Search Results
Christopher
Chris was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) in January 2022. He underwent several rounds of chemo and a bone marrow transplant (his sister was a perfect match!) to put him in remission in May 2022. During the course of his remission, we bought a house, got married, and planned a wedding until he relapsed one year to the date of his initial diagnosis.
When Your Child Has Cancer
Hearing that your child has cancer is terrifying for any parent. Today, most childhood cancer patients can expect to have full and productive lives. Many childhood cancer survivors return to school, attend college, enter the workforce, marry and become parents. Nevertheless, being vigilant about follow-up care, being aware of long-term and late effects of treatment, helping your child return to school and even dealing with your emotions are all things you’ll need to manage.
Watch and Wait
Not all CLL patients need to start treatment immediately. “Watch and wait” is a valid treatment approach that means your doctor will watch your condition but not give you treatment unless you have signs or symptoms that appear or change. This approach includes:
Legal and Financial
Advance DirectivesAdvance directives are a patient's instructions about future medical care in case he or she can no longer speak for himself or herself. Ideally, an advance directive should be in place before a person becomes ill or before a crisis.
Treatment
The main treatment for ALL is chemotherapy given in phases. Most treatment regimens take 2 to 3 years to complete.
Not every child with ALL receives the same treatment. Your child’s doctor will tailor your child’s treatment based on the ALL subtype and other factors, such as age, health and how the cancer responds to treatment.
Your child’s treatment may also include:
Gary
In 1999 I had a lump on my neck, and after strong urging from my wife and my mother, I finally went to my family doctor. My white blood cell counts were really high, and antibiotics didn't help. Eventually, a biopsy indicated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
Munira
I will never underestimate my parents' sacrifices to provide my siblings and me with the millions of opportunities we have due to their hard work. My parents were born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Both were born to families who instilled the traditional family value of grit in every walk of life. My parents both obtained a high school diploma with the intent of seeking higher education, but the obstacles of living in a developing country robbed them of the chance.
Heather
The world works in mysterious ways, it truly does! When I first volunteered with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training (TNT) program in 2015, I never in a million years thought I would be fundraising in honor of my husband Dave. I started out fundraising for my step-grandmother Margaret and his grandmother Pearl. Eventually, the list of people I ran and fundraised in honor or memory of grew to way over 20! All that time it turns out I was fundraising for Dave, too, we just didn't know it yet!
David
We all have some absolutely remarkable story to tell in one way or another. The vital task we all have is to appreciate it, embrace it, and articulate it in a way somebody will relate to.
Kennetha
I found out about The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) through a peer at Brockport College where I attend the Healthcare Administration BSN program. My peer had many great things to say about LLS and was excited to be a volunteer intern. I'm grateful that I was given the opportunity to reach out to those who experience the life-changing event of having blood cancer and can provide them with the resources and support that LLS offers. I love volunteering for LLS because it helps me fulfill my passion for caring for others and making a difference in people's lives.
Tatijane
On February 19, 2021, I was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), both B and T cells, and given six to eight weeks to live. I was 24 years old. I was diagnosed alone in the ER because of COVID-19 protocols and unable to see my family and friends in person for a week or two because of testing, port placements, and biopsies. It was like an earthquake that shook up my life as well as all my loved ones’ lives, and all I wanted was to hug my mom.
Lori
Just a month before turning 60, I was diagnosed with follicular lymphoma (FL). I really had no symptoms. I had just finished a year of pretty much full-time, long-term substitute jobs at our local middle school. I’m a retired high school English teacher. I had also traveled with my family to both Williamsburg, Virginia and Las Vegas with my sister and her husband. We were only home for four days when I flew my daughter and two-year-old grandson here to Alabama for a week.
Kayli
My daughter Kayli is a remarkable 22-year-old, six-time cancer survivor of leukemia who is currently undergoing treatment for a relapse of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) that has been recurrent in her central nervous system (CNS) since she was 8 years old. We are hopeful that the upcoming bone marrow transplant will provide a much-needed, life-saving cure for Kayli.
I am an RN and a single mother of five daughters and one son. My only son, Kayli's brother, Markai, is a full match and will be her bone marrow donor. He just graduated high school in May.
