Nancy Hull

Late in 2012, I was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).  We took the “watch and wait approach” until it was time to treat.  After 4 rounds of chemo, I was in remission and everything was good for about a year and a half.  In early 2016, it was time to treat it again (there’s a reason they call it chronic), so I considered myself lucky to have an oral targeted stem cell therapy drug this time, instead of chemo.   I took that for about 10 months, until December 2016.  Everything was pointing towards another remission, when a rare event took place called Richter’s Transformation.  The CLL transformed to an aggressive large, diffuse B-cell lymphoma – what???!!!  Next thing you know, I’m in the hospital - the first of 3 stays over the past month.  The new oncology plan became to have 5 rounds of aggressive chemo followed by a bone marrow transplant.  It ended up taking 7 rounds of chemo and 1 round of radiation to achieve remission, but remission I have!  I'm now in the hospital undergoing a transplant.