Search Results
Lisa
It's not easy being bald, a bald physician, and a bald wife. This is my third dance with Hodgkin's Lymphoma (HL). I first met HL in college, as many young girls meet their first pivotal relationship. Sadly for me, I attended an all woman's college, so my pivotal 'boyfriend' came in the form of a first cancer diagnosis.
Kelly
In January 2020, I was a 21-year-old full-time pre-medical student diagnosed with Stage 2E Nodular Sclerosis Classical Hodgkin lymphoma, about three weeks after getting engaged to the love of my life and primary caregiver, Alex. We put our entire lives on hold to begin this battle, but we had a huge support network that cheered us on with the slogan, "Let's Get Excited." I was treated for my cancer at Mercy Hospital in Springfield, Missouri, where Dr. Jessica Snider & Dr. Kimberly Creach successfully cured my cancer.
Lori
When my husband Ken was first diagnosed and treated for AML it felt like we were trapped in a fierce storm and being tossed about in a fury of wind. My husband Ken was diagnosed with AML (acute myeloid leukemia) and received intense treatment, spending a total of 120 days in the hospital in 2019, culminating in a bone marrow transplant (BMT). We are so grateful that his only sibling was a viable match as many patients struggle for years searching for a donor.
Hadley
My granddaughter Hadley was three years old when she suddenly started limping in pain and was unable to bear weight on her right leg. Forty-eight hours and three medical appointments later, her bloodwork showed acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). It was a nightmare that came out of nowhere.
Julian
I was a 10-year-old kid when I was diagnosed with leukemia. I was a happy, energetic kid who loved being outside and was a straight-A student. However, my whole childhood was put on hold indefinitely once I had cancer. Rather than having sleepovers at my friend’s houses, I was sleeping over at the hospital. It was hard to lose my energy, smile, confidence, and hair as treatment took over my life. It was really hard to understand as I was just a kid getting injections, procedures, chemotherapy, and surgery without truly understanding why.
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).
Allie
When I was in fourth grade in 2015, my older brother Nate (a freshman in high school at the time) was rushed by ambulance to the U of M Masonic Children’s Hospital. His spleen was holding 10 times the normal amount of red blood cells. This led to the discovery of his cancer. He was later diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). He missed out on the first month of high school and hockey season, but he was able to take medicines at home so that he could eventually attend the rest of the school year.
Rachel
My name is Rachel. My tribal affiliation is full-blood Chickasaw/Creek/Seminole. I am 19 years old and will be entering my second year at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma. I attended Little Axe Schools from Kindergarten to my senior year of high school. Little Axe is a rural community school outside of Norman, Oklahoma. My parents are both full-blood Natives, and I have an older brother (25) and a younger brother (16). My older brother, Caleb, is a state trooper for the State of Oklahoma. My younger brother, Andrew, will be starting the 10th grade at Little Axe High School.
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!
LLS makes progress for blood cancer patients through virtual advocacy
Meetings with lawmakers, testimonies at state legislatures, and events with passionate volunteers are all staples of advocacy. Historically, those are some of the ways we accomplish that work. But COVID-19 prompted us to rethink the way our staff and volunteers share their message with lawmakers.
Glenis
The body is ultimately wise. Through this most recent medical ordeal, I learned to listen to what my body was telling me. In 2018, I felt symptoms above and beyond the fibromyalgia ailments that I had been plagued with for 25 years. I had unusual inflammation despite eating healthy and walking on a regular basis. I developed an unrelenting throb of pain in my lower back. My internal medicine doctor at the time dismissed my complaints.
Isabelle
I was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) on December 4, 2003, at the age of five. As a young child, I was very energetic and loved to do anything outdoors and active, and I especially loved a good competition with my older brother Harrison. My parents began noticing that something was off when I started complaining about not being able to walk up the big hills in San Francisco where we lived. This was very uncharacteristic of me as I loved to race my brother to the top.
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.
David
On June 17, 2014, 12-year-old David Stim visited his pediatrician's office to have a routine school physical. During the exam, the nurse practitioner noticed an enlarged lymph node on the right side of his neck and surmised that it probably due to a reaction to something, as is almost always the case in pediatrics. Since David had been treated for strep throat the month before, there was not much cause for concern.
Isabel
I never expected to have my whole adult life colored by cancer. In the fall of my freshman year of college, I was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). I was freshly 18 and didn’t have much of a vision for my future, but what vision I had definitely didn’t include chronic leukemia. It was a difficult and shocking time, trying to make new college friends while in and out of the hospital, navigating emotional terrain most of my fellow students were very far away from.Today I am 30, and a CML survivor of over 12 years.
Richard
“I have lost my hero, I have lost my friend, but for you, my darling, I would do it all again.”
I feel so blessed to have had the joy of meeting her and sharing our lives together. For so many reasons, it should have never happened. The words that start this story are from a St. Vincent song in New York because it succinctly paints a picture of what was and did happen.
James
My symptoms began in May 2017. I was having shortness of breath while climbing stairs and jogging up even the smallest of inclines. I chalked my windedness to age; I was fifty-seven. And I told myself that I was tired after teaching a hectic school year.
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.
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.
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.