Young Adult

I was first diagnosed at 12 years old when I didn’t even know what the word cancer meant. I remember sitting at the kitchen table with my family, laying my head down and sobbing because they told me I would lose my hair. I have lost my hair five times since.

I was diagnosed with diffused large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) with concentrations in the brain and lungs. Lymphoma itself is a cancer that starts in the cells that are part of your body’s immune system, with DLBCL being the most common type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).

I was diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma (BL) on Friday the 13^th ― August 13, 2021, to be exact ― seven months after being married, three months after my wedding reception, and going on my honeymoon.

I went to a simple doctor's appointment on October 27, and from that day on, my life flipped upside down. I was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in October of 2021 right before Halloween. I planned to take a gap year after my high school graduation that year, but now I didn’t have a choice. At the beginning of treatment, everything was going well.

I was diagnosed with stage 3 diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in the summer before my senior year of high school in 2020. It was a tough adjustment dealing with the treatment and the aftereffects of treatment while going into my final year of high school.

I was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) in 2021 last year at the age of 21 years old. Over the year everything happened so fast.

Being a recipient of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Scholarship for Blood Cancer Survivors is allowing me to continue my education and pursue the life cancer tried to take away from me. I was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) my freshman year of high school, and one of my biggest fears while in treatment was if I was going to be able to attend college still.

In November 2016 I was tired. TIRED. I had a 20-month-old and a 4-year-old, had just come off the busiest month of the year for work, and I figured I was tired for no other reason. But then tired became not having the energy to take care of my 20-month-old. Tired became going to be my best friend's wedding and needing to lay down in between steps. Shower, lay down. Makeup, lay down.