Angie's Stem Cell Transplant 2006

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Location: Nova Scotia, Canada

In Sept./05 I was diagnosed with Primary Mediastinal Large Diffuse B Cell Non Hodgkins Lymphoma. The tumour in my chest measured 10cm x 10.6cm x5cm. After I completed 6 rounds of CHOP-R chemotherapy, a CT Scan in Jan.06 showed that my tumour had decreased by well over half the original size. A Gallium Scan showed negative for cancer cells in my mass. We decided to do 2 more treatments to be sure we killed any remaining cancer. We now had to decide if I should proceed with radiation. Did the risks of radiation outweigh the benefits? My hematologist and radiation oncologist had excellent arguments for both sides of the coin. The decision was to be mine. They set up appointments for me to see doctors in Toronto and Vancouver for 2nd opinions. In Vancouver I had a PET/CT Scan (a superior machine to a Gallium Scan) to see if my tumour was active. On March 17th this scan revealed that my tumour WAS still active and had INCREASED in size from an early scan. This meant that I had Relapsed or Refractory NHL....my best chance for cure was a Stem Cell Transplant. In my blog, I will describe what I am going through before, during and after my transplant.

Tuesday, August 09, 2011

I PAID IT FORWARD SO OTHERS WILL LIVE TOO....by raising $7371 and completing 42.2km!!!





FINAL UPDATE ON June 5th Marathon

July 5, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

This is my final update regarding my participation in the Dodge Rock n Roll San Diego Marathon on June 5th, 2011.

There were over 35,000 participants in the San Diego event. Over 3100 of the participants (12 of us from the Halifax Chapter) were members of the Team in Training from all over the world. We collectively raised an incredible $9 Million for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. (Our Halifax Chapter raised over $65,000)

At our pre-event meal, we were told that research on treatments for blood cancer has evolved into improved treatments for many other types of cancer. By supporting the Team in Training you are helping to put an end to all cancer. At this inspirational dinner I was recognized as one of only a handful of survivors participating in the marathon.

The day of the race was charged with energy throughout the entire city. We were transported by bus to the startline….and awed by the vast number of people getting ready to begin the race!! We were organized into corrals as per our expected finish times. Each corral started a couple minutes ahead of the next….and so it went. It was a beautiful sunny warm day….my corral started around 7am… As we travelled along this route that showcased the city of San Diego, we were greeted with Rock n Roll bands, approximately every mile…the music injected us with an extra boost of energy… The support along the route was incredible…with cheerleaders at every water station….coaches from Team and Training encouraging us at various locations during the day….. There were cancer survivors holding signs thanking us for doing our part to help them ….pictures of survivors and people being walked in memory of…. Our end destination was Sea World…and we kept working towards that one mile at a time…

It started to wear me down a bit around the 15 mile mark as we faced a long straight away with a turn around point that didn’t ever seem to come….I knew that the distance we were covering had to be covered again in the other direction….it was late morning by this time, and the heat was starting to become a factor….plus my feet were starting to give me some trouble…. Anyway, I finally finished that section…and made it to a lovely park where we ran along the water….and off in the distance we could see Sea World….the sign said 6 miles away. It seemed sooooo far away, and my body was really starting to hurt….especially my feet. This last 6 miles, I had to dig really deep as each step was extremely painful. Near the end of the race, we had to circle a 2 mile desolate island, and it took all of my will power to get myself around that Island…. A Team in Training Coach from Montreal could tell I was struggling and walked along with me for quite awhile to offer his support….very cool. As I was in the last half mile or so of the race, our local running coach was there to help me get to the finish line…by now my feet were in severe pain….I was now running as it was too painful to walk…however, to put that in perspective, my running coach was walking comfortably beside me as I ran….so you will get the idea of my pace! J The last few hundred yards I picked up the pace slightly and finished with a run across the finish line in 6 hours and 42 mins…..

I’m sure I felt every emotion possible during the 26.1 miles.

Throughout the entire marathon I drew strength from my honored hero Natalie Flam and I also thought of Sarah Hawthorne and her amazing spirit that she shared generously when she was alive.

I especially felt the presence of my late mom walking with me every step of the way. I know she would be so proud.

I’ve faced many challenges in the past 6 years since I was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. When going through a life threatening situation, it is so important not to feel alone. I know that a big reason I am alive today is because of the love and support I received from my amazing family, friends, and an excellent medical team. Again, it was your support and love that helped give me the energy to train and complete my first ever marathon. It was because of you that I was able to raise in excess of $7000 towards a cure for all blood cancer. I want to thank-you again, as I couldn’t have done this without you.

It feels great to be PAYING IT FORWARD so that others will live too!!!

A cure for blood cancers is possible! Wouldn’t it be great to be part of that!!

Angie Banks

posted by Angie | 1:54 pm | 1 comments