Adults

I was diagnosed in 1974 at the age of 24 with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). I had never even heard of it. The doctors did not know if I would survive as it was very aggressive. I had exploratory surgery (CAT scans and MRIs did not exist then as far as I know) and five weeks of radiation (I still glow in the dark, saves on night lights!!).

It all started with a limp. Then we began to notice random bruises on his arms and legs. Ten days before his 5th birthday, he had a fever that just wouldn’t go away. We went to see our family doctor, and after doing bloodwork, they said we needed to get to Children’s Hospital immediately.

I'm here and going strong, drumming in a rock band six+ years after my stage 4 mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) diagnosis. At that time, I chose to enter a clinical trial, and I started treatment as soon as possible. I was and am so grateful that treatments for two years with chemo and antibodies allowed me the energy to continue working full-time and to conduct a close to normal life.

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.

Initially, I joked with my boss at work about the lymph node swelling in my neck and about taking another sick day off. I finally decided to see my primary care physician about it, who is typically very jovial. That day he wasn't joking much and referred me to a local ENT. Every test and scan from that first opinion pointed to a malignancy.

In May of 2020, shortly after the first lockdown for COVID-19, I noticed a small lump on the side of my neck. Living in Southern Indiana during the spring, I usually get allergies from the fields, so I thought I just had a swollen lymph node from that. Considering I was only 15 at the time, the last thing that ever crossed my mind was the possibility of cancer.

I am currently 30 years old and was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (PMBCL) when I was 27, almost 28 years old.

This cause is dear to me because my grandmother, Anne Zavorskas, passed away several years ago from Hodgkin’s disease—a form of leukemia. Also, many years ago, my mentor’s son, Ryan Hurley, had a recurrence of leukemia, which he was first diagnosed with at the age of three. He died at the age of 19.

I was diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) in August 2019 at age 64. It was an accidental find while scanning for a kidney stone. I was late stage 3 at diagnosis with no prior symptoms. I had 4 rounds of treatment finishing at the end of 2019 and followed with an autologous stem cell transplant at the University of Virginia on February 24, 2020.

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.