Every survivor has a story. Mine started out on my way home from work one sunny June afternoon in 1983. My mom came to pick me up and we were riding in the car. I still remember the feeling of freedom as the wind blew through my long brown hair. Spring was always a season of rebirth to me after the long New York winters.
I want to tell you about my hero, my wife, Melissa. She is service-focused from the time she gets out of bed until the time she returns. She's been a part of Team In Training for the past three years and has raised well into five figures to help others. That's what made her Hodgkins lymphoma diagnosis all the more ironic.
I was first diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in June 1991, about a month shy of my 21st birthday. I was in school for cosmetology, had just signed divorce papers from my first husband and was dating the man who would become my second husband. Life was great for me.
In December 2007 my life completely changed. I had a biopsy done just four days before Christmas, and my oncologist called me on Christmas Day to tell me that I needed to come in and see him after the holidays to discuss my pathology report. I was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma. I endured five surgeries in just four weeks and spent my 36th birthday in the hospital.
I fell in love with distance running in 2010 while training for my first marathon as a member of Team In Training, raising money for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Since then, I have completed five full marathons and one ultra-marathon (49K). I started getting into mountain running in 2016, and aspire to run some mountain races here in Alaska, including Mount Marathon in Seward!
In March 2017, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
This came as a huge shock. I immediately starting thinking about how this might impact my wife and our two young daughters' lives.
It's not easy being bald, a bald physician, and a bald wife. This is my third dance with Hodgkin's Lymphoma (HL). I first met HL in college, as many young girls meet their first pivotal relationship. Sadly for me, I attended an all woman's college, so my pivotal 'boyfriend' came in the form of a first cancer diagnosis.
This picture is of my brother and my son. Both fought valiantly from acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and Hodgkin's lymphoma respectively.
