Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)

Lew developed leukemia from being in a building at Ground Zero on 9/11. He returned there every day afterward for over a year, breathing in the carcinogenic ash which compromised his immune system. He is currently in the World Trade Center Health Program.

I came into this world with a 65,000-mile warranty. During all my life, maybe I had a cold once in a while, some minor stuff, a bit of bursitis, but nothing that you would consider life-threatening at all. One day during a routine exam, I had blood work done. My PCP told me she didn't like my white blood cell count, and it was best to have a specialist look at it.

I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) on November 6, 2017. I was transported to the James Cancer Hospital and immediately placed in a medically induced coma for several weeks. I was given intense chemotherapy with little hope that I would survive.

I was first diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in my 20’s. I had a three-year-old daughter and a husband. I went through six months of chemo and continued working full-time as a nurse in homecare the whole time. I was told that if I was to have a reoccurrence, it would come back as leukemia within 10 years. I harvested my bone marrow after chemo and saved it for the 10-year time frame.

Volunteering for an organization was part of my senior capstone in the Spring of 2021. I wanted to volunteer for an organization that was for the long term and meaningful to me. One of my best friends, who is also my cousin, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in 2020. I felt so helpless and also didn't know anything about AML, so I turned to LLS to educate myself.

It was last July, and I was just a regular Jersey girl. I was a 41-year-old wife, mother of two, physical therapist assistant just living a regular, normal life, or so I thought. I was just returning from a vacation in Puerto Rico, celebrating my brother's 50th birthday, when I fainted on the plane and had to have an emergency visit upon landing.

Two weeks before my 18th birthday, I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Weeks leading up to this diagnosis, I had constant headaches, a sore throat, extreme fatigue, and one morning when I blew my nose, I noticed blood. I went to a performing arts high school, and I was performing a solo dance at our dance show. In the middle of my dance, I ran to the back and threw up.

My story starts when I was just eight months old. In March of 1994, it was discovered that I had a cheek tumor. Doctors removed the tumor, and I was treated with chemotherapy. I relapsed at two years old in 1995. I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Leukemic lesions had spread to my brain. I received intense chemotherapy and 14 days of cranial irradiation.

I had been feeling very tired and dealing with massive headaches for about a month. Friends and family started to notice my pale skin and that all I wanted to do was sleep, and I felt cold all the time. That’s not like me, and everybody knows that I don’t usually carry sweaters when it’s cold because I love the cold weather. But during this time, I felt very, very cold.