Getting Your Symptoms Checked & Learning about Lymphoma
- April Grierson was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma at 20 years old. Her first sign of the disease arrived in the form of increasingly itchy skin.
- Now 21, Grierson has since finished chemotherapy treatments and been deemed a cancer survivor. All throughout her journey, she connected with thousands of people on TikTok.
- Lymphoma is a type of blood cancer, and early symptoms of the disease can be tricky to notice. Some signs of the disease can include: swollen glands in your neck, armpit or groin, fever, chills, night sweats, unexplained weight loss, feeling tired and swelling in your stomach.
- Lymphoma treatment, in general, depends greatly on the nature of your specific diagnosis. And one of our experts says "unlike other cancers, where advanced stage is a death sentence, that's certainly not the case for lymphoma."
- There are many people out there for cancer warriors to be vulnerable with, if they'd like. And whether that's through social media or simply connecting with your closest family and friends, it's worth it to try if you’re willing.
Grierson, now 21, first noticed something was off with her health when she began suffering from increasingly itchy skin and night sweats. Doctors first thought she had scabies an infestation of the skin by the human itch mite but things seemed more serious after a lump appeared in her neck.
Read MoreThe same day she went in for testing, Grierson was diagnosed with a type of blood cancer called Hodgkin lymphoma at just 20 years old.@aprilgrierson2 My cancer story… #cancerstory #cancer #cancerawareness #chemotherapy #chemo #fyp #viral #eBayWintern #cancerfighter #cancerfree ♬ Fight Song – Rachel Platten
"As soon as they said that my boyfriend could come into the hospital which wasn't allowed at the time due to Covid I knew it was bad news," she explained.
Before beginning 12 rounds of chemotherapy treatments in April 2022, she underwent IVF egg retrieval in anticipation of her treatments affecting her fertility. But she needed extra time in the hospital after the fertility treatments caused OHSS (ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome) an exaggerated response to excess hormones that causes the ovaries to swell and become painful.
@aprilgrierson2 I DID IT ðŸ˜ðŸ™ðŸ»âœ¨âœ¨ i rang the bell !!!!! #cancersurvivor #cancer #bellring #cancerbell #lymphoma #cancerawareness #fyp #viral ♬ Fight Song – Rachel Platten
"It was quite a rocky journey before even beginning my chemotherapy treatment but I was determined to stay positive which I think definitely helped. I knew my own strength and knew I could get through it," the strong cancer warrior said. "Everyone on the Teenage and Young Adult Unit at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre was amazing they were supportive and understanding every step of the way.”
How Does Chemotherapy Affect Fertility?
Throughout her cancer journey, Grierson made an effort to document everything online. Now, the viral TikTok star has 122,500 followers on the platform.
"When I first started documenting my journey online, I never expected to receive the response I did,” she said. “I got about five million views and thousands of likes for my first video I had to turn all my notifications off as I couldn't keep up! It was strange but nice in a way to be able to share my experience and hopefully help other people going through similar."
And, thankfully, treatments left Grierson cancer-free earlier this year. Now, she’s happy to continuing making updates for her followers as survivor.
@aprilgrierson2 My final updated cancer journey.. now i will be doing updates as a CANCER SURVIVOR 💪ðŸ¼ðŸ’œâœ¨ðŸ™ðŸ» #cancer #cancersurvivor #cancersucks #younglivesvscancer #cancerpatient #ibeatcancer #irangthebell #cancerbell #endoftreatmentbell #endoftreatment #cancerupdate #cancerunder30 #childhoodcancer #hodgkinslymphoma #hodgkinslymphomaawareness #fyp #viral ♬ Get You The Moon – Kina
Understanding Lymphoma
Lymphoma is a type of blood cancer. Blood cancers can affect the bone marrow, blood cells, lymph nodes and other parts of the lymphatic system. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society reports that every 3 minutes, one person in the U.S. is diagnosed with a blood cancer.
More specifically, lymphoma is a cancer of the immune system that begins in the white blood cells called lymphocytes. Lymphoma begins when lymphocytes develop a genetic mutation that makes them multiply much faster than normal. This mutation also forces older cells that would normally die to stay alive. From there, the quickly multiplying lymphocytes collect and build up in your lymph nodes, the small glands in your neck, armpits, and other parts of your body.
