At 16, everything I knew about cancer was from my Advanced Placement Biology teacher and movies like The Fault in Our Stars. At 17, I found myself in an Intensive Care Unit bed listening to a doctor tell me he was 100% sure that I had Leukemia. Now, at 23, having survived cancer twice I find myself with the opportunity to look back at my experience and all that I have learned. September is Blood Cancer Awareness Month, and my hope is that by sharing my experiences and knowledge I can make an impact on others.

Being Diagnosed

My diagnosis came after several weeks of complete exhaustion, bone pain, bruising, weight loss and eight trips to my local urgent care with “virus-like symptoms”. After seeking treatment with an urgent care out of town, they called us the next day with instructions to head to the Emergency Room as soon as possible as my blood counts were critical. By the next morning, I was told that I had Acute Leukemia. 

A Blood Cancer diagnosis is a life-altering event. My life was forever changed the moment the doctor said those words. The next two years spent in and out of hospitals, dealing with complications, chemotherapy, and a bone marrow transplant had lasting impacts on my health and my perspective of the world.

Living After Blood Cancer

This weekend I was able to celebrate four years off treatment, a major milestone I feel blessed to have reached. But this doesn’t mean I don’t still deal with the effects-I see an oncologist weekly for treatment for a secondary condition, and have several long term effects that impact my mobility and cause additional problems and pain. I also struggle with survivor’s guilt and grief from losing multiple friends throughout the past few years, including my best friend, who passed away from long term effects of Leukemia treatment. 

I will always be a survivor, it is something that will continue to impact my life forever, and I hope that if anything can come from that, it is the ability to make a difference to others facing similar challenges.