Personal stories from those who have been #ThroughIt
Stories
Sara Davenport
Sara was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins lymphoma , her second cancer diagnosis. She liked to compete in races prior to her cancer journey and since she has been in remission, she has started racing again! Sara has been in remission for over five years and feels she can finally take a deep breath. Racing is something that makes her feel empowered and strong after feeling frail from battling cancer. Sara is a survivor and icon for those going #ThroughIt.
Quinton O'Donnell
Quinton is a senior at the University of Colorado Boulder and was diagnosed with stage 3Hodgkin lymphoma. He became aware of his diagnosis after feeling exhausted for 16 months. Quinton is now in remission and has been a very active member of our campaign by providing us with helpful insight to what battling lymphoma looks like, and how to connect with the AYA community.
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Lilian & Gavin Schaffer
Lilian and her younger brother Gavin share more than their last name. Both are cancer survivors, having been diagnosed in high school less than 3 years apart.
Lilian started her senior year in 2017 with itching so torturous and constant she was unable to sleep for days at a time. She became weak, lost weight, had night sweats, yet no doctor could get to the bottom of why she was so ill. After 6 months of suffering, labs, ER visits, and specialists, she was admitted to the hospital after it was determined she had a mass the size of a football in her chest that had spread to her neck. She was diagnosed with stage 2B Hodgkin Lymphoma and underwent the most aggressive chemotherapy and radiation used for this type of cancer. After 6 months of chemotherapy, she underwent 2 weeks of radiation, finishing treatment, going to prom, and graduating all in the same month.
In 2020, as the pandemic began, Gavin began to feel sick. He had suffered a terrible bout of food poisoning that had caused him to lose a great deal of weight and just never bounced back. He had fevers and chills, no appetite and was exhausted, yet his lab work looked normal. When his weight loss neared 45 pounds it was decided, out of an abundance of caution, to perform a CT scan. The scan showed his body’s lymph nodes abnormal in size, at which point a biopsy was performed of a node behind his lung. Gavin was diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin Lymphoma the last month of his sophomore year in high school, a month before his 16th birthday. His cancer had spread from his chest to his neck, ribs, shoulders, spleen, legs, hips, and bone marrow. He underwent the exact same harsh chemotherapy treatment as his sister but was spared the radiation as protocol had changed in the years between their diagnoses.
While Lilian and Gavin are grateful for their successful treatment, they carry the physical and emotional trauma with them for the rest of their lives. They both will have long-term damage and side effects from the archaic and harsh drugs they had pumped into their bodies, and live forever with the fear of recurrence.