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Shameel

Telling a child that they have cancer and explaining what that means is one of the most difficult conversations you can have with your child.

Shameel was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) at age 7. As a mother, I couldn't imagine my young, courageous boy, who appeared happy and healthy, not being able to do stuff like tennis, ice skating, piano, and swimming, which he enjoyed and had mastered. It was very shocking to me, and I was in denial for almost a month as cancer does not run in our family.

Yolanda

As many people were afraid to go to the doctor I was propelled to have a colonoscopy due to the death of Chadwick Bozeman. That decision changed my life. In December 2020, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma at age 44. Here I was amid a pandemic, just celebrating Christmas and ringing in the New Year as a newly diagnosed cancer patient. Like many people diagnosed with cancer, my first thought was, “I’m going to die.” I thought I’d die before seeing my daughter grow up.

Anne

My story with leukemia began in July 2016 when I was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). It was four months and 13 days after my wedding to my husband Eddie, and one month to the day after our vow renewal ceremony. What we didn’t realize at the time was that my body had likely been fighting for months. I thought my exhaustion was from wedding planning and running my writing business.

Side Effects

Cancer therapy for chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) 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 any side effects.

Before you undergo treatment, talk with your doctor about potential side effects. Drugs and other therapies can prevent or manage many side effects.

Are Clinical Trials Safe?

U.S. clinical trials are designed to give patients the safest, potentially most effective clinical therapies. Clinical trials are conducted once researchers have shown in the laboratory and in animal research that a particular study treatment has a good chance of offering better outcomes for people with a specific disease.

Patients enrolled in cancer clinical trials are never treated as “guinea pigs.” In fact, patients are given either

Bone Marrow Tests

Your doctor uses a bone marrow test to examine the fluid and tissue in your marrow. The tests help determine whether cancer or another disease is affecting blood cells or marrow, as well as the extent of the disease. Some changes to blood cells can be detected in marrow samples before they can be seen in blood samples.

FDA Approves Immunotherapy to Treat Rare, Debilitating Form of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

J.J.

The first time I remember hearing of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) was through Team In Training (TNT), specifically from a brochure I picked up at a bike shop that invited one to train for a 109-mile bike ride with TNT. It was 2007, and I thought it sounded like a blast. I convinced my girlfriend at the time, Stacey, to join me. We used the occasion to buy some fancy new bikes. With some fundraising and committed training dates, we would be able to say we had done a Century Bike Ride! Cool!

Kay and David LaFrance

As an 18-year breast cancer survivor, Kay was just starting to enjoy retirement in 2018 when she was diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma. Even though she had fought cancer before, she was stricken with despair and disbelief and felt terrified of the road ahead of her. She had to travel to a different city to receive her specialized treatment, which was outside of her insurance network, so much of the costs came out of her own pocket. After a long, hard fight, she is now in remission, but lives with the everyday fear of her cancer coming back.

Diagnosis

An accurate diagnosis of the type of leukemia is important. The exact diagnosis helps the doctor to estimate how the disease will progress and determine the appropriate treatment

Diagnosing acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and your AML subtype usually involves a series of tests. Some of these tests may be repeated during and after therapy to measure the effects of treatment.

Shushan

Ron

Ron was a private man. He didn’t seek the company of many. But the friends he had were close, and more than anything, he cherished his time the most with his loving wife and best friend, Paulette. The two of them shared a love for fishing and traveling. They traveled all across the western United States searching for the best fishing spots. They even had a place in Baja California where they spent most of their time fishing together. Ron was unapologetically himself, and he never once cared about what others thought of him.

Essential Thrombocythemia

• Is a rare blood disease in which the bone marrow produces too many platelets. High numbers of platelets may lead to a thrombus, a blood clot that forms in a blood vessel.

Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

• Is a type of cancer that generally develops in the lymph nodes and lymphatic tissue found in organs such as the stomach, intestines or skin. In some cases, NHL involves bone marrow and blood.
• Isn't just one disease–it's actually a diverse group of blood cancers that all arise from lymphocytes (white blood cells that are part of the immune system).
• Lymphoma cells may develop in just one place or in many sites in the body.
• NHL has many different subtypes which are either indolent (slow-growing) or aggressive (fast-grow

Roberto

In the fall of 2014, I was living my dream. I had just finished my freshman year at NYU, where I studying musical theater. I was living in the East Village, experiencing everything that New York has to offer. Even though I was a long way from my family in Miami, I absolutely loved it. However, I soon started to feel lethargic, coupled with a lymph node that was popping out of my neck and getting bigger. Something just wasn’t right. I was downing 9 Advil a day and started seeing doctors to try and figure out what was going on.

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: 

Stem Cell Transplantation

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.

Follow-Up Care

Your child will undergo frequent follow-up tests during the first year after treatment, but they will be done less often during the second and third years. Each patient has a different follow-up care schedule. How often your child has follow-up visits is based on your child’s type of AML and the treatments given. Your child’s doctor will let you know the schedule that is right for your child.

Children should visit their pediatrician or doctor at least once a year for a complete physical exam and any additional needed tests. The oncologist should also regularly examine the child.

Deborah

I am a 54-year-old mother of two, the owner of a small business, Park Hill Yoga and have been married for 22 years. Being diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in December 2015 came as the biggest surprise of my life.

Reduced-Intensity Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation

Reduced-intensity allogeneic stem cell transplantation (sometimes called mini-transplant or nonmyeloablative transplant), like a standard allogeneic stem cell transplantation, uses stem cells from a donor, but the conditioning treatment contains lower, less toxic doses of chemotherapy and radiation. This type of SCT may be an option for certain patients who are older or who are otherwise not healthy enough or strong enough to undergo standard allogeneic SCT.

Elizabeth

I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma (MM) in 2016. I had a hip replacement, and a mass was found on my hip, so I was referred to a cancer doctor. But the strangest thing was, I had no symptoms, so I went to the doctor, and I went through all kinds of tests. The doctor told me, “You have MM,” and I am like what's that? She said it was a blood cancer. I asked what do I need to do about it, and she told me I needed a stem cell transplant. But that was after so many doctor visits and labs, at one point she would tell me I had it and the next visit that I didn't.

Will

My son Will was a vibrant, active, and typical junior in high school. He was living life to the fullest with a rigorous class schedule, working, training for his upcoming senior year of football, participating in many outdoor activities, and enjoying time with family and friends. On April 24, 2024, Will went in for wisdom teeth removal, and the oral surgeon had difficulty getting his bleeding under control. In a few short hours, including an ambulance ride to the hospital, Will would be diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL).

Christie

Today I am celebrating one year of being a CML survivor! With my initial diagnosis, I wondered what did a person with CML look like? I immediately began to consider my final days of life with making edits to a living will, securing a cancer life insurance policy and making sure my mother would be well taken care of.

A couple of weeks later, unbeknown to me that I would come face to face with a renowned preacher, who looked me in the eyes and told me with a strong abrasive voice, “Cancel Your Plans To Die!” While I didn’t expect this profound order, I did take heed.

Mateo

Our Journey On June 26 2013, at six years old, Mateo was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Our world was completely upside down since that night. Our hearts shattered when we processed the words "your child has cancer ".

Robert

In 1990, I was diagnosed with M3 acute myeloid leukemia (AML) - now known as acute promyelocytic cancer (APL) - when I was a twenty-year-old college student studying abroad in Northern England.

I had ignored obvious symptoms for about a week leading up to my diagnosis, and it took another full week just to coordinate my departure from the UK to the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, not far from where I grew up. A host of complications followed during my first round of induction chemotherapy including massive amounts of internal bleeding.