Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma: A Story of Survival
May 06, 2011, By Jim Higley 1 comment
Joe Schneider’s recent text to his friend Ryan Walton was pretty routine.
r u free 4 lunch 2day?
But a little over a year ago that same text between the friends was quite different.
Ry-you can beat the %$#&^ out of this nhl.
NHL?
Sports fans may think these two guys were chatting about hockey. Unfortunately, they were talking about a form of blood cancer, Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which impacts 65,000 people in our country annually. Joe and Ryan are two of them.
A 60-second crash course on blood cancers and lymphoma:
Blood cancers—such as leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma—are cancers that originate in the lymphatic tissues or bone marrow. They are considered to be related cancers.
Lymphoma is a sub-group of blood cancers. Hodgkin lymphoma and Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) are the two main types of lymphoma. Lymphoma originates in the lymphatic system—which is part of the body’s immune system, providing defense against infection. Parts of this immune system include lymph nodes, lymphatic vessels, the spleen, marrow and lymphocytes—a type of white blood cell. Lymphoma begins when a lymphocyte changes to a lymphoma cell—which eventually forms a mass in the lymph nodes or other parts of the lymphatic system.
Hodgkin lymphoma—which has unique characteristics including large malignant cells—is one of the most curable forms of cancer. Often diagnosed in people in their twenties and thirties, it can be cured in about 75% of patients (and in 90% of younger patients).
NHL represents a diverse group of diseases—many of them being slow-growing cancers and several of them being fast-growing—each with their own specific set of cancer cell characteristics and treatment.
75,000 new cases of lymphoma are diagnosed in the United States annually. A vast majority of these—approximately 65,000—are NHL.
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