Search Results
Lauren
At the age of 33, I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). I immediately started undergoing treatment which initially consisted of intense induction chemotherapy followed by consolidation chemotherapy and then a haploidentical stem cell transplant. My 64-year-old father was my only donor option as I did not have any matches on the national registry. My two sisters were less than half matches, and my mother’s history of having had a stem cell transplant herself precluded her from donating.
Logan
July 3, 2021, was the day that my life changed forever. I had been dealing with odd symptoms for months, and after multiple visits with dismissive practitioners, I finally had the ear of a doctor who believed me. A tumor located in my mediastinum was discovered via a CT scan. This news was devastating. I was due to be married in one month and how could someone who is just beginning her life possibly have something like this happen?
Cheryl
When I first found out that I had multiple myeloma (MM) 4½ years ago, I was shocked. I was in the hospital for a broken leg. I had twisted my leg, and it was badly broken. While I was waiting for surgery, a doctor came into my room and began to talk to me. She explained to me that my leg had broken because I had cancerous bone lesions. As I listened to her, I felt my heart sinking, I had a broken leg, not cancer. It didn't seem possible. Cancer was the last thing I would have imagined. I went through radiation, chemo, and cell replacement therapy.
Halley
My story with cancer began long before I was diagnosed this year at 33. When I was 4 years old, my 18-month-old sister, Hannah, became too tired to play with me. As a child, I didn’t know what was going on, but something seemed wrong. My mom started taking her to doctor after doctor to find out what was happening. It wasn’t until we visited my grandmother in Florida that she had to go to the ER, and our family got the concerning news that she may have cancer.
Melinda
I am currently 30 years old and was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (PMBCL) when I was 27, almost 28 years old.
I was pregnant the day I was diagnosed, luckily 39 weeks, and ended up giving birth the same day I found out I had a massive tumor in my mediastinum. I was biopsied the next day and had to leave my 5-day-old baby and 2-year-old to go to the emergency room for a life-threatening emergency called svc syndrome.
Amanda
My name is Amanda, and I am a stage 4b classical multicellularity Hodgkin lymphoma (CHL) survivor. It all started after spring break of my junior year of high school. I was on a ski trip when I noticed my feet were more itchy than normal. I figured it was from the boots. After coming home and realizing it had gotten worse, we went to the pediatrician. She looked at the bruises and scratch marks on my legs and diagnosed me with scabies. I did the whole treatment for that, and obviously, it didn’t work. A week or two later. we went back and had some basic bloodwork done.
Ron
This started 11 years ago when my mom was first diagnosed with lymphoma. I wanted to do more and saw the purple team always out running events I was entered into. I wanted to join and did in 2010. I have run in countless events over the years with Team In Training (TNT). Then my mom passed in May of 2017 while I was training for the Walt Disney World event. I was crushed and continued to run in her honor. My mom was supposed to be at the finish line at my 2018 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend, and it did not happen.
Heriberto
I was diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma (BL) on Friday the 13th ― August 13, 2021, to be exact ― seven months after being married, three months after my wedding reception, and going on my honeymoon.
Kaitlin
I moved to Chicago in May 2022. I had recently finished my joint PhD in Social Work and Psychology from the University of Michigan and was offered a job as a People Analytics Researcher at Google. I loved the city and enjoyed frequent runs and cycling rides along Lake Shore Drive. In mid-July, I started noticing some symptoms that concerned me ― difficulty breathing when I was exercising, intense chest and back pain, spider veins on my chest, puffiness in my face, and fatigue.
Carly
November 25, 2022 ― the worst day of my life, the day I received my official cancer diagnosis, stage IV Hodgkin lymphoma (HL).
Leading up to this day, I was always a healthy, active young lady. I was 23 years old and eager to start this next phase in life. Exciting things were happening. We were fairly new homeowners, I had just changed jobs/occupations, and I married the love of my life in October.
Michael and Ashlee
Michael and Ashlee have a unique mother-son relationship. They share a podcast about their cancer journey. They have a website and a YouTube channel, and, yes, they even do rap songs about their hospital experiences together.
