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jennifer holmes, an emergency room nurse at st. michael’s hospital in toronto, noticed a lump on her breast one day while showering. fearing it was breast cancer, her doctor sent her to the princess margaret cancer centre, but the diagnosis was not breast cancer. instead, holmes was told she had d iffuse large b-cell lymphoma (dlbcl).
diffuse large b-cell lymphoma is the most common form of non-hodgkin lymphoma, according to the canadian cancer society. these cancer cells tend to be larger than other lymphocytes ( white blood cells ), and are often found scattered throughout the lymph nodes and surrounding tissue. although it is known as an aggressive form of cancer, it tends to respond well to chemotherapy.
the canadian cancer society estimates that 11,400 canadians will be diagnosed with non-hodgkin lymphoma this year, and approximately 3,000 canadians would lose their lives because of it. approximately 65 per cent of patients, will survive five years or more past their diagnosis (five-year survival rate).
during her time in treatment, along with her friends, holmes raised approximately $8,000 for the leukemia and lymphoma society of canada’s light the night event, and was named an honoured hero for her efforts.
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at the end of march 2021, i was in the shower and found a lump in my right breast. my first thought [was that it was breast cancer]. when i found it, i shed a few tears and had my moment of being upset, and then i started picturing myself going through the breast cancer journey, and asking myself things like, do i need a mastectomy? hormonal treatment?
the next week, i was on my way back to the hospital to get the results and the nurse practitioner called me. she said it wasn’t a breast cancer, but that they think it might be a lymphoma. and at that point, i told my boyfriend to turn the car around, and i was in tears. i just kept saying, i knew it, i knew it was cancer. i knew it. i knew it. and he just kept saying, it’ll be fine. it’ll be fine. it’ll be fine.
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sometimes it’s not great to know as much as you do. but i think the other part, for me, is that working in an emergency department, i always saw the bad side of everything. the patients who would maybe have my diagnosis were, for the most part, a bit more ill or in a palliative state. you come to the emergency department because that’s how sick you are. you don’t come to the emergency department when you’re well. so i think i may have had a bit of a skewed image of where this illness could lead.
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the day i left work was april 12, 2021. i went back on a gradual return to work on may 10 , 2022. i actually thought i would go back to work around january and they were like , oh, heck no . i really didn’t realize how much radiation takes out of you.
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emma jones is a multimedia editor with healthing. you can reach her at emjones@postmedia.com or on instagram and twitter @jonesyjourn .