{"id":269221,"date":"2026-04-28T03:33:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T03:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/269221\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T03:33:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T03:33:11","slug":"follicular-lymphoma-survivor-why-i-participate-in-ut-md-andersons-boot-walk-to-end-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/269221\/","title":{"rendered":"Follicular lymphoma survivor: Why I participate in UT\u00a0MD\u00a0Anderson\u2019s Boot Walk to End Cancer\u00ae"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I was diagnosed with follicular lymphoma<\/a> in late 2014, I was pretty matter-of-fact about it. I might\u2019ve been more upset if I\u2019d broken my arm.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Several relatives of mine had already been diagnosed with various types of cancer<\/a> over the years. So, I was no stranger to that disease. It just wasn\u2019t scary to me.\u00a0I also come from a family of strong faith.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to start feeling sorry for yourself after a cancer diagnosis<\/a>. But I made the decision early on that I could either sit around crying and asking, \u201cWhy me?\u201d or I could embrace the next chapter of my life and say, \u201cThanks for the first 50 years, Lord. Whatever comes next, they\u2019ve been really great.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

My follicular lymphoma diagnosis<\/p>\n

The way I was diagnosed<\/a> was actually kind of weird. The first symptom<\/a> was my eyelids swelling up in January 2014. They almost looked like I had pink eye, but the swelling would come and go from one day to the next.<\/p>\n

People started telling me I looked tired and asking me if I was OK. I felt fine overall, but my eyes were really scratchy. It was like when you\u2019re watching a movie late at night, and you\u2019re exhausted and just want to go to bed, but you\u2019re determined to catch the end of it. One eye was also a little smaller than the other.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Doctors told me it was just allergies<\/a>. But after months of eye drops and allergy tests, my doctor finally determined the problem was neurological. I saw a neurologist in August and had an MRI<\/a> in September. The scan revealed several tumors: one behind each eyeball and two others in my throat and below my jawline. A biopsy<\/a> showed they were follicular lymphoma. My doctor referred me to UT MD Anderson.\u00a0<\/p>\n

My follicular lymphoma treatment and side effects<\/p>\n

At UT MD Anderson, I learned that my disease was actually not considered that advanced, despite having tumors in multiple places. So, a year of targeted therapy<\/a> called a monoclonal antibody<\/a> put me in remission<\/a>. When the cancer recurred<\/a> a year later in the glands under my tongue, surgery<\/a> plus an aggressive course of chemotherapy<\/a> took care of it. I\u2019ve been cancer-free<\/a> ever since.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

My treatment wasn\u2019t painful, and it didn\u2019t mess up my vision. But it did make me so draggy that I sometimes felt like someone had poured lead into my veins. The chemotherapy also made my hair fall out<\/a>, which was really depressing<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Losing your hair is nothing compared to what a lot of other patients go through. And, when someone says, \u201cBald is beautiful,\u201d I agree. When I look at other people, I can see it. But when I looked at myself in the mirror, all I wanted to do was cry.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hair doesn\u2019t define me. But mine was always gorgeous and thick. So, I didn\u2019t want to feel embarrassed<\/a> by its loss. I started wearing a bandana underneath a baseball cap in public. My mother made me some very pretty scarves for church, too. When my hair started growing back, it was black and curly<\/a>. Now, it\u2019s almost completely back to normal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019ve chosen to do something\u2019<\/p>\n

That was more than five years ago. But I still remember the survivor\u2019s guilt<\/a> I felt after one of my relatives died. I was in my early 50s when I was diagnosed with cancer, and my kids were grown. She was only in her early 30s, with her whole life ahead of her. I started thinking about how I could show my support. Eventually, I decided to join\u00a0UT MD Anderson\u2019s Book Walk to End Cancer\u00ae<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not very good at fundraising. And, I didn\u2019t feel much like walking, either. But I wanted to do something. When I found a pair of gold cowboy boots at a resale shop that were just my size, it seemed like a sign.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I went to the Boot Walk by myself that first year. My nieces and nephews joined me the next. But last year, I decided to team up with some ladies I know. We called ourselves the Chosen Generation. Because we\u2019ve chosen to do something. This year, I\u2019ll probably do it again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Our contributions may not be very much. But I believe we go through life so we can be there for somebody else. This is my way of saying I remember those who didn\u2019t survive, and that I understand what those who are still in treatment<\/a> are going through.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Request an appointment at UT MD Anderson online<\/a> or call 1-877-632-6789.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When I was diagnosed with follicular lymphoma in late 2014, I was pretty matter-of-fact about it. I might\u2019ve…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":269222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[64753,1145,39401,1142,100262,56,58,57,76811,100263,1148,9244,2822],"class_list":{"0":"post-269221","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-boot-walk-to-end-cancer","9":"tag-caregivers","10":"tag-donors","11":"tag-family-friends","12":"tag-follicular-lymphoma","13":"tag-houston","14":"tag-houston-headlines","15":"tag-houston-news","16":"tag-lymphoma-and-myeloma","17":"tag-non-hodgkin-lymphoma","18":"tag-patients","19":"tag-philanthropy","20":"tag-survivors"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}