Twenty-two years ago. I
finished my last chemotherapy for Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. The notes in my diary
from that day simply state, “This is my final treatment, and I thought it would
never be finished. I kept watching for the last drop.”
That was a long time ago. Even
though my diagnosis was considered treatable but not curable, the longer I
remain in remission the lower the odds are of recurrence. That was true at ten,
fifteen years, and even more true now at twenty-two years! I am blessed to have had a tolerable
treatment regimen and a favorable outcome.
Many of you know that our
family took my diagnosis combined with the loss of my father to leukemia and
turned it into a passion of raising money for blood cancer research. Over the
past twenty-one years our family (The Blanton Bunch) has raised and donated almost
$780,000 to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, now known as Blood Cancer
United. In addition, The Light The Night Walk has become a key event in The
Woodlands raising funds for blood cancers. Lemons to Lemonade, my friends!
I can’t believe it has been
twenty-two years…
