Search Results
Jeff & Melanie
My wife, Melanie and I had always been pretty healthy. We exercised, tried to eat right and discovered the value of meditation. But things changed in 2018.
Melanie had developed a cough that just wouldn't go away. She had it for months. And then she discovered a lump near her collarbone. Tests revealed on Sept. 6, 2018, that the lump was Hodgkin lymphoma and it was present in several other lymph nodes. She began a months-long treatment regimen of chemotherapy and radiation. It wasn't easy.
Oya
My three kids are my precious jewels, the reason I get up every morning. As a single parent, providing a good life for them is what fuels my drive to succeed. Little did I know that need to care for them would end up saving my life.
Jessica
Jess began volunteering with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) in February 2021. Jess is currently pursuing her Patient Advocacy Certificate and found an opportunity to join LLS as a volunteer to gain more experience working with the Patient and Community Outreach Department. Although she is a newer LLS volunteer, her journey to finding her passion for patient advocacy started seven years ago. In 2014, Jess was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). MDS is more common in men than in women.
Brenda
Hello, my name is Brenda. I am 26 years old and have been in remission for three years now. Back in the very beginning of 2015, I started getting sick. I had been working in a daycare for a few months, so I just figured it was a cold. I didn’t get better. I eventually reached the point where I couldn’t breathe, and I was burning up, so I was taken to the hospital. That was the morning I will never forget. I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Getting the news that you have cancer isn’t an easy thing to believe. At first, you’re skeptical.
Shaun
On November 1, 2020, after three scary trips to the emergency room for excruciating back pain within two weeks, I was diagnosed with Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia, (Ph+ ALL). Sitting in the emergency room with my fiancée, I was at a loss of words. We never anticipated my pain to turn into our worst nightmare. We never thought cancer would enter our lives at 26, but we were faced with the reality that our lives had grown drastically different.
Brenda
A scratchy throat that became a bronchial infection in May 2012 was the first sign Brenda had that anything was wrong. She tried to tough it out but collapsed while taking her long-awaited test for a black belt in karate. Later that same day she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the same disease that had taken her brother 17 years earlier.
Lawrence Paul "LP"
In July of 2017, our world was turned upside down. Our son, Larry Paul (LP), was experiencing back pain and was extremely tired. After multiple trips to doctors and ER visits over seven days, he was taken down to UMMC in Baltimore and diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). After a 28-day battle of fighting ferociously, he passed away. When he was sent home from the hospital after 24 days, the doctors were convinced that he was going to beat this. The toxic chemo created a massive pulmonary embolism that went undetected.
Holly
In 2016, I joined The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) Tennessee Chapter as a supportive member of Team Addie. I had friends who became team members the previous year, walking in Nashville’s Light The Night Walk (LTN), and they encouraged me to get involved in the cause with LLS and LTN. Nashville is a city that my friends and I have gained so much love for through the years. I must admit I was hesitant to join at first because blood cancer specifically hadn’t affected my life or the people in it.
Side Effects
Cancer treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma can produce side effects. The goal of treatment is to kill the cancer cells, but cancer treatments can damage healthy cells too which causes side effects.
Patients react to treatments in different ways. Some patients may have very mild side effects. For other patients, side effects can be more severe, sometimes requiring hospitalization. For most patients, treatment side effects are temporary and go away once therapy ends.
Coping Tips for Parents
Throughout your child's illness, you'll be focused on comforting your child and helping him or her cooperate with treatment. You may also need to explain what's happening to your other children, answer relatives' questions and perhaps make alternate arrangements for work and childcare. All along the way, you'll be coming to terms with your own feelings and choices.
Finding a Clinical Trial
If you're interested in the possibility of a clinical trial as a treatment option, talk with your doctor first. He or she can help you find an eligible trial.
Choosing a Treatment Center
Selecting a cancer treatment center may depend on several factors including your specific diagnosis, location and insurance coverage. You will want to choose an accredited treatment center with the medical expertise to provide the type(s) of treatment you will need.
