Jamie Davis and Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Essay Example

📌Category: Cancer, Health
📌Words: 678
📌Pages: 3
📌Published: 24 January 2022

“Just to be a stronger person… and just to keep fighting and to live every day to the fullest and… yolo!” Jamie Davis, a normal middle-aged woman, said this statement in response to the question “What was most important that you learned from going through non-Hodgkin's lymphoma?” Jamie Davis has an outstanding story.  In 1998 she was diagnosed with lymph nodes, but later on, diagnosed with stage 4 non-hodgkin's lymphoma. Davis was said to have 7 years left to live. But Davis still miraculously survived by proceeding to a doctor with an experimental drug used by almost 100 people. And she was the only one to survive it. 

Non-hodgkin's lymphoma is cancer that affects your lymphatic system. This condition occurs when your body produces too many abnormal lymphocytes. Lymphocytes are a type of white blood cell. To add, lymph nodes are small bean-shaped structures that are located on the abdomen. Common symptoms of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma are sickness, swollen abdomen, enlarged lymph nodes, and fullness. 

 Now Davis was originally diagnosed with lymph nodes in February 1999. In the early 2000s, she was re-diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and given 7 years to live as her current stage was incurable. After doing some digging, Davis and her late husband found a doctor, attending the University of Michigan, performing research on non-Hodgkin lymphoma.  The doctor was testing an experimental drug so they went forward with that. 

When asked how her friends and family reacted Davis expressed, “They were scared, worried and sad. My mom kinda freaked out but they were all there for me to support me.” Davis still went forward with the experiment. This experiment was with 76 people. After more than five years, Davis was the only one to survive. Davis went through so many difficult obstacles but still kept on carrying on, she disclosed, “Because I had so much radiation in my body I couldn't use the same toilet, or being in close contact with them (her children). Until, I used to have gama scans until they got all the radiation out of my body and that was months, probably 2-6 months I would say.” Davis couldn't see her friends or family, even her own children. How would you feel in this situation? What would you do? Would you give up or keep going?

For background, patients received this drug for almost 4 years. Patients were separated from their family and their family wasn't able to see them. As laid down before, this experience is because of the high levels of radiation in the patient's body. Because of this, patients went through radiotherapy, which is a therapy that uses beams of energy to kill the cancer cells. Radiotherapy controls or kills malignant cells. This treatment slows down the growth of DNA, causing the cancer cell growth to also plummet. Unlike chemotherapy, radiotherapy does not cause hair loss. 

Even while undergoing this cancer, Davis still bore a healthy child and went on with her life like nothing happened. Davis was definitely scared for her life, but she was more scared of not being there for her children. Davis was strong enough to keep on raising her children even when she was sick. Davis stated, “It was pretty scary having my kids watch because I did get really sick and just looking back, thinking for my children's sake, if I wasn't here for them but I fought it and went through it.” In the heat of it all, Davis only thought of the people most close to her. 

Jamie Davis went on to survive non-Hodgkin lymphoma and made a full recovery. After a few years, a tumor appeared on Davis’s neck but she was able to remove it before there was any damage. 

After all that Davis has gone through, there's the question asked, what changed in her life? When asked this question, Davis proclaimed, “Not a whole lot. I mean I guess I changed and became a healthier person with my eating habits. After my treatment, I was not able to be around my children.” Even someone who has been through so much can still benefit from this horrible disease. 

Jamie Davis’s life has many ups and downs, but she still keeps fighting which shows her true strength. She has been through hell and back and back again but she still managed to keep on fighting and live the best life that she can.

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