Inspirational Stories

My journey began a few months into 2020. I was making plans to celebrate my birthday by going to some amusement parks I hadn't been to in many years. Unfortunately, that's when the pandemic hit, and going to the parks was no longer an option. A few months later, I started to get sick. Fever, night sweats, little to no appetite, weight loss. We didn't know if it was COVID-19 or not. I went to urgent care, and they didn't help (sent me home with Tylenol), and I was still not feeling it. I went to get bloodwork as something was off and I was starting to show signs of jaundice. I then got the call from my gastroenterologist. She said, "I need you to gather some belongings, and you need to go to the ER immediately. I already called ahead; they will be expecting you." I gathered enough for a few days, but my stay ended up being a little over three weeks.

It was the end of July when the oncologist came in to tell me the news. "You have cancer," he said. "It's a rare, aggressive type of lymphoma, but don't worry. I have a plan, and we are going to get you better." It was stage 4 hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma (HSTCL), a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). My heart sank with the sudden news, but it was more of a relief to know that this had been the cause of my symptoms and the enlarged organs. And now there was a plan set in motion to get better. The following day, I got a PICC line inserted into my arm, and later on, I had my first chemo session. I would spend the next several months on/off in the hospital due to chemo. I got the transplant done near the start of November, but things relapsed months later, and I had to do a different kind of chemo, one that wasn't as aggressive as before but just a several-hour thing. Once that finished, I had a second transplant done (same donor), and things have been slowly improving. I’ve been getting life back on track after four years. I have had some things come up such as cataracts in both eyes but have since gotten surgeries for a fix. I now see my oncologist every six months, and most of the numbers are back to normal range.

It might have been the lovely nurses who mentioned Light The Night (LTN) to me during one of my stays. I believe I first participated in 2021. I am very introverted, and it being the whole COVID-19 thing, I was hesitant to talk to anyone. But I was still amazed at the number of people who came to support each other in a dark moment in life. Since then, I have participated each year in the event. I try to get out of my comfort zone and have talked to some folks, and I’ve run into some of the nurses who took care of me. So, it was really nice seeing them. A few times, I've had my best friend as support join me for the event. And it's just very nice. I try to do my part with fundraising, and although it's not a lot, I see it as anything counts. I know what is raised is going toward a good cause, and research is done to have a better cure for these things. I look forward to walking each year with everyone.