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LLS and Burlington Celebrate 20 years of Fighting Blood Cancer Together!
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) and Burlington Stores are marking two decades of an incredible partnership this year. With Burlington’s help, LLS has been able to provide free information, education, and 1:1 support for hundreds of thousands of blood cancer patients. And we’re still going strong. Continuing the momentum, Burlington is committed to helping support lifesaving research for the LLS Children’s Initiative.
Chris
Chris is a retired Army colonel. He graduated from Temple University and set into life at home with his family when he was diagnosed with a hernia. In the process of preparing for healing, he was told the hernia was no longer his challenge as he had a rare form of leukemia. The battle was on long after the battlefield, and as a chemist, he knew like any soldier does that tomorrow is not promised. But courage, teamwork, a battle plan, family love, and a foundation built on research and millions of man-and-woman-hours showed that the light at the end of the tunnel was a bright shining star.
Yvonne
I am 56 years old and a proud 16-year survivor of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). The journey has been filled with struggles, instability, emotional ups and downs, coupled with chronic pain throughout the day and into the night. The things that have strengthened me the most are my faith in God, my family, dear friends, my church, and other survivors who gave me hope and extended themselves to me as advisers, also, prayer partners and sounding boards during moments of sheer frustration. I met the love of my life during my second year of chemo, something I thought could never happen!
Alice
I was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). As soon as you learn that you have a form of cancer in your body, read a lot about it. Learn as much as you can about your cancer and how to talk to your doctor. It's up to you; it’s a mind situation. Don’t say, “Woe is me.” Say, “What should I do to take care of myself and enjoy life?” You are in charge, no one else can do it for you.
Robyn
In October 2017, my wife Robyn Oshita passed away after a valiant two-and-a-half month battle against acute myeloid leukemia (AML). She was a loving wife, mother, and friend to everyone she met.
Joseph
I came down with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in 2006 which transformed into an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin B-cell lymphoma (NHL) in 2013. In 2015, I received an umbilical cord transplant at Penn Medicine Hospital in Philadelphia which was successful. This month, I celebrate nine years post-transplant.
Nicole
It all started back in early January 2013. I went to the local clinic in town because I was having pain in my upper left chest. Being young, I wasn't too concerned about it being a heart problem and left the clinic with the diagnosis of torn cartridge. The doctor said it would heal and I should take ibuprofen to ease the pain.
Clio
I lost my mom to acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in 2003. Her battle was short, just three months, which left me in shock and feeling very angry. My mom had always instilled in me the value of working hard to accomplish goals and I knew she wouldn’t want me wasting energy being angry. In late 2004, I decided to find a way to channel the anger into something productive, and just weeks later I came across a Team In Training (TNT) brochure. I started running half marathons with TNT and I’ve since completed about a dozen.
George
I was born in the inner city of Philadelphia, PA in 1951, I currently live near Dallas, Texas. My professional career in the Information Technology Industry lasted over 40 years prior to my retirement in January 2019. In 2002 I was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and many aspects of my life changed forever.
Zeke
On April 16, 2022, I brought my son Ezekiel "Zeke" to a sick appointment because of leg pain, stomach pain, and a fever over the last few days. We were sent for some additional testing (bloodwork and an X-ray of his stomach area). Later that day, we received a call from the doctor saying we needed to get Zeke back to the hospital fast because his bloodwork wasn't normal, and he had an enlarged liver and spleen. We woke up Easter morning in the hospital for the first of what would become over 100 nights at the hospital throughout his treatment.
Terry
At age 69, I was diagnosed with stage IIIA nodal marginal zone lymphoma (NMZL) following a neck lymph node biopsy, PET scan, and a bone marrow biopsy. It’s a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). I had enlarged lymph nodes in my neck, axilla bilaterally, and groin bilaterally. However, the bone marrow biopsy showed no lymph node enlargement. I began infusion therapy of bendamustine and rituximab the third week of December and every fourth Thursday and Friday forward for eight months. The PET scan on August 1, 2016, showed marked improvement with very small, rarely scattered lymphocytes.
