I was diagnosed with a rare kind of lymphoma back in February of 2015 and was in remission by April, after three rounds of chemo. I had an extremely rare T-cell lymphoma (gamma delta hepatosplenic t-cell lymphoma) thanks to a medication I was on from my ulcerative colitis – I was the 1 out of 100,000 people who got sick from it. The kind of lymphoma I had was so rare that there weren’t really any stats regarding relapse, so they thought I might as well have a BMT. And while my sisters weren’t matches (they were 50% and 20% matches), I managed to have eight(!!!!!!!!) matches in the registry. Apparently because Ashkenazi Jews marry one another, our DNA and everything is not very diverse, making it much easier to find matches. Pretty crazy! I and ended up going with a 29 year-old guy, who I’ll hopefully be able to thank in six months.
It’s amazing how easily I got through it and how fine I felt, considering how it was super aggressive and super rare, and I only just found out most people don’t survive it. Crazy.
I’m also music-obsessed: I manage a few bands, write for a couple music blogs, have interned at a handful of labels, and before I was sick was out at shows more nights than not — as the live aspect of music is definitely my favorite.
If I could turn what I went through into something positive – especially if it involves live music – I’m so in. I also think it will mean a lot to help spread the word coming from someone who was saved by this process. So I’m excited! I’m a huge concert and festival-goer, so this is right up my alley.