To begin, I have been faced with insurmountable health challenges that I am very grateful to have survived. Many people call me the miracle child. I have survived two blood cancers, non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). I have also had a bone marrow transplant and two brain surgeries. The brain surgeries resulted from a brain bleed I experienced while getting chemotherapy. I also had a brain aneurysm two years after the first brain surgery. I am currently managing two autoimmune diseases, rheumatoid arthritis and myasthenia gravis, and other post-health challenges from the various challenges I have faced.
Throughout my journey in the hospital and at home, I journaled daily about all that I was going through. I even wrote a book, “The Faith Fighter Vs. The Health Destroyer, They Came to Kill, Steal, and Destroy," so that I could share my journey in hopes of being an encouragement to others. In my book, I walk the reader through my real-life experiences from a patient’s perspective. I captured the essence of my emotional saga, pain, frustration, and sufferings. My story also reveals the pain and suffering my family experienced. Each one (my husband and two sons) wrote a chapter about how these challenges affected them. Sharing our stories has been a blessing to those who are going through a blood cancer journey and to their loved ones and caregivers who are seeing their loved one’s suffering.
I also volunteer weekly at one of the hospitals where I was a patient. I go to the various patients’ rooms to share an encouraging flyer with them. I also open my heart for them to talk, and I share with them my journey in reference to relating to their experience from a patient’s perspective. My whole purpose is again to be an encouragement. I love to bring encouragement and love.
Rhonda
non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML)
