I had Symptoms for MONTHS! Samantha's Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Story | The Patient Story

We’d love to hear from you: what was the biggest lesson you learned in your own cancer diagnosis? Leave us a comment below 👇

Doctors dismiss us, but then get angry when we do research online…

Doctors are so dismissive now. They are in such a hurry they can't even do their jobs.

Your intense night sweats were a HUGE red flag for lymphoma. It's concerning that such a classic symptom was missed. I wish you continued good health my dear.

How is it possible that no one in the medical field put her symptoms together right away to suspect lymphoma?! When you Google lymphoma, you get most of her symptoms! It's inexcusable.

GOD BLESS YOU. I AM 73 AND WAS DIAGNOSED BY ACCIDENT. 2006 I HAD A FALL AND BROKE MY LEFT ARM REALLY BAD. I HAD SURGERY ON IT AND THEN WHEN I GOT HOME I COULDN'T GET A DEEP BREATH AND HAD MY HUBBY TAKE ME TO THE ER. ONE NURSE EVEN THOUGHT IT WAS PHONEY WHEN SHE TWIRLED HER FINGER AROUND THE SIDE OF HER HEAD TO ANOTHER PERSON. ANYWAY 3 DAYS IN THE HOSPITAL AND ALL THE TESTS THEY SAID I HAD A TUMOR AND NEEDED TO SEE A SURGEON. I HAD SURGERY AND THEY TOOK OUT PART OF MY ADRENAL GLAD AND THE MASS OUT AND 3 DAYS LATER THE DR. CAME TO MY ROOM AND SAID I HAD CANCER. NO ONE WITH ME...HE TALKED VERY LITTLE AND SAID THEY WOULD SET UP AN APPOINTMENT. IT WAS DLBCL AND I WENT THROUGH MONTHS OF CHEMO RCHOP. LOST MY HAIR MY HUB SHAVED IT AND THEN SHAVED HIS HEAD. AND NOW ALL THESE YEARS LATER I WANTED TO TELL YOU, I AM ALIVE AND FREE. PRAYERS ABOUND THAT YOU CONTINUE IN GOOD HEALTH

My story was the same. Nobody believed me for five months and the pain was excruciating. By the time the correct diagnosis was made I was at stage 4 and was sent home with hospice and given two weeks to live. Started chemo and radiation and continued with that regime for six months. The hair loss! Horrible! I'm still alive but the journey changed me as a human being. Grateful to be alive but so scarred psychologically that the simple events of everyday life are quite challenging. Thank you for sharing your story! It validates what I went through and that means so much.

Night sweats, severe fatigue, and a lump on her neck!? And no lymphoma-bell was ringing in any doctor's head?! I'm not a doctor, but after hearing these symptoms NHL would be the first diagnosis that would occur in my mind. What is wrong with doctors nowadays?

I was so sick for 10 months. Every time I ate i would have stomach attacks that made me vomit for days with intense stomach pain. I lost 80 lbs in that time as well. My doctor would not do any scans. He did order scopes and i got diagnosed with gastritis. I changed to a gastritis diet. Still kept getting attacks, vomiting. My bloodwork was showing iron was on the floor, potassium low as well as other. We moved across country. I went to the ER every other day, every time was a different ER doctor. Every one of them was diagnosing with something but they would prescribe me things that did not help at all. I was literally saying to them and my husband, I am slowly dying. Could barely walk because I was so week and faint. I finally went in and told my dr, look I need a CT scan and she finally agreed. Ct was ordered in ER and an hour later I had my doctor come in and tell me that they found a tumor that was very big and was causing blockage in my small bowel. An hour later I was rushed to the OR with two surgeons. Surgeon was saying it could be cancer, we might have to remove your small bowel and give you a stoma. I woke up in ICU and spent a week and a half in there. I was given TPN to get nourishment. Tube in nose to get crap out of my stomach. Two weeks later while still healing from massive surgery I was told I had Large B cell lymphoma. Why do dr’s not listen to their patients anymore? This is the third cancer I have had, 1st one cervical, then goblet cell carcinoma, massive surgery and chemo, now lymphoma, finished chemo on Dec28/23. If I relapse, honestly I don’t know if I am strong enough to do chemo again..😢 I pray for all of us cancer warriors that are fighting to live! We know our bodies and we know when something is wrong.. wishing everyone love, hope, and great results in your journeys❤

My heart goes out to her. I'm so tired of doctors dismissing symptoms, or just writing it off as anxiety.

