Leukemia

I was losing the battle with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and lymphoma in August of 2013 when I ran across this quote from Albert Einstein, "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." I decided to adopt this as my standard to live by.

My twin sister, Julie was first diagnosed with leukemia when we were 25. Thankfully, she battled through and was in remission after a year of treatment. It was a rough battle for our family, but especially her. Newly married, her and her husband had just started to build a house and were hoping to start a family.

Mary was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in May 2016. After a few rounds of chemotherapy that were ineffective in fighting the AML, she was transferred to a hospital specializing in AML research and has been participating in a medical trial.

This involved 75 hours of high intensity chemotherapy. She then spent 54 days in the hospital attached to an IV cart.

People tend to think that cancer will never affect them. I know, because I was once one of those people. Growing up, I never knew of anyone that had cancer. Then, in 2005, my father-in-law contracted a brain tumor; the worst type. I remember feeling a sort of, panicky feeling in the beginning as we were told he had three to six months to live.

My husband, Dale, was first diagnosed with leukemia in October 2011, after we noticed a bubble under his chin. His chemo treatment lasted for four months, and in May of 2012, he was in remission. We were very excited to learn those results. He took his port out, and started living life again. Early in 2015, Dale was told his cancer was back, and the skin bubbles started to reappear.