In June 2016, I was diagnosed with a super rare form of leukemia called, blastic plasmacytoid dendritic neoplasm (BPDCN).
At the time, I was 12 years old, just graduated sixth grade and was looking forward to entering middle school.
During one of my gymnastics practices, while doing a dismount off the beam, I hit my ankle really hard, which caused it to bruise. The bruise formed into a lump so my mom took me to my pediatrician, who then referred us to my hospital, where I received a skin biopsy and was diagnosed with cancer a week later.
BPDCN is predominantly in men over the age of 65 and it is so rare in adolescents that I was only one in a handful of children to ever be diagnosed in the world. Hearing this news scared me a lot, given the fact that I was so young and really didn’t know a lot about cancer in general. Thankfully, I had a great support group that helped educate and stay by me throughout my cancer journey.
Immediately after finding out about my diagnosis, my pediatrician started my treatment right away. This consisted of a clinical trial, many rounds of chemotherapy, localized and full body radiation and a bone marrow transplant.
On top of all the treatment piled onto me, during my transplant, another patient I had met who had the same cancer as I did passed away. At that moment, the severity and seriousness of my diagnosis finally hit me. It was the first time in my life I thought about the possibility of death. Although the next couple months were extremely tiring, ugly, and painful I pushed through it all while staying positive and true to myself. Almost a year later, on April 25, 2017, I was declared cancer free.
I just turned 17 and am looking forward to hopefully being able to attend my senior year in high school. I also do public speaking for a variety of cancer nonprofit organizations around the country as a way to inspire and educate those around me. I love that I am able to use my story to spread positivity while shedding a light on the “not so pretty” aspects of my cancer experience!
Caitlin
Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic neoplasm (BPDCN) survivor