Anna
I’m from Hungary. I’m 34 years old and just recently moved to Durango, Colorado, to marry my husband, Joe. For two years, we worked through a long-distance relationship during COVID and thought we would never face a tougher task in life than facing an uncertain future beset by travel restrictions, an eight-hour time difference, and thousands of miles. We wed in July, settled into our house we’d moved into in March, and I had just qualified for my work permit and landed a wonderful job as the Communications Specialist at a local non-profit.
Morgyn
June 18th, 2021. A day that I would never expect to happen never in a million years. I was 17 years old living my life like any other teenage girl would. Let me rewind back a few months to February 14th, 2021, yes Valentine’s Day. I was so sick that morning and with COVID-19 still running at its highest I decided to test myself. The test came back positive. I was so sick, the sickest I had ever been and as my quarantine was coming to an end I still felt as if I was still so sick with COVID.
Liza
I’m from Ghana, and I am a stage 4 nodular sclerosis Hodgkin lymphoma (NSHL) survivor! I was diagnosed in October 2018 right after my undergraduate diploma. Before being diagnosed, I was misdiagnosed for almost a year as the symptoms started in 2017 when I was still in school. Unfortunately, some doctors missed it, and others also tried to disregard my symptoms. As a result of the misdiagnosis, the cancer advanced from the early stages to an advanced stage where my bone marrow was infiltrated.
Agnes
On January 23, 2023, my whole world flipped upside down. After just starting the last semester of my senior year of college, I went to the ER with chest pain. A few scans and a biopsy later, I received the news that I had stage IV primary mediastinal B-cell Lymphoma (PMBL). What I thought would be a semester of parties, celebrations, and memory-making with friends turned out to be a semester of hospital stays, doctor’s appointments, and no hair!
Katharine
My mother, Nancy, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with a FLT3 mutation in March 2022. Over the next year and a half, she went through multiple rounds and regimens of inpatient and outpatient chemotherapy. At every step along the way, every member of my mom's care team kept mentioning how the outlook for patients like my mom was so much better now than it had been even 10 years ago thanks to advances in medicine.
Riley
On October 17, 2023, my life took a turn I never saw coming. My doctor sat me down and told me, "You have leukemia." It felt like the ground had shifted beneath my feet. I was scared, couldn't believe it was happening, and had no idea what the future held.
Lorena
My journey began in early 2021 when I discovered some swelling in my left inguinal area. At the time, I did not think much of it but still was told by my primary to see a surgeon, which I did. I saw a surgeon who told me it was a swollen lymph node and that it would go away within a few months. After about six months, I still had the swelling, and it had started to bother me. I saw a second surgeon in mid-2022 who suggested I have it removed, so I did. I went for surgery in late August 2023, and on September 12, 2023, I was told that I had stage 2 non-Hodgkin follicular lymphoma (FL).
Courtney
In March 2022, I began experiencing unusual symptoms of fatigue, nausea, persistent infections, and bloody noses and gums, but I didn’t think much of it. Following a lucky-timed appointment with my primary care doctor and multiple blood tests, I was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Cancer isn’t something an otherwise “healthy” 27-year-old thinks will come out of a doctor’s mouth.
Renata
The best thing and the worst thing to ever happen to me happened at the same time. On my birthday, I found out that I was pregnant. That explained (I thought) why I felt so run down and lethargic. My husband and I were over the moon as this was our first child.
As weeks went by, what I thought was morning sickness hit me hard. I couldn’t keep food down. My doctor gave me meds; nothing helped.
Nevaeh
Nevaeh was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML+MLLr)+CNS chloromas on February 2, 2022, at 12 months old. Nevaeh first showed symptoms of high fevers, no appetite, and little to no energy. After a trip to the ER, a few tests, and x-rays, I was told Nevaeh had COVID and pneumonia. She was discharged with instructions to go back if her symptoms worsened. The following morning, Nevaeh’s health was declining. I called 911, and she was rushed to the ER and admitted to the pediatric unit.
Kristen
In the fall of 2012, Kristen Comer noticed her energy level wasn't as high as it had been, but she thought nothing of it. It wasn’t until the fall of 2013 when she had unidentifiable bruises on her body and no change in her energy levels, that her general practitioner drew labs to determine a diagnosis. After three panels of blood work, Kristen was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) on December 31, 2013.