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.
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.
I noticed a bulge on my lower abdomen in December 2022. I had a negative ultrasound and CT. What was initially believed to possibly be a lipoma (benign tumor of fat) was later biopsied, and by May 2023, I was diagnosed with subcutaneous panniculitis-like T-cell lymphoma (SPTCL). It was a rare form of cutaneous lymphoma. I was young, active, and healthy, so I thought.
In March 2024, during my first year of college as an international student in America, I was diagnosed with lymphoma. The diagnosis came unexpectedly during a compulsory admissions check-up where they discovered a tumor in my chest that had grown extensively within just two months.
My mother and I being diagnosed with stage II Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) only six weeks apart from each other was not what I anticipated receiving for my 16th birthday. Braces, being my homeroom representative, volleyball tryouts, and getting my driver's license are the things I thought I would be navigating at this time.
"Rashad!" As I looked around, I realized she was calling me.
What happened next was like a scene from Charlie Brown, as all I could hear were mumbled words. I began to reminisce about what I used to be ― a collegiate athlete in the best shape of my life.
Luigi was diagnosed with primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma (PMBCL) during his junior year of high school, at the age of 16. During that time, Luigi was preparing for college applications and getting ready to play in his varsity basketball and varsity volleyball season. But all of that came to a halt with his diagnosis.