My name is Jennifer McGettrick and I am a recruiter for the School and Youth program with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I also was diagnosed with a form of blood cancer called Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma this past January, which was before I was hired on with the LLS. In fact, I have only been working for the LLS for the past 2 weeks.
Before becoming their employee, I went thru hell. I hadn't worked (nor could I have worked) since November of last year, got diagnosed with cancer in January after being passed from doctor to doctor over the period of a year before they even knew it was cancer, and between then and now, have undergone 6 chemo treatments in addition to having part of my colon, part of my small intestine, my appendix, my left ovary, and all of the lymph nodes in the area removed.
I was one of the lucky ones. My uncle died of Hodgkin's Lymphoma back in the 50's at age 16. They did experimental treatments on him...had they not, I wouldn't be here today. Same goes with the research that the LLS funds today, except more advanced. In fact, after only 4 months of treatment, I went into remission and I accredit the drug Ritoxin for helping me into remission so quickly.
See, when they finally figured out what was wrong with me, I was in stage 3, with stage 4 cancer being the worst. Before I was diagnosed, I puked for no reason (I wasn't nauseous...no upset stomach), and had a pain in my side that would come and go that felt like I pulled a muscle. After taking literally 4 lbs of insides out of me, they realized it was cancer. They had found a mass the size of a lemon inside me after doing laparoscopic surgery, which is where they put a camera in your body and take pictures and went in to clean house.
One time, I was in fact in the ICU for 8 days because I was puking for 12 hours straight that night...quarantined for the first 3 days, which meant that no one could enter my room without a gown, gloves, etc. nor could I leave my room. I had 5 tubes stuck in me, all in different directions. They told my husband had he waited 2 days to bring me in, I would have been dead.
Chemo was no picnic either. I have a "port" surgically implanted in my chest, which is a straight line that goes directly into my heart where they would give me my chemo treatments. It was like being plugged into the Matrix...they broke the skin with a needle and literally snapped it on like you would do with your coat. The port is designed to feed the chemo straight into the blood stream without blowing out the veins in your arms.
And the effects of chemo SUCK! One time, I actually puked on my cat! I was using the bathroom, cause my bowels were going insane, and all of a sudden I felt the urge to vomit. My cat loves to lay in the cool bathtub, and all I could think about was the nearest drain, so I hung my head over the bathtub and it all came out, getting him a little on the foot. You should have seen the look he gave me! That'll teach him for leaving hairballs on the carpet!
Anyways, after all I've been through, I've been in remission since April. Not many cases go into remission this quickly, but I know that they were treating me with an aggressive form of therapy, which included Ritoxin.
The LLS has officially been credited with funding the research for Ritoxin.
Now you know where your spare change has been going. It's to fund research for drugs like Ritoxin. I could have died without that research...my uncle did.
Thank you all for championing this cause. Know that every ounce of effort you put into this program helps to save the lives of people like me. Don't let me down!
Sincerely,
Jennifer McGettrick
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
School and Youth Program
PS. There's more to the story and I'll be happy to share it and/or answer any questions you may have about my experiences. If any of you want to know, I'll be happy to tell you. Feel free to email me.
