Camille Terrell

Surviving Cancer

Carsyn Gilloren Autobiography

“I survived because the fire inside me burned brighter than the fire around me,” (Joshua Graham). When I was just one year old, I was diagnosed with Leukemia. I’m still fighting the aftermath, but I survived and I know that there are people who have it much worse than I do. The past few years have been difficult because I went through several major surgeries, but I had friends and family who were there for me and took care of me. This is my story of how I beat cancer and how it still affects me 15 years later. In 2004 when I was only one year old, I went for my annual checkup. When the doctors took blood work they noticed something was wrong, but they didn’t know exactly what the issue was. After multiple tests, I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Leukemia itself is a type of cancer that occurs in the bone marrow and produces immature or abnormal white blood cells. These cells fight off infections and diseases, so when they are abnormal, they don’t work properly and the body can’t fight infections. Sometimes the bone marrow’s ability to produce red blood cells is affected too. The type of Leukemia I had, AML, develops quickly and is very aggressive so it was important that I receive treatment fast. I was admitted to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center almost immediately. I “Freshman” Emma Canas/Colored Pencil lived there for a few months while I underwent chemotherapy and radiation therapy, but then I was transferred to Boston Children’s Hospital for a bone marrow transplant. The transplant took place on December 17th, 2004. It was a miracle that I was even able to find a donor match. Usually it’s very difficult, and sometimes even the best matches are rejected by the body. Luckily my older sister Avery was a match and donated bone marrow to me. As a joke, my family and I call my transplant anniversary my “second” birthday. I finally came home in March 2005, but I wasn’t allowed to be around people other than my immediate family for about a year. Not because I was still 45

sick, but because my body was still recovering. The chemo and radiation killed almost all of my blood cells, so my body took in Avery’s bone marrow to start producing new, healthy cells. Being around new people or environments could have introduced bacteria or diseases that could affect this process, so it was necessary to stay where we knew I would be safe. It was a horrible situation to go through, but there were some benefits that came out of it. My mom had to quit her job to stay with me and take care of me, but she says she’s thankful that she had to do that because she was able to spend a lot more time with my sister and me. For a while I went for monthly check ups. After we knew I was completely cancer free, I only needed to go up to Boston for yearly checkups once a year. I was perfectly healthy. This streak ended in middle school when a bunch of issues arose. Over the years my family and I have noticed that the treatment stunted my growth and I’m a lot smaller and shorter than the average for my age. It’s been difficult, but the treatment was necessary to keep me alive, so I’m grateful for it. When I was in 7th grade, my family noticed a lump on the side of my neck. I went to the doctor and she said that it was probably an enlarged lymph node, which happens sometimes when a person is sick and the body is trying to filter out the toxins. She told me there was nothing to worry about, but she still wanted to make an appointment with a doctor in Boston to have it checked out further because it was odd that a lymph node was swollen when I wasn’t sick. Later that night, the doctor called us and said that I needed to get blood work done to see why the lymph node was enlarged. When my mom told me, I immediately started to cry. I was scared. Not of getting blood work done, but that I could be sick again. Over the next few weeks, I met with multiple doctors to try to figure out what was wrong. All of them believed it was a swollen lymph node like my other doctor did, but they didn’t know why it was swollen. I had multiple biopsies and ultrasounds taken, but the doctors still didn’t know why it was swollen. On March 4th, 2016, I had surgery to remove the lump. The recovery was easy because I didn’t have to stay in the hospital or take any medications, all I needed was rest. For a few weeks I couldn’t fully turn my head, but that was the worst of it. About a week after my surgery the test results came back and we found out that the lump wasn’t an enlarged lymph node, but rather a schwannoma tumor. This is a tumor that forms on or around nerves and could damage the nerve if it becomes too big. Luckily, mine wasn’t big enough to cause any nerve damage. While the chemotherapy and radiation helped me in many ways, it also came with disadvantages. Not only did the treatment stunt my growth, but it also caused major dental issues. Many of my teeth never fully developed, and a few never came in at all. The roots of my teeth were too weak to have braces or