This comes just a few days after AML awareness day...
It’s been a whole year since I got the call from my doctor, with the worst news of my life. Three words I had been waiting to hear for months. “You have cancer”. Everything about it seemed surreal, it couldn’t possibly be true. I was going to a concert that weekend. I just started nursing school. I was young and healthy. I couldn’t have cancer, I did yoga and meditated. I ate my vegetables, I didn’t smoke cigarettes. I was a hippie child who had given up wearing deodorant, and made my own lotions and soaps so I didn’t put chemicals on my body. How could this happen to me? I was sick for months and saw so many doctors, and nobody could pin point what was wrong with me. I thought I was going crazy, even the Nurse Practitioner thought I was crazy when I told her I thought I had cancer. I kept hoping that I would get better, and thought maybe I was just having a bout of mono, or something else random. The thing is, cancer doesn’t care who you are, it can happen to anyone. I always thought of cancer as an old person disease, or something that happened to people that didn’t take care of their body. I see people posting online about how cancer can’t thrive in an alkaline body, or that 5g is causing cancer. But for me, that wasn’t true at all. I had several genetic mutations, and I would have likely gotten cancer at some point in my life, if not then. At the time, none of it seemed fair. I look back now and I see that cancer isn’t fair for any one who has it. No one deserves to go through such a life altering moment. But it happens, and you have to make the best of it. AML has a 5 year survival rate of around 25%. I realize that I am incredibly lucky that I am still here, when things could have gone much differently. I think of what it might be like if I had been diagnosed today, instead of last year. I think about how crazy it would be to be going through treatment while we are experiencing a huge crisis with Covid 19. I can’t imagine what it would be like worrying about not only being sick from chemo, but the possibility of getting sick with Covid. I feel so deeply for patients in treatment right now. Patients that can’t see their family members, because it is too risky. Patients that can’t get their surgeries because they aren’t deemed necessary. It is truly unfair for everyone, and I hope that everyone can get through this as best as they can. Right now, we are going through one of the biggest crisis’ of our lifetime. It is scary, and deeply upsetting for everyone. Things are changing so radically, and it can be very hard to deal with these changes. It is important for us to take things one day at a time, and know that everyone is doing the best they can. I believe in social distancing, but I also believe in being there for people close to you, now more than ever. Call up your old friends and ask them how they’re doing. Call your grandparents and tell them you love them. Be kind to the people you see at the grocery store. Tip people well when you go to pickup curbside or order delivery. Open your heart to everyone in the world right now, as we are all greatly affected. It will be very tough, but I do believe we will get through this. Please also consider joining the registry at bethematch.com. You can now sign up and receive a swab test kit right in the comfort of your own home. There is a chance you may never be called as a match, but if you are called- you can save someone’s life! The process is not as complicated as it sounds, and is similar to donating plasma or other blood products. My brother had his bone marrow cells transfused out of him in about 4 hours and worked the entire time. You can be someone’s hero! Stay happy and healthy friends :)
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JennaDedicated to helping you realize your full potential. Spreading smiles and love everywhere I go. Archives
September 2016
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