Like a lot of teens with cancer, Lynden Wilson of Hastings High School in Hastings, Minnesota is navigating the difficulties of getting treatment while staying involved in his active high school life. A wrestling star before cancer, he’s found his way back to his beloved sport after an unusually intense course of treatment.
Wilson was diagnosed with Stage 3 Hodgkins lymphoma the summer before his freshman year and the diagnosis quickly progressed to Stage 4. His doctors at the Children’s Hospital in St. Paul treated him with surgery and an aggressive course of chemotherapy. They called the treatment “dirty and done,” and felt it was the best course of action because Wilson was young enough and strong enough to handle it.
Unlike leukemia, which is a disease that results from too many white blood cells, lymphomas are white blood cell cancers that form tumors in the lymphatic system. “Quite literally, lymph is lymphatic system -phoma means tumors, so lymphoma is white blood cell cancer that forms tumors in the lymphatic system,” Dr. Peter Martin at Weill Cornell Medicine and New York Presbyterian, told SurvivorNet. “This is opposed to leukemia, which is too many white blood cells, typically in the bone marrow or blood stream. Lymphomas, specifically, are white blood cell cancers that form tumors in the lymphatic system.” Dr. Martin was not referring specifically to Wilson’s case. Continue reading at www.survivornet.com