What Kind of Lymphoma Do You Have? Why Your Type Matters
April Grierson’s lymphoma was a type of Hodgkin lymphoma, and it's important to note there are more than 40 different types of the disease. Hodgkin lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma are the main two sub-categories with the latter being more common. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common form of lymphoma.
The type of white blood cells linked to the disease determines the distinction between Hodgkin lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. If doctors are unable to detect the Reed-Sternberg cell a giant cell derived from B lymphocytes then the cancer is categorized as non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
You might be at a higher risk for lymphoma if you:
- Have been infected with the HIV or Epstein-Barr virus
- Had an organ transplant
- Have a family history of lymphoma
- Have been treated with radiation or chemotherapy drugs for cancer in the past
- Have an autoimmune disease
Signs of Lymphoma
One thing to note about lymphomas is this type of cancer often creeps in quietly, without symptoms. And even when symptoms do show up, they don't necessarily point directly to cancer. In a previous interview with SurvivorNet, Dr. Elise Chong, a medical oncologist at Penn Medicine, explained that lymphoma symptoms could be difficult to detect.
Sneaky Lymphoma Symptoms Often Lead to a Late Diagnosis
"The symptoms of lymphoma, especially if you have a low-grade lymphoma, often are no symptoms," Dr. Chong explained. "People say, but I feel completely fine, and that's very normal."
People with lymphoma do not always have symptoms, but common ones are:
- Swollen glands in your neck, armpit or groin
- Fever
- Chills
- Night sweats
- Unexplained weight loss
- Feeling tired
- Swelling in your stomach
No matter what, it's important to communicate anything unusual happening to your body with your doctor. Even if there's nothing to worry about, it's good to rule out the possibility of more serious issues.
Treatment Options
Lymphoma treatment, in general, depends greatly on the nature of your specific diagnosis. For non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients, their cancer is more likely to spread in a random fashion and be found in different groups of lymph nodes in the body. Hodgkin lymphoma cancers, on the other hand, are more likely to grow in a uniform way from one group of lymph nodes directly to another.
And even if you're not diagnosed until a later stage, Dr. Chong assured SurvivorNet that "unlike other cancers, where advanced stage is a death sentence, that's certainly not the case for lymphoma."
"We have many treatments with which people can either be cured with advanced stage lymphoma or have very good remissions," Dr. Chong said. "So it doesn't change how treatable someone is, even when they do have advanced stage lymphoma."
Some lymphomas, called indolent lymphomas, might not even need to be treated right away because they're slow-growing. In this case, careful monitoring including imaging scans such as PET/CT is used to track the progress of the cancer and gauge whether it needs treatment yet.
"Where I use PET/CT in my practice quite a bit is if I'm observing a patient … and there is some new symptom or situation which makes me concerned that the patient may be changing from an indolent lymphoma to a more aggressive lymphoma," Dr. Jakub Svoboda, a medical oncologist at Penn Medicine, previously told SurvivorNet. "We refer to it as transformation."
Finding the Support You Need
During a cancer battle, it's important to know that you are not alone.
There's always people out there for you to be vulnerable with, if you'd like, and connecting with others as you battle the disease can make a world of difference. Another cancer warrior named Kate Hervey knows this all too well. A young college girl, she was shocked to be diagnosed with synovial sarcoma, a rare type of cancer that tends to form near large joints in young adults, after seeing her doctor for tenderness and lumps in one of her legs.
Hervey, a nursing student at Michigan State, had to handle her cancer battle during the COVID-19 pandemic and scale back on her social activities as a high-risk patient. That's when she turned to TikTok as a creative outlet and inspired thousands.
Inspiring College Student, 20, Builds Community on TikTok Sharing Her Cancer Journey During COVID-19
"One thing that was nice about TikTok that I loved and why I started posting more and more videos is how many people I was able to meet through TikTok and social media that are going through the same things," she says. "I still text with this one girl who is 22. If I'm having a hard time, I will text her because she will understand. As much as my family and friends are supportive, it's hard to vent to someone who doesn't know what it's really like."
Hervey is now cancer-free, and says she couldn't have done it without the love and support of her TikTok followers.
"I feel like I've made an impact on other people and they have made an impact on me through TikTok, which is crazy to say. I can help people go through what I've been going through as well." She has graciously agreed to allow SurvivorNet to use her content in order to help our community.
So while sharing your story to a vast TikTok audience might not be your thing, it's important to consider opening up to others during your cancer battle. Even if it's with a smaller group, you never know how much the support can help you or help those you share with unless you try.
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