Inspirational Stories

I was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) on April 14th, 2023, but had been suffering with symptoms for at least a year prior. I’m only 28, have no kids, and have been living on my own with my two dogs. At some point, my lymph nodes started swelling up, which is not out of the ordinary because they would swell up when I would get sick since I had been in high school, except they continued to get bigger and bigger. Cancer does not run in my family, so I was not concerned until I went to my regular doctor, and he asked me if Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) ran in my family. I told him it did not, but he was concerned and suggested I get a biopsy done. I don’t really fit most of the criteria for people who get diagnosed with HL, so I didn’t think that was the issue until the doctor called me on April 14th, 2023, to tell me I had HL. Up until this point, I’d lost 16 lbs., had sweating constantly, had a persistent cough that would not go away no matter what I did, and my nails were starting to change color. I had no idea all these things were related to cancer and had been living with it the whole time without a clue. I was the only person in my family who had this kind of cancer, so in June 2023 I decided to film my cancer journey on YouTube to help people like me who had no awareness of how to get through this. I’ve been filming videos on my YouTube channel and filming shorts ever since, and thankfully as of 2/28, I was told I was in remission. I’ve still got a way to go because I’ve had a mass in my lung that required a bronchoscopy, and once my doctor looks at the results, we will decide from there what treatments I may need next. Going through cancer alone as a single person, with no prior knowledge is hard, and I hope my story can help and inspire someone else.