24-Year-Old Mother's Mysterious Bumps & Bruises Lead to Devastating Leukemia Diagnosis; How to Talk to Your Family About Your Cancer Battle

Lynch says that she first noticed the small reddish-purple bumps on her arms and legs. She didn't think anything of them at first, assuming they were a symptom of having low iron in her blood. But she became concerned when the marks quickly began to spread up her legs.

She rushed to the hospital with this symptom along with a fever and a racing heartbeat. There, she was given the news she never thought she would hear: blood tests revealed that Lynch had acute myeloid leukemia, a type of blood cancer that starts in cells (the bone marrow) that would normally develop into different types of blood cells.

Most often, leukemia starts in early forms of white blood cells, but some leukemias start in other blood cell types. There are several types of leukemia, which are divided based mainly on whether the leukemia is acute (fast growing) or chronic (slower growing), and whether it starts in myeloid cells or lymphoid cells.

Leading Up to Emma's Leukemia Diagnosis

"In the lead up to my diagnosis I had been having bruising appearing randomly on my body," she says. "I was experiencing tiredness and bleeding gums, but what made me go to the doctors was that I had swollen feet and ankles which were painful and red."

The symptoms prompted Lynch to visit her doctor. She was then diagnosed with cellulitis   a common bacterial skin infection that causes redness, swelling and pain in the infected area of the skin. Her doctor prescribed her antibiotics, but after a week with no change in symptoms, it was becoming clear to Lynch that something else was wrong.

"I began feeling very unwell, I had a temperature and was shivering and my heartbeat was racing fast," she says.

This prompted her doctors to shift their opinion; it was now assumed the young mother had contracted sepsis, which is the body's extreme response to an infection. She then headed to the hospital, but there is where her nightmare became a reality as she was diagnosed with leukemia.

She was diagnosed last month, and since then has started intense chemotherapy treatments, which are taking time away from her 1-year-old twins and older children, ages 4 and 6.

Telling Your Family About Your Cancer Diagnosis

"Telling my family I had cancer wasn't easy," Lynch says. "They were devastated, especially my two older kids. They were very upset but they (were) all very supportive and rooting for me. I am doing this for them." This was, understandably, a difficult thing for Lynch to do. Telling anyone you care about that you have cancer is challenging. That's also why some people don't do it.

Related: 'It's a Person's Preference': Why Some People Share Their Cancer Battles, and Why Others Keep It Quiet

Dr. Marianna Strongin, a licensed clinical psychologist and founder of Strong In Therapy Psychology, tells SurvivorNet that whether someone shares the heavy news of a cancer diagnosis is their personal preference.

"I recommend sharing, I'm a therapist," Strongin says with a laugh, "but to whom and how many people is up to the person (with cancer)."

Being There: When the Person You Love is Facing Cancer

Strongin mentions one of her patients who has explored the reasons why she didn't tell people about her cancer diagnosis. For the patient, Strongin says, "it was coming to terms with the identity of being sick."

"Being sick is something she never wanted something she never wanted to acknowledge to herself," Strongin adds. "It was safer to temporarily do that (identify as sick) for herself," but the long-term impacts of telling others the same thing were unknown, which can be a scary thought.

"I think there are some people who can digest that information (of being sick) and move very quickly into treatment and how they're gonna battle it, and they want support," Strongin says. "There are some who have a harder time digesting that information and letting it be a part of being who they are. Sharing it for those people is making it (their illness) more real."

Fighting cancer is extremely personal, and there's no right way to accept your diagnosis. There's no handbook, there's no wrong way, either. But regardless of what you decide, "everyone should focus on what makes them feel good," Strongin says.

Finding Your Support System: Heidi Kugler's Survivor Story

"There's a difference between telling people 'I'm sick' versus 'I was sick, and I think a lot of people want to wait for that moment," Strongin says.

Lynch says she's determined to beat leukemia and finish her chemotherapy treatments in time for the holiday season. "I'm not sure when I will be finished, but Christmas is so special to me and my family, " she says. "If I do get home it will just be a small Christmas but a very special one."

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