Matthew
Three months into my husband’s yearlong deployment to South Korea, Captain Matthew Marggraf started noticing a painless lump forming on the side his neck. Thinking it was just his body adjusting to its new environment he thought nothing of it. When he visited home for two short weeks for our wedding and honeymoon in October we noticed the now golf ball sized lump. They urged him to get it checked out as Hodgkins lymphoma ran in his family.
Doug
On July 16, 2014 I had just finished eating out at our local diner. When standing at the register to pay, my defibrillator fired and an ambulance was called. Within two hours of arriving at the emergency room I found out I had leukemia. I had had no symptoms other than the lab work that showed the disease. I was in disbelief when I heard the words "very aggressive form of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL)." By the next afternoon I was started on a heavy regiment of arsenic and ATRA chemotherapy treatment.
Elsie
In November 2013, after experiencing several severe nose bleeds, I was diagnosed with a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma cancer called Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia. It was in stage IV and I started chemotherapy treatments immediately.
Researchers Share Key Career Advice with LLS College Club Members
I recently had the privilege of moderating an LLS on Campus Researcher Panel attended by LLS college club members from nearly 30 universities across the country. These clubs bring together students interested in pursuing health-related careers and provide opportunities to hear from scientists working to better understand and treat blood cancers.
Brian
Brian was diagnosed with a rare form of Burkett’s related, high-grade B-cell lymphoma in May 2019. He currently receives both in-patient and out-patient chemotherapy, with cycles where he receives chemo for seven days in a row 24 hours a day. Between these cycles he has anywhere from 2-3 weeks off, though he still travels to the hospital for appointments three times a week (blood transfusions, blood work, IV’s, spinal taps etc.).
Monica
Our daughter, Monica, is a busy mother of three sweet girls, age 12 months, 3 years and 6 years. After a long winter filled with the girls’ colds, infections, and flu, Monica was exhausted.
Stem Cell Transplantation
The goal of stem cell transplantation is to cure the patient’s cancer by destroying the cancer cells in the bone marrow with high doses of chemotherapy and then replacing them with new, healthy blood-forming stem cells. The healthy blood stem cells will grow and multiply forming new bone marrow and blood cells. There are two main types of stem cell transplantation. They are
Lyndi
In March 2019 I began feeling off...I didn't know what it was. I thought perhaps it was a loss of relationship that broke me to my core, or that fact that an old friend had asked me to be kidney donor for someone I had never know. I agreed to be tested to see if I was a possible match. Fast forward to October when I was tested a possible blood clot that had formed from all of this. I was having continual pain in my right shoulder blade.
Is Leukemia Genetic?
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Matthew
Our Matthew was first diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in August 2015 at the age of 12. He relapsed with ALL in December 2016 and underwent his first bone marrow transplant in February 2017 with marrow from an anonymous male donor from New Jersey.
In January 2019, he was diagnosed with mixed phenotype acute leukemia (MPAL). He underwent his second bone marrow transplant in February 2019 with marrow from his first donor's twin brother. Our two families have become very close since we were able to meet after the first transplant.
Maggie
My son, Benjamin, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in February 2019 at the age of four. Due to the unique nature of his presentation, he was placed in the VHR (very high risk) category and underwent three and a half years of treatment. My background is in theatre and education, but having just moved to New York, I was not working when Benjamin was diagnosed and was lucky enough to be able to devote 100% of my time to him. I spent his treatment years learning as much as I could about the disease and how I could best care for him.
Richard
It was Monday morning in January 2021. I gave my results to my wife at the kitchen table. She asked if I had read them, and I said no. I had been struggling with a chronic cough, fatigue, and shortness of breath for two to three months, so a CT scan was done to evaluate my lungs. I was simply too tired to read them. My wife scanned the papers and immediately started crying. There was a large 16 cm. tumor in my chest that was creating the symptoms and pressing on my lungs.
Relapsed and Refractory
Refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is NHL that has not responded to initial treatment. Refractory disease may be disease that is getting worse or staying the same.
Relapsed non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is NHL that responded to treatment but then returns.