Suleika Jaouad on Joy During Cancer
- Between Two Kingdoms author Suleika Jaouad, 33, is fighting cancer for a second time; she first battled the disease in her 20s. She recently shared a picture of her dancing in her hospital gown during treatment.
- To treat her leukemia, Jaouad had a bone marrow transplant.
- Finding joy during a difficult time like a cancer battle as well as focusing on the positives, can make a difference.
Leukemia is a type of blood cancer that develops when the body produces a large amount of abnormal white blood cells, which prevent the bone marrow from producing any other type of cell, like red blood cells and platelets.
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She continues, saying, “I also shared a little essay about life's interruptions and the importance of showing up for the creative process. As the writer Isabel Allende says, "Show up, show up, show up, and the muse will too."
Suleika Jaouad's Leukemia Battle
Jaouad first battled leukemia in her early 20s, and again today in her early 30s. Jaouad had a bone marrow transplant for treatment for her most recent bout of cancer. A bone marrow transplant is a treatment used for some cancers, like leukemia. It replaces bone marrow with healthy cells; it is also called a "stem cell transplant."
Dr. Nina Shah, a SurvivorNet adviser and hematologist at the University of California San Francisco, explains in an earlier interview how to best understand leukemia. "One cell got really selfish and decided that it needed to take up all the resources of everybody else, and in doing so, took up space and energy from the rest of the body," Dr. Shah says.
"In general having a blood cancer means that your bone marrow is not functioning correctly," she explains. "And when your bone marrow doesn't function correctly it means that you can have something happen to you like anemia. Or you can have low platelets, which makes it possible for you to bleed easily. Or your immune system is not functioning correctly."
Speaking with Vogue magazine in an interview earlier this year, Joaud said of her cancer, "I, today, am actually doing well. I believe I'm on day plus-32 post transplant and I've been out of the hospital for almost exactly a week," she tells the magazine. She says she learned her illness was back in November of last year.
She says, "It's so incredibly rare, I think less than 1% of patients, according to my doctor, relapse 10 years after a bone marrow transplant. When my oncologist called me, she was in tears. Not just my world, but my partner's world and my family's world completely imploded. We had a weekend to pack up all of our things, to find temporary homes for our dogs, to find a borrowed apartment in New York City and for me to begin chemo."
What is a Blood Cancer How is it Different?
Joy Through Cancer
We love to see Jaouad having fun in the hospital, even while undergoing treatment for leukemia. Seeking out moments of joy through cancer is so important. Focusing on hope, and maintaining a positive attitude through a cancer battle can help.
Anecdotal evidence from SurvivorNet experts points to how a positive mindset can impact a cancer prognosis. One oncologist at Cedars-Sinai tells SurvivorNet in an earlier interview, "My patients who thrive, even with stage 4 cancer, from the time that they, about a month after they're diagnosed, I kind of am pretty good at seeing who is going to be OK. Now doesn't that mean I'm good at saying that the cancer won't grow," he says.
"But I'm pretty good at telling what kind of patient are going to still have this attitude and probably going to live the longest, even with bad, bad disease. And those are patients who, they have gratitude in life."
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