{"id":534139,"date":"2026-03-20T05:08:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T05:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/534139\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T05:08:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T05:08:12","slug":"pilates-instructor-72-thought-she-had-the-flu-then-a-shock-diagnosis-from-doctors-changed-everything-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/534139\/","title":{"rendered":"Pilates Instructor, 72, Thought She Had the Flu. Then, a ‘Shock’ Diagnosis from Doctors Changed Everything"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Debi<\/p>\n

Debi Weiss.
Credit: Atlantic Health<\/p>\n

NEED TO KNOW<\/p>\n

A woman was diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma after initially thinking she had the flu<\/p>\n

After chemotherapy, Debi Weiss’ cancer returned, so she underwent CAR-T immunotherapy and is now in complete remission<\/p>\n

Weiss, 72, said her cancer journey encouraged her to focus more on family over work<\/p>\n

A pilates instructor thought she had a standard case of the flu, but it turned out to be much more serious.<\/p>\n

Debi Weiss couldn’t breathe or walk her dog, and the condition just seemed to be getting worse. She went to her doctor, where blood tests and a biopsy revealed that she had diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. The Mayo Clinic<\/a> describes it as a “fast-growing cancer” of the lymphatic system.<\/p>\n

“It was a bit of a shock,” Weiss, 72, told CBS News<\/a> of receiving the diagnosis. “It was very much an out-of-body experience.”<\/p>\n

\"Debi<\/p>\n

Debi Weiss’ doctors.
Credit: Atlantic Health<\/p>\n

Wiss started chemotherapy soon after. A month after she finished the treatment, doctors found the lymphoma had “recurred” and was in her brain this time. Dr. Charles Farber, a hematologist-oncologist at Atlantic Health Morristown Medical Center, told the outlet her prognosis looked “dismal.”<\/p>\n

“I’m a bit naive,” Weiss added. “When I’m told something’s going to work, I believe it.”<\/p>\n

In January 2025, Weiss underwent CAR-T, a form of immunotherapy where the patient’s T-cells are removed, “genetically engineered to recognize and attack certain cancer cells,” and then put back in the body “like a blood transfusion,” Dr. Mohamad Cherry, the medical director of hematology at Atlantic Health, explained.<\/p>\n

“One of the nurses on the floor drew pictures of Pac-Man on the white board across from my bed, because that’s what I felt like my cells were going to do,” Weiss said of her experience during the procedure.<\/p>\n

“They were going to come into my body and Pac-Man themselves all the way around, and eat up all my cancer cells, and I’d be fine,” she added.<\/p>\n

Weiss had no side effects after the CAR-T and was eventually able to return to her day-to-day life, including being able to walk her dog again. “I was very lucky, in a lot of ways,” she told CBS News.<\/p>\n

The pilates instructor is now in “complete remission,” but will still undergo scans every four to six months to make sure the cancer does not return, Farber said.<\/p>\n

Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for\u00a0PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a>\u00a0to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A supportive sign for Debi Weiss.
Credit: Atlantic Health<\/p>\n

“Life is better than it was before in a lot of ways,” Weiss said. “Your priorities change. Before, I would work and I would not do things because I needed to work, I was scheduled, I needed to do [something else].”<\/p>\n

“Now, if my family needs me, I don’t work,” she continued. “I will be where my family is at any given moment. I don’t have time to spend with people that I really don’t want to spend time with. I’m honest enough with myself to say ‘no.’ It’s been good. It’s been a great year.”<\/p>\n

Read the original article on People<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Debi Weiss.Credit: Atlantic Health NEED TO KNOW A woman was diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma after initially…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":525503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[236618,52229,236621,236619,236617,236620,97],"class_list":["post-534139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-atlantic-health","tag-cancer-cells","tag-charles-farber","tag-complete-remission","tag-debi-weiss","tag-diffuse-large-b-cell-lymphoma","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/525503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}