How to Enforce Your Legal Rights
If you suspect that you are being treated differently at work because of your cancer history, consider an informal solution before leaping into a lawsuit. You want to stand up for your legal rights without casting yourself as a troublemaker.
If you face discrimination, consider the following suggestions:
Relapsed and Refractory
Some patients have residual leukemia cells in their bone marrow even after they receive intensive treatment. In these cases, the disease is referred to as being “refractory” (or “refractory ALL”).
Other patients achieve remission but later have decreased numbers of normal blood cells and a return of leukemia cells in their bone marrow. This is referred to as a “relapse” of the disease (or “relapsed ALL”).
Treatment
It's important that your doctor is experienced in treating patients with chronic leukemia or works in consultation with a chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) specialist. This type of specialist is called a hematologist oncologist.
Types of CLL TreatmentCurrent therapies do not offer patients a cure for CLL, but there are treatments that help manage the disease. Doctors use several types of approaches and treatment for adults with CLL, some at different stages:
Stem Cell Transplantation
For certain patients with CML, allogeneic stem cell transplantation (the infusion of donor stem cells into a patient) is their best treatment option. However, this type of transplant can cause serious or even life-threatening complications and side effects. In addition, it is often not a good option for older patients or for patients who have other health problems.
Treatment
It's important that your doctor is experienced in treating people who have chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) or works in consultation with a hematologist oncologist who has experience treating CMML patients.
Types of CMML TreatmentIn most cases, CMML can't be cured, but it can be treated. Doctors use several types of treatment for adults with CMML, although there's no one standard drug therapy for the disease:
Follow-Up Care
Those who have been treated for MDS are encouraged to:
Resources for Survivors
Survivorship WorkbookUse this Survivorship Workbook to collect all the important information you need throughout diagnosis, treatment, follow-up care and long-term management of a blood cancer.
Long-Term and Late Effects of Treatment
While treatments for ALL have led to increased survival rates, some may cause significant long-term or late effects. Long-term effects of cancer treatment are medical problems that last for months or years after treatment ends. Late effects are medical problems that do not appear until years, or even possibly decades, after treatment ends.
The long-term and late effects of childhood ALL treatment can include:
Side Effects
Therapy for CLL sometimes produces side effects. Side effects from kinase inhibitor drugs and monoclonal antibody therapy are generally milder than side effects from chemotherapy.
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 side effects.
Fannie
I was diagnosed in August 2018 with stage 4 Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), and at that time, I was seven months postpartum with my daughter who was only 7 months old, and my son was 8 years old. It was a surprise to hear that I had stage 4 cancer! But after my oncologist explained to me what HL was and what the treatment was, I knew that it was treatable. I started chemotherapy in October 2018, and after a month of chemotherapy, I relapsed because my insurance company was giving me a difficult time with chemotherapy treatment approval.
Dylan
I was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) the summer of 2017, right before the start of my junior year in high school. Due to slow immune recovery after chemotherapy, I experienced many delays in treatment. By spring of the following year, I had a CNS and marrow relapse, requiring me to have a life-saving bone marrow transplant in June of 2018. Following the transplant, my body struggled to produce enough T-cells, which put me in medical isolation for the entirety of my senior year in high school.
Angelika
In early May 2022, I was experiencing a lingering chronic cough that occurred 24/7 ― nonstop coughing, difficulty breathing, and shortness of breath. Coughing fits would be so unbearable. The harder I coughed, most times I would end up vomiting. At this point, as a full-time, stay-at-home mom, it was difficult for me to care for my one-year-old daughter (at the time) as my health slowly declined, and other symptoms started to arise. On July 13, 2022, I decided to see my primary doctor after I broke out in hives and a rash all over my body for an entire week and to address my cough problem.
Max
Heads or tails? The medical research was clear. Soon after making his way into the world, this beautiful and innocent boy was given the chance of making it to 5 years with the same odds as the flip…of…a…coin. Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) has a 5-year event-free survival rate of 50%. Half of the young children that receive this diagnosis don’t make it. Heads. Or. Tails.