Luke Demmel

First post: May 8, 2018 Latest post: Jan 30, 2022
Luke’s story began last fall with some sore muscles, he’s an active 17 year old so thats to be expected right? We treated at home with ibuprofen and rest. Went to see his doctor, did physical therapy, got better. Pain began to return around February or March, back to PT for a few sessions. PT wasn't really helping at this time so we decided mid April to try a Chiropractor, about the same time Luke started having a little trouble swallowing, ok, so now we have a virus on top of everything else. Wednesday, May 2, Luke came home from school and said his neck felt swollen, we had enough, and I was able to get him to see his PCP, and here we are.

The past week has been a whirl wind of testing and information. It all adds up to that Luke has been diagnosed with Non Hodgkin’s Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) alk+… I know, what a mouth full of words and letters, it’s confusing as heck. So what this means is that Luke has a fast growing, rare, Cancer, he has lymphoma cancer tumors in his neck, shoulders, along his spinal column, a few small ones in various other area. These types tumors typically respond well to Chemotherapy, and the success rate is high. Although we will take nothing for granted the prognosis at this time is positive. 

The support and love that everyone has shown Luke and our family is amazing. I know everyone wants to know how he is doing and to be updated on his progress. I will not post every day, but I will try to keep everything as updated as possible. Please feel free to leave your positive comments, and we appreciate humor, we believe that laughter is healing and we would rather laugh than cry.

Thank you everyone for your love and support.

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