How was the cancer found?

Non-Hodgkin lymphomaCaregiver

There was a tumor that was by my dad's heart. They didn't know what it was so they did a biopsy first and then they had to do open heart surgery.

Breast cancerRemission

I was 39 years old when I felt a very distinct lump in my left breast while taking a shower on an otherwise completely normal day.

My mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer at 50 and I had previously asked my primary care provider if I should be getting screened. I was told it wasn’t necessary yet. Thank goodness I found it myself.

When I went in for imaging, I showed them exactly where I had felt the lump. I remember the radiologist telling me that even with all her years of experience, she might not have caught it because of how dense my breast tissue was.

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to know your own body and regularly check your breasts.

As unfortunate as we are to face breast cancer, there is one thing we can be grateful for: our breasts are an area of the body we can actually feel and examine. Think about how many people develop cancer deep within their bodies, with no way of knowing something is wrong until symptoms appear.

We have the opportunity to notice changes ourselves, and I think that’s incredibly powerful.

So when you’re in the shower, take an extra minute. Soap up, feel around, and become familiar with what is normal for you. My lump was as clear as day, and I will never forget that moment.

Please encourage the women in your life to do the same. Self-exams don’t replace mammograms or other recommended screenings, but knowing your body matters.

I truly believe finding that lump myself saved my life.

LeukemiaRemission

One month before my diagnos I was having headaches and feeling very fatigue. And I thought it was because of my full-time job and Mom life that I was not sleeping well because my two children would not sleep through the night so I would have to sleep train them then it started to get worse. I started losing a lot of weight unintentionally the weekend that I got diagnosed. I felt my brain pulsing red pinpoints on my body, bruises all over my legs and arm, lightheaded, bad headaches, pale, looking the day of my diagnose. I couldn’t wake up and just slept all day until my husband told me to go to walk-in clinic then went to ER. Took my blood test and it showed that I had 160,000 white blood count when normal is 10,000 the ER doctor told us my husband and I that I had leukemia.

Hodgkin lymphomaRemission

My primary care doctor misdiagnosed me, even though I had many of the symptoms: weight loss, night sweats, swollen lymph nodes. After several rounds of antibiotics and steroids, I decided to get a second opinion. An ENT did a biopsy, and I was diagnosed.

Hodgkin lymphomaCaregiver

He was initially misdiagnosed by his primary doctor. For reasons unknown to me, his primary physician and medical team glossed over his symptoms, as if he had a bad flu that could be treated with cold medications, antibiotics, and steroids. After weeks of seeing no relief, we finally went to an ENT who gave us a definitive diagnosis.