Thursday, March 13, 2008
Twin Sisters Help Bring Awareness to Hodgkin's Lymphoma
For two years, Elisa witnessed what her twin sister Anne endured battling an advanced form of Hodgkin's Lymphoma. The unexpected journey started in the spring of 2005 when Anne was diagnosed with this rare but deemed curable cancer during a routine check-up for flu-like symptoms. After her diagnosis, many in the medical field as well as cancer patients commented that Hodgkin's Lymphoma was the "good" cancer to get if you had to choose a cancer.
Unfortunately, it was not the "good cancer" and the road to remission was a bumpy one. It took a rare syngeneic stem cell transplant and almost two years of back-to-back high dose chemotherapy treatment and radiation therapy to bring Anne into remission status. As her identical stem cell donor and caregiver, Elisa experienced this two-year challenging journey right along her twin sister's side. This sobering experience inspired Elisa to do something tangible in her twin sister's honor to help bring worldwide awareness to Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a cancer wrongly deemed the "good cancer".
In February 2007, Hope & Dreams Cancer Awareness online store, featuring an assortment of Hodgkin's Lymphoma awareness t-shirt designs including unique cancer awareness designs, was launched by Elisa. Thus far, the store has generously donated the proceeds to benefit Lymphoma research in honor of Anne and in honor of those who are fighting this rare and often misunderstood cancer. Today, Anne is in remission and Elisa is grateful to God that her twin sister has been given a second opportunity to fulfill her hopes and dreams -- cancer free.
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