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Alizabeth Rose chronicled her days after being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer under the social media name 'Wimpy Beats Lymphoma.'
One video opens with a scene from her “life”, showing the teenager walking down a high school hallway with friends, her long blonde hair swaying over her shoulders.
But in the next series of photos, he is shown suffering from harsh conditions, including chemotherapy ports implanted under his skin, regular hospital stays, mouth sores that make it difficult to eat, and clumps of hair falling out every time he brushes. Every day is shared.
“I wanted to share what I went through to help people understand. It's a lot harder than you think,” she said.
“Sometimes I felt like giving up, but I realized it's impossible. I want to tell others to never give up.”
After about a year of treatment, he has now successfully undergone a bone marrow transplant. University of Michigan Health Center CS Mott Children's Hospitalthe 17-year-old is ready to return to normal life.
“It's been a long journey, but I know it's not over yet,” she said. “But I'm doing well and I'm happy to be home.
“We've finally gotten this far, but we didn't do it alone.”
very rare diagnosis
Alizabeth, the younger sister of two siblings nicknamed “Wimpy” by her family and known as “Lizzie” by her care team, faced a rare and aggressive form of the disease. non-hodgkin lymphoma.
That was especially unusual for her youth. This disease, called peripheral T-cell lymphoma, is most common in older people between the ages of 55 and 74.
Blood cancers develop from mature white blood cells called T cells and natural killer cells and can affect almost any part of the body. In Alizabeth's case, the disease had spread to multiple organs.
Mott experts reached out to experts across the country to finalize a treatment plan.
“Being introduced to a full multidisciplinary team was really key to her case,” she said. Dr. Joshua Goldman, her primary pediatric oncologist At Mott.
“Lizzie had non-specific symptoms. We consulted with our in-house oncology and pathology teams, as well as colleagues across the country, to confidently reach a consensus on her condition and determine her condition. “We helped guide treatment. There are probably only a few cases like hers, but there is no standard treatment for this particular disease for someone her age.”
The road to eliminating cancer
Alizabeth was diagnosed in July 2023 and spent much of the next few months in and out of the hospital, undergoing intensive chemotherapy every few weeks, often requiring hospital stays of a week or more.
Tests nearly seven months later showed the cancer cells had disappeared, but she still needed a bone marrow transplant.
For lymphoma, usually Mott Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant Team The patient's own stem cells are used to replace the bone marrow. But in Alizabeth's case, the cancer had also affected her bone marrow, raising concerns that lymphoma cells could be reinjected into her body during the transplant.
There are probably only a few cases like hers, but there is no standard treatment for this particular disease for people her age. ”
– Dr. Joshua Goldman
After a final round of chemotherapy and radiation, she received a transplant in March 2024 from an unrelated donor registered in the bone marrow registry.
Since then, she has been in remission and has not been seen again.
“She showed tremendous resilience to overcome this very difficult treatment,” Goldman said.
Return to normal teenage life
Still, life has not completely returned to normal. Alizabeth still has a weakened immune system, so she had to continue attending school remotely and avoid group classes.
“This treatment is extremely disruptive to a teenager's life.” Dr. Mark Vander LugtPediatric hemato-oncologist who treated Alizabeth at the Mott Bone Marrow Transplant Clinic.
“We are taking our kids out of school for over a year, limiting a lot of activities and asking them to give up a lot of things. Lizzie has always handled everything very well. It was great to see how much support she receives from the hospital and how she maintains those connections through social media and other means.”
Alizabeth said she is grateful to her family, co-workers, doctors and cheerful nurses who are like her “big sisters” who all supported her.
Most of all, she says, she is grateful to her mother, who has always given her strength and comfort.
“My grandmother had cancer, so I was really anxious and scared and didn't really know what was going to happen,” she recalled when she was diagnosed.
“But my mom said, ‘You have this.’ She never left my side.”
Alizabeth has attended only online classes since her diagnosis last year, but hopes to receive permission to return to in-person high school by early 2025.
“She handled it much better than I did,” said her mother, Sarah Garza.
“She was a fighter.”
Some of the things Alizabeth is most looking forward to are walking the halls of her high school again with her friends, hanging out in groups, and going to the movies.
“I like being social. That's what I missed,” she said.
And over time, she has regained the energy to do her favorite activities, like riding her four-wheeler and going for walks.
“She was very tired, tired all the time,” Garza said.
“She's full of energy and vitality. I just want to see her live a normal teenage life.”
Alizabeth doesn't know what the future holds, but she hopes to become an entrepreneur and start her own business one day.
“I can't change anything,” she said of having cancer. “I’m really looking forward to going back to school, graduating, and looking forward to the future.”
Dr. Mott and colleagues say cases like Alizabeth's particularly highlight the need for more research in childhood cancer.
“Our results for this diagnosis are often not favorable,” Vander Lugt said. “This type of cancer is very rare in pediatrics, and because it's so rare, it's not always studied.
“That means there are many questions about what to do with children with rare malignancies who don't behave in the same way as adults. Determining the most appropriate course of treatment for patients like Alizabeth is , which can be difficult due to the lack of information. Further research into rare conditions like hers could help find more targeted treatments that may have better outcomes. Masu.”
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