Hearing the words “you have cancer,” or “your child has cancer,” can change your life forever. Since a diagnosis used to be a death sentence, that meant a shortened future filled with pain and heartache. However, ground-breaking research has changed the disease as we know it. Individuals are not just surviving after cancer; they are living.
Meet Sadie. At only 2 years old, Sadie was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, better known as ALL. Now, at 23, Sadie is a cancer-free college senior. She is also a race car driver.
“When I tell people that I am a race car driver, they don’t believe me,” Sadie said. “When I tell them I am a leukemia survivor, they REALLY don’t believe me.”
Sadie and her parents credit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society with helping to save her life.
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Amazing Stories Of Survival
LLS has invested nearly $1 billion to advance cancer therapies over the last 60 years and provided $44.2 million in co-pays just in 2012 alone. As the world’s largest nonprofit organization dedicated to finding cures for blood cancers, LLS has funded many of today’s most promising advances in cancer therapies.
"I think I value life a little differently than some people,” Sadie said. “I could have not lived past 6 years old."
LLS’s decades-long focus on blood cancers has affected not only Sadie, but many kids just like her. In 1964, there was only a 3 percent chance of surviving 5 years after a pediatric ALL diagnosis. Today, that number is 90 percent.
Sadie is just one of the many cancer survivors who is living a thriving, full life after her diagnosis. The above slideshow shares four amazing tales of survival brought to you by The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. To learn more about how you can get involved, check out their site here.
Do you have your own incredible story of life after cancer? Submit a photo and share your experience!