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Jim & Leslie

Jim and Leslie Donigan have been married for almost 50 years. Currently retired with three adult children, they have both faced a cancer diagnosis, but are in remission today.

In October of 2003, Leslie was diagnosed with a stomach cancer called GIST (Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors) and was told it was terminal. But then her doctor tried a medication intended for blood cancer—and it worked.

Michael

My journey started in 2002 with a lump in my right arm pit. After a year of testing, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma. I was 30 at the time. After 18 months of treatment, including radiation and 15 rounds of chemo, I was cleared in 2005 after two pet scans. In September of 2012, things changed. I was working part-time for a medical transport company and took a patient to my doctors’ office. The nurse asked me why I didn’t come back; so, I made an appointment for February 2013. The blood work looked great so they scheduled a cat scan and it showed enlarged nodes.

Jaiden

My son, Jaiden was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) on November 21, 2018. Prior to his diagnosis, Jaiden was a very well-rounded athlete and he played almost every sport, until one day during a football he fractured his arm and was done for the season. Needless to say, he was in a cast for 6 weeks.

Liz

I've been affiliated with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) for many years through the volunteer/fundraising opportunities available to my kids. Little did I know I'd be visiting your website for my own needs once my mom was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in January 2023. I'm overwhelmed with the advances made by LLS and find your organization to be a tremendous resource filled with hope. I always click on your stories and decide I want to share mine because I feel like my story and that of my mom's offers just that, HOPE!

Benedict

I was diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) in June 2023. This was after months of testing, worrying, praying, and worrying some more. Honestly, the testing period was so stressful that it was almost a relief to know exactly what was going on when I was diagnosed. This is because while I was testing, I was taking official visits to prospective universities every weekend. I am a football player, and at the time, I was trying to decide which scholarship offer I was going to accept ― which university I was going to pin my hopes and dreams on. It was a stressful time.

EJ

I was diagnosed with large B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) on May 2, 2023. It was such a shock to me, but months prior to the diagnosis, I already wasn’t feeling well. I was dealing with body aches every day, and nothing would help take the pain away. It wasn’t until I had a bad case of food poisoning that I ended up in the ER. After multiple scans, doctors were concerned about a suspicious mass on my chest. After more tests and biopsies, I started my journey fighting NHL. 

Rachel

I want to share my story about the day I was told the dreaded three words, "You have cancer," and how my life changed forever. I was diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) during my freshman year of college three years ago. I had started noticing symptoms including chest pain and fatigue, and I was constantly sick. I was continually going to the hospital with various infections and illnesses.

Danya

I've been waiting for that moment for six months, since the day the doctors told me I had to do chemo to treat my Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) in February 2023. From constant ER visits, going through multiple thoracentesis, concerning symptoms, and a biopsy on the neck due to a visible lump, I finally got the answer to what had been (at the time) weighing so heavily on my shoulders. I had cancer. I was in a state of shock. This was all very new to me, and to be honest, it took me a while to process and accept the new change I had to endure.

Laura

My mom was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in August 2022. Over the course of a year, she underwent chemotherapy, caught COVID-19, underwent CAR-T therapy, and fought through many respiratory infections. My mom was a fighter. She wasn’t going to let a cancer diagnosis slow her down. She wanted to live. Between me and my sisters, we all took turns taking my mom to all her appointments.

FDA Approves Novel Treatment for Chronic Graft-Versus-Host-Disease

Joshua

Just three days after Christmas, my world was turned upside down. I was admitted to the hospital because I was unable to keep any food down and felt terrible overall. Upon admission, I had a multitude of issues, just a few being extremely high uric acid levels, severe dehydration, pancreatitis, and nephrosis. They also discovered that I had lost 20 lbs.! Later in the hospital, I would lose 20 more.

Jane

In October 2015, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). After growing up never getting sick, I had cancer. It was incredibly difficult to comprehend at the age of 13 that I was about to endure something most people won’t experience in a lifetime. I went through four rounds of chemotherapy and was in remission in January of 2016. Once you’re in remission, you believe that that’s the end. You’ll have a few check-ups here and there, but in your head, you envision no more cancer.

