Adults

In 2018, a few days before Thanksgiving, Helena noticed something. She was having difficulty lifting speakers at her gigs. She became winded after only a few songs. Even the most minute tasks became daunting.

This is me and my bald head on vacation in California. I was diagnosed with leukemia when I was 2 1/2.

My parents made sure that my life was as normal as possible. One of my favorite comments that my parents said was Dawnya Kaye always mind your manners. They did not tell until later the story behind that saying. I was raised to be polite and say please and thank you.

On January 11th, 2019 at 9:35 p.m., exactly 11 days before my baby brother's 40th birthday cancer decided to come to the party uninvited. It would be the first time in my life that I would see my mother, the strongest person I know, collapse in utter disbelief.

In July of 2017, I had what I thought was a lingering summer cold. After several days of feeling terribly fatigued, I started noticing my gums were tender and bleeding. I also noticed red spots appearing across my face and chest. That's when I went to my primary care doctor and he advised me to go to the emergency room. The look on his face told me he suspected something serious.

Hi, my name is Chaneta, I like to go by Juliet. This past year has been an interesting one, to say the least. I’m a singer-songwriter who wrote and released an album in October 2017. I thought the year was going to be an amazing one – promoting and performing – unfortunately, I performed one time and I began to literally unravel. In December 2017, I caught the flu.

When I write about the fact that I have cancer, it is not my intention to suggest that I am in any way unique. Although when I was first diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2010, I did feel special, and not in a good way. At first, I thought I had a hernia. But the surgeon said no.