Young Adult

I am an awardee of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Scholarship for Blood Cancer Survivors. I currently hold an associate’s degree in science and am pursuing my bachelor's degree in biology at California State University, San Bernardino, (CSUSB). I am very grateful to be granted this scholarship to help pay for my tuition.

In October 2021, I was diagnosed with stage 2 Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). This journey of over 100 appointments has not been easy and something I never would have imagined I would walk through at the age of 26. I know God didn’t put me through this without a purpose. God has given me so much strength and confidence through this journey.

I was experiencing a really bad sore throat for at least a month. It would come and go. No meds or steroid shots about the fourth week helped. I attended a breast cancer event at my family’s restaurant. I was feeling bad, literally in tears and in lots of pain. My mother took me to the nearest hospital immediately after. On October 10, 2021, my life as a newly single mom changed forever.

I was diagnosed with anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) and underwent an autologous bone marrow transplant back in 2015. By the grace of God, I have been cancer-free for seven years. I was inspired to write some poems after my experience. One of them has actually been published. I hope my poems bring hope to the many cancer warriors out there fighting for their lives.

I was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) the summer of 2017, right before the start of my junior year in high school. Due to slow immune recovery after chemotherapy, I experienced many delays in treatment. By spring of the following year, I had a CNS and marrow relapse, requiring me to have a life-saving bone marrow transplant in June of 2018.

It started when I was in my second year of studying engineering with a small lump on my neck. Dad's suspicion got me to the procedure room the next morning for a biopsy. My father, Dr. Promothesh Roy (Dr.

Nobody ever expects to be diagnosed with cancer at 28, but that’s exactly what happened to me. It came completely out of the blue. I had zero symptoms. My cancer was found through a chest X-ray after I got my port placed (yes, I had my port before cancer!). Prior to cancer, I had been receiving IV therapies for other conditions I had, and I needed a port for that.

Cancer almost killed me, but more importantly, it made me who I am and who I will become.