The 15th of September marks World Lymphoma Awareness Day (WLAD). It is being marked in a global environment in which lymphoma (a cancer of the blood) is no longer being considered a rare disease, its incidence having doubled in the past 55 years. WLAD was initiated in 2004 to raise public awareness of both Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma in terms of symptom recognition, early diagnosis and treatment. The causes are unknown but the most common early symptom of non-Hodgkin lymphoma is painless swelling of the lymph nodes, usually in the neck, armpit, groin or abdomen.
Other symptoms of Lymphoma include:
v Sweating at night
- Excessive sweating
v Persistent itch all over the body
- Feeling an itch all over your skin that does not go away.
v Painless lumps in the neck, armpit and groin:
- These lumps may be quite small, so you may not notice them for some time.
v Tiredness and weight loss:
- You may lose your appetite and feel very tired.
v Unexplained fever:
- If a fever comes on unexpectedly, it may not just be a common cold or flu.
v A cough or breathlessness:
- Having a cough that does not go away or becoming breathless when you do physical activity like walking.
A High Tea was held at the Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town on 15 September 2009 in recognition of this day. 10–year lymphoma survivor, Carl Liebenberg, co-founder and director of People Living with Cancer (PLWC), and Eldré Strydom, CEO of People Living with Cancer (PLWC), attended this event. Carl, who gave a talk on the day, was diagnosed with non Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1998. He received monoclonal antibody therapy as part of his lymphoma treatment and has successfully rebuilt his life since his diagnosis and treatment.
Carl recalls the day where there was finally real hope. “The end of a dark journey was coming to a happy ending. So I started thinking about my future. Realising there was a greater degree of certainty about what lay ahead, I started to reflect on the various promises I made to myself on what I would do if I got back on my feet.”
“There were a number of aspects of my life I wanted to change, but there was one thing in particular I wanted to do. I wanted to help others deal with the uncertainty of what lay ahead when they were diagnosed with cancer. But most importantly, I wanted to be a beacon of hope. I wanted to show people that cancer wasn’t necessarily a death knell. It can be beaten.” And so PLWC was born in South Africa.
“I hope WLAD will create further awareness of lymphoma and give hope to many South African lymphoma patients and also make the public aware of this type of cancer,” he said.
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Wed, Sep 16, 2009
Lymphoma