{"id":7091,"date":"2021-04-20T15:28:31","date_gmt":"2021-04-20T15:28:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/wordpress\/lavie\/?p=7091"},"modified":"2021-04-20T15:28:31","modified_gmt":"2021-04-20T15:28:31","slug":"sophomore-diagnosed-with-hodgkins-lymphoma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/2021\/04\/20\/sophomore-diagnosed-with-hodgkins-lymphoma\/","title":{"rendered":"Sophomore diagnosed with Hodgkin\u2019s Lymphoma"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Hannah Shirey \u201923, staff writer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one ever imagines being diagnosed with cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until March, Abbie Keath, a sophomore biology major, thought just like everyone else. Then, she was unpredictably diagnosed with Hodgkin\u2019s Lymphoma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year, Keath was very sick. Her symptoms weren\u2019t anything too alarming, so\u2014given today\u2019s circumstances\u2014she and her family assumed she had COVID-19. However, the multiple COVID-19 tests she took came back negative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keath and her family were confused. She didn\u2019t have COVID-19, mono or the flu. It wasn\u2019t until a few days later that Keath\u2019s doctors told her the most unexpected news of her life: \u201cYou have cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hodgkin\u2019s Lymphoma is a cancer of the lymphatic system, which is part of your immune system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was really shocked and didn\u2019t know how to react,\u201d Keath said. \u201cThis is the kind of stuff you see in the movies, so you never think it can happen to you until it does.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After her diagnosis, she began chemotherapy almost immediately. She receives her treatment once every other week, and it typically takes about three hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have already finished three treatments, and I have nine more to go,\u201d Keath said. \u201cIf everything goes as planned, my last treatment should be in August, assuming all of the cancer is gone when August rolls around.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because Keath\u2019s immune system is very weak due to both the chemotherapy and the cancer itself, she must be extra careful regarding her exposure to COVID-19 or any other illnesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although being diagnosed with Hodgkin\u2019s Lymphoma has been difficult for Keath, she has been finding ways to cope with her diagnosis. She often finds herself using humor, which describes her personality perfectly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, Keath made an Instagram page (@abbieschemochronicles) to easily keep her friends and family updated on her journey. In just a few weeks, the Instagram account already has over 1,000 followers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m not really sure what I expected of it [the Instagram account], but I\u2019m really happy so many people want to follow along and support me,\u201d Keath said. \u201cGetting comments and messages from friends, family and even people I\u2019ve never talked to before is so encouraging to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supporters of Keath were able to buy purple t-shirts with her Instagram handle and a ribbon on them. Keath and her sister created the t-shirts as a fun way for people to show Keath their support. To Keath\u2019s surprise, they sold over 300 t-shirts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite all the support she has received, having Hodgkin\u2019s Lymphoma has still been very challenging for Keath. She says her two biggest challenges have been not being able to live on campus this semester and losing her hair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t had to shave my hair off yet, but it\u2019s definitely falling out and making a mess in my house,\u201d Keath said. \u201cI know it\u2019s soon time, but I\u2019m really anxious about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keath has been doing everything she can to stay positive regardless of her diagnosis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I\u2019m finally in remission, I have a whole list of things I want to do that I\u2019m either not able to do right now or am limited on my abilities to do right now,\u201d Keath said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the things she looks forward to are hanging out with her friends indoors, going on a trip, going camping and growing her hair out and donating it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone interested in following Keath\u2019s journey with cancer can follow @abbieschemochronicles on Instagram.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Hannah Shirey \u201923, staff writer No one ever imagines being diagnosed with cancer. Until March, Abbie Keath, a sophomore biology major, thought just like everyone else. Then, she was unpredictably diagnosed with Hodgkin\u2019s Lymphoma. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7092,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7091","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-campus-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}