In the second semester of my freshman year of high school I was a relatively healthy 15 year old girl, but, I got an upper respiratory infection that didn’t seem to go away. My lymph nodes in my neck were swollen, and remained that way. Finally at the end of the school year after multiple tests, my doctor sent me to a surgeon for a biopsy, which came back positive for Hodgkin’s disease. That’s definitely not something my family and I were prepared for. Instead of preparing for summer vacation, I was preparing for chemotherapy. I proceeded to go through 6 rounds of chemo, and some radiation treatments over the next several months. I was sick a lot, and had to miss a lot of school. Through all of that I had the support of my family, friends, and all the doctors and nurses at the clinic and hospital. Being in the hospital is never easy, but the nurses took such good care of me, that it made the experience a little easier to go through.
After I finished my radiation treatments, I was pronounced cancer-free, and I couldn’t have been more excited. I was finally getting to live the life of a “normal” teenager. I got to spend more time with family and friends and go to school. I started my junior year of high school, and everything was going great – went to prom, got my senior ring, went to GSP. Not long after my senior year began, I had a routine chest x-ray that showed a spot in my lung. No one could figure out what it was for a while, but in January of 2010, they found out that the cancer had returned. We were all extremely upset. I just remember thinking, “Not again.” It was my senior year, and I had things I wanted to do – it was going to be my last chance to do these things with my friends before we graduated. So, my doctors and nurses agreed to work my chemotherapy schedule around my senior events – I got to be on homecoming court, go on my senior trip to Disney World, be in the high school play, go to prom, and walk at graduation. I can’t say how thankful I am to them for allowing me to participate in all those things – it really helped me through the treatments knowing that I was still able to do a few “normal” things with my friends.
During that time, the doctors wanted me to prepare for a possible stem cell transplant, so I went through this process of taking some of my blood, filtering it out, taking the stem cells out and putting the rest back in. This way they could prepare the stem cells if I ever needed them. I did chemo through July of that year, and was preparing to start my first semester at UofL. My parents, doctors, and I decided that it would be best for me to go part time instead of full time since I had just finished treatment and needed to recover. In December of that year, I had a scan, which came back positive again, so we knew I was going to need that transplant after all. Since I’d be doing more chemo, the transplant and would have a weakened immune system for a while, I took classes online those next two semesters, and everyone I worked with on that was extremely helpful and I really appreciated it. I started chemo in January of 2011, and did several rounds before I was ready for the transplant, which began in May. The transplant was probably the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. The chemo was much stronger than any I’d had previously, and I got very sick. I ended up in the ICU for about a week due to fluid building up around my heart and there were times I couldn’t walk 5 feet without needing to sit down and take a break. But with a lot of prayer, and a lot of support from family, friends, and all the doctors and nurses, I made it through, and am now almost 4 years cancer free!
After I finished my radiation treatments, I was pronounced cancer-free, and I couldn’t have been more excited. I was finally getting to live the life of a “normal” teenager. I got to spend more time with family and friends and go to school. I started my junior year of high school, and everything was going great – went to prom, got my senior ring, went to GSP. Not long after my senior year began, I had a routine chest x-ray that showed a spot in my lung. No one could figure out what it was for a while, but in January of 2010, they found out that the cancer had returned. We were all extremely upset. I just remember thinking, “Not again.” It was my senior year, and I had things I wanted to do – it was going to be my last chance to do these things with my friends before we graduated. So, my doctors and nurses agreed to work my chemotherapy schedule around my senior events – I got to be on homecoming court, go on my senior trip to Disney World, be in the high school play, go to prom, and walk at graduation. I can’t say how thankful I am to them for allowing me to participate in all those things – it really helped me through the treatments knowing that I was still able to do a few “normal” things with my friends.
During that time, the doctors wanted me to prepare for a possible stem cell transplant, so I went through this process of taking some of my blood, filtering it out, taking the stem cells out and putting the rest back in. This way they could prepare the stem cells if I ever needed them. I did chemo through July of that year, and was preparing to start my first semester at UofL. My parents, doctors, and I decided that it would be best for me to go part time instead of full time since I had just finished treatment and needed to recover. In December of that year, I had a scan, which came back positive again, so we knew I was going to need that transplant after all. Since I’d be doing more chemo, the transplant and would have a weakened immune system for a while, I took classes online those next two semesters, and everyone I worked with on that was extremely helpful and I really appreciated it. I started chemo in January of 2011, and did several rounds before I was ready for the transplant, which began in May. The transplant was probably the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. The chemo was much stronger than any I’d had previously, and I got very sick. I ended up in the ICU for about a week due to fluid building up around my heart and there were times I couldn’t walk 5 feet without needing to sit down and take a break. But with a lot of prayer, and a lot of support from family, friends, and all the doctors and nurses, I made it through, and am now almost 4 years cancer free!