Thomas

I had bariatric surgery on May 11, 2022. At the time, I weighed just under 600 pounds, and I understood that there was a higher possibility for complications. My three-hour procedure turned into a six-hour procedure, and my overnight stay in the hospital turned into a week. During surgery, they discovered my spleen was significantly larger than normal, and in the days following my surgery, I kept losing blood. After two exploratory surgeries, four units of blood, and a trip to the ICU later, I was finally released from the hospital with no confirmed cause of bleeding.

Erin & Meghan

I always loved fall. It is such a special time. My birthday is the first day of fall. I love unpacking my favorite boots, lighting pumpkin spice candles, and making warm soups. Fall always signified that special holidays and quality time with family were quickly approaching. These were events to get excited about! But in the last few years, fall has taken on a new meaning for me.

Mike

It started with a cough that would not go away. A cough so bad that it would stop him in his tracks and he'd have to rest afterwards for a few minutes just to catch his breath and regain strength. This was in March 2016. My husband, Mike, was like any other 31 year old "healthy" person. He figured the cough was allergies or a stubborn cold. He finally agreed to go to urgent care because of course he didn't have a primary doctor. The doctors had the same thoughts: allergies or a stubborn cold. They treated him for these things and none of them helped.

Tricia

My story is truly about the little family that could. In 2002, I felt I had it all: a loving partner, a new job offer, and plans to start a family. Upon my return from a business trip in May, that feeling shifted as a large lump appeared on the side of my neck. Several doctor visits, tests, and sleepless nights later, I received a phone call on the way to a meeting from a doctor. He asked me to pull the car over. He told me I had cancer. Everything stopped.

Joshua

Just three days after Christmas, my world was turned upside down. I was admitted to the hospital because I was unable to keep any food down and felt terrible overall. Upon admission, I had a multitude of issues, just a few being extremely high uric acid levels, severe dehydration, pancreatitis, and nephrosis. They also discovered that I had lost 20 lbs.! Later in the hospital, I would lose 20 more. I remained in excruciating pain for three weeks while multiple branches of the hospital were trying to find out what was wrong with me.

Kathryn

My symptoms became pretty intense in December 2017. I was 21 at the time and living a healthy and active lifestyle, but my symptoms were starting to interfere with my quality of life. I was experiencing a cough, fatigue, unexplained weight loss, and pretty intense back pain, along with several swollen lymph nodes primarily on the left side of my collarbone.

Side Effects

The main goal of treatment for myeloma is to get rid of myeloma cells. The term side effect is used to describe how treatment affects healthy cells. Patients react to treatments in different ways. Sometimes there are very mild side effects. Other side effects may be serious and last a long time.

Myeloma patients should talk with their doctors about side effects before they begin any type of treatment. There are drugs and other therapies can prevent or manage many side effects.

Procarbazine

Procarbazine is FDA approved with other anticancer drugs for the treatment of stage III and IV Hodgkin lymphoma. Procarbazine is used as part of the MOPP (mechlorethamine, Oncovin® [vincristine], procarbazine, prednisone) regimen.

Avery

When I was a senior in high school, my life changed forever. In my senior year, playing my last season of basketball and gearing up to play college softball that next fall, everything was looking up. I had great friends, and great family, not to mention that I had the best-looking curly hair there ever was. Back in September 2019, I noticed a knot in my right armpit. At the time, I was playing high school softball and was just moved to a new position. I thought the reason for my underarm pain had been from soreness, so I put it off until the season was over.

Options for Sperm Preservation

You may be able to take certain steps and precautions to preserve fertility before, during and after treatment. 

Coping With Cancer

When someone is diagnosed with cancer, everyone in his or her family is affected. This holds especially true when a child has cancer. Different families have different ways of coping, but there are some sound strategies that anyone can employ. For useful tools and tips that may help, see the following pages:

ALL Subtypes

The subtypes of ALL are identified based on certain features of the leukemia cells. Determining the ALL subtype is an important factor in treatment planning. The doctor will discuss with you which drug combinations are indicated based on your child’s ALL subtype.

Leukemia cells can be classified by the unique set of proteins found on their surface. These unique sets of proteins are known as “immunophenotypes.” Based on immunophenotyping of the leukemia cell, the World Health Organization (WHO) classifies ALL into two main subtypes.

Dan

When cancer hangs your cleats up for good

At my first appointment, the physical therapist asked me why. Why did I want to run a marathon? And I didn't have an answer, partly because when you meet someone, you don't want to blurt out all sorts of emotional baggage, and that's the sort of question that can trigger a lot of baggage.