Americans.
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.
Laura
When you hear the words, “Your child has cancer,” your whole world stops, without permission, as you and your child are thrust onto the rollercoaster ride of pediatric cancer, desperate to get off with your sanity and your child’s life intact. Those months, or as was the case for us, years in treatment, are relentless, fraught with confusion and uncertainty as you desperately and constantly search for answers. For direction. For hope.
Childhood Hodgkin Lymphoma
Because of new and better therapies, cancer survival rates for children have improved dramatically during the last several decades. Scientists continue to search for the causes of childhood lymphoma so they can develop better treatments with less toxic side effects.
Diagnosis
An accurate diagnosis is one of the most important aspects of a person’s medical care. Obtaining a precise diagnosis will help the doctor to:
- Estimate how the disease will progress
- Determine the appropriate treatment
The results of blood tests that accompany periodic medical examinations may indicate the need for further evaluation for myeloma. These include an elevated protein level, anemia and abnormalities in kidney function or calcium levels.
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.
Clementina
For the longest time, I sat on the edge of my bed, hoping that one day I would have the gift of being an older sister to a darling little boy. I wished for him every time I saw a shooting star or when the clock struck 11:11 - I hoped for Max.
Imaging Tests
Imaging or radiology tests pass different forms of energy (x-rays, sound waves, radioactive particles or magnetic fields) through your body, creating pictures of the chest, abdomen, head, neck and other parts of the body.
Sexual Health and Intimacy
These webpages cover a range of sensitive topics related to intercourse, sexual health, intimacy and cancer. Although not always discussed, sexual health and intimacy are an important part of your wellbeing, even after a cancer diagnosis. Please note: If you have experienced any type of sexual trauma, we recommend that you seek support and help from a trusted healthcare professional before reading further.