Communicating With Your Partner
Discussing experiences, feelings and concerns with your partner(s)—giving each other the chance to talk and listen—is an important part of maintaining or improving your quality of life. Your partner may have his or her own concerns, such as being afraid of hurting you during sex, feeling guilty or selfish for wanting to be intimate with you or not knowing how to talk about their feelings. You may also want to talk about seeking help from a professional, such as a couples counselor or sex therapist.
Diet Guidelines For Immunosuppressed Patients
Food safety is important during and after cancer treatments. The immune system is often weakened by cancer treatments, making the body more susceptible to foodborne illnesses.
Neutropenia is a condition where you have lower-than-normal levels of neutrophils (a type of white cell). If you have neutropenia, following food safety guidelines are especially important. Be sure to follow all food handling guidelines to help protect you from bacteria and other harmful organisms found in some mishandled food and beverages.
Stem Cell Transplantation with High-Dose Chemotherapy
High-dose chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation are important parts of treatment plans for eligible, recently diagnosed myeloma patients.
Refractory and Relapsed
Some patients with myeloma have refractory disease. Refractory myeloma is cancer that does not respond to treatment. After a time, almost all myeloma patients will experience relapse, which means the cancer returns after a successful course of treatment. The treatment for relapsed and refractory myeloma is affected by many factors including previous therapy, rate of relapse, patient health, and genetic abnormalities.
Treatment for Relapsed and Refractory MyelomaTreatment for relapsed or refractory myeloma may include:
Donate Cryptocurrency
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Bryon
In 2017, during a pickup basketball game at the local gym, Bryon Daily was beginning to feel his age, playing against 20-year-olds. A former college track athlete in his early 50s, this fatigue felt different. He also fractured his finger during a routine pass in the game. Bryon’s primary doctor at Kaiser ordered labs including blood and urine, that showed impairment in his protein levels and referred him to a urologist then a hematologist.
Amrita
November 2007 was the start of my journey as a cancer warrior and survivor. I was diagnosed with Diffused Large B cell non-Hodgkins lymphoma (NHL) and it is incredible for me to reflect on the fact that I am coming up on my 15th year anniversary of diagnosis and treatment. I do hear and read powerful stories of other survivors and in so many ways I think my journey with and after cancer diagnosis resonates with those.
Ed
Like many who get diagnosed with multiple myeloma (MM), it comes out of nowhere. For me, it was mysterious aches and pains that crept up quickly. An alert doctor ordered tests, and eventually, MGUS, the precursor of MM, was first diagnosed. Within a month, MM was confirmed. MM is a blood/bone cancer that can affect the entire body.
For the next six months, I was involved in many tests, along with drug treatments including chemo. I had a stem cell transplant and have generally had a complete response.
Chris
In 2008, my primary doctor noticed that my white blood cells were high (12,000 range) and referred me to a hematologist. The hematologist decided to "wait and see" for a while. From 2008 to 2018, we watched as my white cells slowly grew from 12,000 to 207,000. The oncologist then prescribed and 8-hour infusion of Rituxan. As I sat in the recliner chair with needle in arm, I got several violent reactions from the Rituxan and they pulled out the needle. The doctor told me that I needed a drug called Imbruvica (Ibutrinib). I was
Jessica
Last spring, I was a normal college junior. I had just returned from spring break in the Caribbean with my best friends, and my biggest problem was party planning my 21st birthday that was coming up.
I had a bump on my neck for a few months at that point. I visited several doctors who all assured me it was just a normal swollen lymph node and nothing to be concerned about. My family decided to fly me home for a weekend to get checked out by my pediatrician who we trust. My pediatrician took the lead for further testing.
Laura
I was diagnosed with stage IVB Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) about a week after my 30th birthday in 2018. I was a new mom to an 8-month-old baby and had been experiencing several symptoms of Lymphomas the months after having my son, but I assumed they were from having a child and would never thought in a million years that it was cancer. I received all of my care at The University of Michigan Cancer Center. My NP Dava and my doctor, Dr. Gitlin were top-notch in both my medical and mental treatment and care.