My daughter is 22 and has non -Hodgkins Lymphoma she got it in her spinal cord and was stage 4.She has a similar story as you no one thought her back pain was anything !! How Horrific that it came back !!! Wishing you all the best and Remission Forever ❤

My husband was dismissed so much, I forced the issue of him being seen again....he had mantle cell lymphoma, so you definitely know your own bodies and doctors get things wrong...frequently as they are only human, sometimes you have to bang on tables and shout loud

I also had every symptom of a cancer and was dismissed by every doctor I saw. It wasn’t until my hip broke spontaneously and Emergency Room testing for excruciating pain, I was then diagnosed with follicular lymphoma. After being in a remission for a year I am heading back for a pet scan due to a recurrence of symptoms. Thank you for your video. I wish you continued good health. God Bless

So glad that you are okay now. My brother was diagnosed with lymphoma last year. He lost so much weight, coughing, back pain, night sweats etc. He also had stage 4. He started looking much better once he started chemotherapy. I almost never tear up but these cancer stories really get me. Thank you ❤

It took 9.5 months to get diagnosed. I had huge masses on my forehead , head , and neck. I saw 2 different Dr's, a dermatologist, and finally a plastic surgeon. I was vomiting every morning , horrible night sweats , had lost 28 pounds. The masses were so painful I was eating Advil like candy. The plastic surgeon finally ordered a biopsy and it came out non Hodgkins lymphoma. After that I had a PET scan and I'm stage 4. It's not curable. I did 7 rounds of chemo and went into remission for 17 months and it is now creeping back

18:32 Thanks so much Samantha for sharing your story. You are an inspiration to all of us NHL survivors. I especially appreciated your overview of your experience with CAR-T therapy, and how hopeful that sounds. You are amazing, strong, and now even stronger and more amazing.

In May 2021 I was diagnosed with a DLBCL, which is a non-Hodgkins lymphoma that is fortunately treated to cure. I had no symptoms at all. No night sweat, no fever episodes, on weight loss, nothing. Except for a lump in my right armpit. I thought nothing of it for a while, but alarmingly it didn't go away for weeks. I decided to see my doctor. He did an ultrasound of the swelling and showed me the pictures, but didn't believe it to be a swollen lymph node. But he suggested to have it removed and scheduled an appointment with a surgeon. The surgeon saw me and was immediately concerned. He wanted to do a biopsy and needed me to have an MRI of the region before. I got an appointment the next day. When the biopsy results came back, the lymphoma was confirmed. It was a shock, I was devastated. I got an appointment with the oncologist the next day and the next week was a flurry of preparations to assess my general health, have a heart ultrasound and have an appointment to have an IV port installed in my chest. R-CHOP and immune therapy started on the day the port was installed. I literally jumped off of the surgeons table and went straight into my first treatment. Fortunately, I took the therapy quite well. Of course the hair came down. But I wasn't nauseous most of the time. Just very, very tired after the immune therapy sessions, mostly for the anti-allergy medication that made me really sleepy. I continued working through all of the therapy. I literally sat on that chair, during the infusions, with my laptop, and was happily hacking away. It is something I can only recommend: Keep your mind occupied and if your health allows, keep working. It's 2024 now, obviously I'm still alive. My hair has grown back (well, some of it has), it is just white now. I'm getting checks-ups every three months still. Bloodwork, ultrasound, rinsing the port. It has not come back.

I think I have Lymphoma. I have lost over 80 lbs and in the last 10 months and been having crazy symptoms that have increased and are impeding on my life. I’m so tired it takes everything I have to get through work to come home and pass out before anything else happens and wake up feeling exhausted. I have been to so many doctors and they just dismiss my symptoms and treat me like nothing. I’m afraid it will be too late by the time I finally get a diagnosis. The worst part is I have no one, a husband who doesn’t want to hear anymore about how I feel and 3 children I do my best to hide it from. I have no family or friends. So this is gonna be super scary all alone. Thanks for letting me share, I’ve been holding that in for a while now. 🥺

God Bless you, I was diagnosed with B cell follicular lymphoma, in September of 2022. I went to my doctor for a concussion, sent to hospital, the next day I was told what they found. No cure but treatments to live longer. Your story is a lesson that hit's home, God Bless finding out you have cancer really sucks. I went to my first oncologist visit thinking I'd be treated and it would be gone, well that's not how my cancer works. I was told I might live 7 to 10 years, the reason for the unsure life span is because they don't know how long I've had it. Your young and with the support you have hopefully you will live a mostly normal life, take care. I'm almost 70, so for me dying is coming sooner or later, you sound like a fighter, good luck GOD BLESS YOU. 🙏🙏

It’s inexcusable that the medical staff dismiss and label women with anxiety rather than listen and PAY ATTENTION to what the patient is saying.