Living with Non-Hodgkin's Disease

In May 2003, my family and I were preparing to head to the beach for our annual vacation. At the time I was a 24 year old wife and mother of two beautiful boys. Austin was 5 and Jaxson was 2. About the week before our trip I came down with a terrible cold. I was coughing badly, tired, and wheezing (something I had never done prior). So the day before we left I went to the doctor. She said I had an upper resp. infection and prescribed an antibiotic.

The whole vacation I just got sicker. I kept calling the doctor and she told me different things to try to no avail. We came home on a Saturday, that night while talking on the phone to my Mom, I noticed a golf ball sized lump on my neck above my collarbone. I knew there was a lymph node there and I remember telling my Mom, “great, I probably have pneumonia or something.” That Monday morning I went back to the doctor and she examined me. She kept asking if the lump hurt. It didn’t. She did a chest x ray and told me that it showed one of two things: either my heart was enlarged three times it’s normal size or I had a tumor in my chest. She sent me for a CAT scan that afternoon. The scans showed, among other things, a 10 centimeter tumor behind my heart. She referred me to an oncologist

My oncologist scheduled me for surgery immediately to biopsy the tumor in my neck and to insert a port into my chest because my veins are terrible. After the biopsy results came back my diaognosis was Non Hodgkins Lymphoma, aggresive, large cell. I was in Stage Three because it was in my neck, chest, and under my diaphram. I did CHOP chemo and was a part of the Rituxian clinical trail. I am now 29 years old and have a two month old son. Life is full of miracles and I thank God everyday for that.