The Beginning

To be honest I don’t really know how to start this, so I’m just gonna go with a hey y’all! As most of you know by now I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Many might be wondering how I got here so I’ll give a quick little rundown.

In the beginning of October I got COVID-19 after traveling to Florida State University for a swim meet. After I got back in the water after my quarantine, I never quite bounced back. I had trouble breathing for awhile but when I got on some inhalers I felt much better. However, I was experiencing extreme fatigue and weakness that was just not like me. I was still swimming and lifting 20 hours a week as a Division I Athlete, along with doing a full course load in the honors program, and working as a student assistant for operations for the Liberty Football team whenever I had time (kind of crazy thinking about all that I was doing when I was going through this). Throughout those months I got my blood drawn a few times and I had high white blood cells, inflammation rate, and other abnormalities that everyone thought was just post-Covid symptoms. I continued to race in swim meets but would the feeling of weaknesses and tiredness continued to grow. Once I got back home I scheduled a doctors appointment to see my primary care physician to check in with her. That appointment was on March 12th, a day after my 20th birthday. That day was the day my life got flipped upside down. She discovered a lump on my neck and ordered a stat ultrasound and CT scan. They found enlarged lymph nodes in my body. I received a lymph node biopsy, PET scan, and then got the call that I was officially diagnosed with Stage 3 Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

Everything happened so quick. March 12th I had the doctors appointment, got blood work done, had an ultrasound, then had a CT scan. March 13th, I met with my oncologist who told me all signs point to lymphoma and I’m at least at a stage two from what they saw in the CT scan and I would probably need six months of chemotherapy. She said that I needed a lymph node biopsy to remove one of my lymph nodes so they can see what type of lymphoma it is, Hodgkin’s lymphoma or Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She also said I would need a PET scan to see if it has spread anywhere else in my body so they could know the exact staging of the cancer. The following day March 14th, I met with an ENT doctor who would also be performing my surgery to remove my lymph node. They got me in to the Operating Room very quickly on March 18th. On March 22nd I received my PET scan to show how much it has spread in my body and that same day, just a few hours later, my oncologist called offically diagnosing me with Stage 3 Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Then the process began and I had my chemo port surgery on March 28th and started my first chemotherapy round on April 3rd.

Me before my Chemo Port Surgery!!!

So now I’m here, writing a blog about my journey! Two days before my lymph node surgery, I heard the words “There is always a reason to smile”. I was so confident that was the Lord speaking to me. Then the idea popped in my head to make a blog. That night I went online to create a website and see if the anyone already had the website name, there’s always a reason to smile. To my surprise, no one did! I felt this was the Lord telling me that this was his website he saved for me to create. I'm thinking of uploading a post after each of my chemo sessions and just write about what I did, learned, and achieved after each round. I will also always include at least one picture of me smiling because heck, there's always a reason to smile! I’m not oblivious to the fact that there’s going to be many hard days throughout these next few months and that some days will be hard to find a reason to smile. However, I’m going to take on this challenge because as I heard from the Lord, there will always be a reason to smile.

This blog is designed to keep my family and friends updated throughout my journey. But, I’m hoping it will reach those I don’t even know who are experiencing hardships and inspire them to smile through it. The Lord is so good and I’m ready to fight this battle with him by my side and become stronger, physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Thank you for reading a little more about me and my journey. There’s always a reason to smile 😊

“A cheerful heart brings a smile to your face” (Proverbs 15:13)

Grace