Over the course of this whole journey I have heard several times that I am inspiring. I always think in my own head...huh? Because I like me. I am all for anything that is going to preserve me. SO when the doctors said all you have to do to stay around and enjoy your family and life a bit longer is let us fill you full of poison and then you can move about your day. It was a no brainer! And on top of that throughout this whole thing I have come across so many patients and their families and those stories..those are inspiring. Those people really had to fight. One day I was heading out for a walk and passed my neighbors room. She was older, but was doing well. She looked good and looked happy. That night as I slept there was a code blue called and in the morning her family was there to collect her things and say good bye. Things can happen in a split second and so I am just happy to be here. So thank you for giving me the chance to share my story with you.
My journey starts out by admitting to you all that my husband and I are nerds. We are wrestling fans. In April of this year Wrestlemania...that's like our superbowl...was in Miami. We thought it would be really cool to go enjoy the wrestling as well as the beach and the typical FL type stuff. A couple weeks prior I started having some symptoms, but chalked it up to stress. While vacationing, the got a lot worse. The day after we flew in I called the Dr. and was lucky enough to get an appointment and had routine lab work done. I thought at worst it will be anemia, I will be told to take some iron and move on. The next morning I got a phone call from the lab with a laundry list of things that were wrong with my blood, that they had a room waiting for me, and that I needed to go the hospital right away. Once my husband picked me up off the floor we went in. The Dr. said it could be anything from minor anemia to leukemia. They ran more tests and then Dr. Khanna came in. He had a sad look on his face and I didn't need to hear him say it to know. It was leukemia. That night I was sent to OSU medical center. I don't think there has been anything harder in my life than to see my daughter crying as my husband and she left. She didn't understand why I wasn't going home with them. The next morning I had more procedures done and was left with a bunch of questions, most of which started with why. Being the nerd that I am I wanted to know everything so I hit Google.
What I found was the LLS website. It was invaluable It had a community support page, facts, statistics, on an on. It was also talking about this Light the Night Walk. I looked more into it, saw pictures, and thought I want to do that. That became one of my goals. Get better in time to walk that with my family. And I did. In early September I had my last chemo treatment and in early October I was pronounced leukemia free. In late September my family and I walked in the Light the Night Walk. It wasn't just a walk to me. It was symbolic. I made it. Not only that, but how cool was it to see everyone from our community from all walks of life there. Because this isn't a black/white..old/young..religious/nonreligious issue. This is a humanity issue. We are all dealing with this monster. And so many people were there to so no more. THAT was inspiring. I gave me hope that if we all keep banning together one day so that the Dr. comes in with a happy face and can say "this is no big deal. take a couple of these and call me in the morning". SO no more will we have to watch our children cry, be away from our families, or hear our neighbors coding in the middle of the night. That's why this cause is so important. And I believe we can get there. And that is why Light the Night was so amazing to me. Thank You.
I know I've said this before, but thank you to everyone who has supported me. I wouldn't have had the strength to do it all without you. What an amazing night that walk was. This year the hubs and I are going to do our own team! "The Orange Cranes" Oh and I am so excited because I have my survivor tattoo all planned out and I will share it with you as soon as it happens!
What causes are important to you and why? Have you been touched by a blood cancer or even any type of cancer. Feel free to share in the comments below :) Thanks for reading. Love~H
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