Lymphoma

My name is Lillie, and I am a Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) survivor. I was diagnosed in 2010 at the age of 22. At the time, I was the mother to two young boys, ages 4 months and 2 years old. I was afraid and didn't know what would happen to me because all I have ever heard about cancer was that a lot of people don't make it. I kept my faith in God and continued to be strong for my children.

My name is Nicolas Hambalek and I am 14 years old. Before my diagnosis I was a completely healthy child, in fact I was rarely ever sick. I played baseball, had straight A’s, and recently had recently got a new puppy. This sense of normalcy came to a screeching halt on January 13, 2018.

Nathan is a young, T-cell lymphoma (TCL) survivor. He just rang the “end of treatment bell” a couple of months ago. His dad, Andy, is a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Minnesota/North Dakota/South Dakota board and a major donor to The LLS Children’s Initiative through their family foundation’s fundraising.

Kennedy was diagnosed with mono at age 12. Within a week she developed swelling and had a hard time breathing when laying down. Our pediatrician advised us to go to the children’s hospital where they did CT scans, MRIs and discovered a soft-sized mass pressing against her airway. There we got the news you never want to hear, our girl had lymphoma.

I am Towanna, and I am a lymphoma survivor! I have been in remission for 17 years and counting.

By the time I was 32 years old, I was a 3-time cancer survivor. At 22 years old, I was diagnosed with MALT lymphoma, at a time (1999) when the doctors knew very little about it and believed it had only been found in men over the age of 80 in their stomach (mine was found in my neck).