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Patient Story |
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William B Knight Arlington, VA United States male Living with Hodgkin Lymphoma for 7 years, 3 months Age: 32 Bill Last year I was on the nuclear powered fast attack submarine called USS Pasadena deployed to the Gulf. I had only been on board for a month, and I was truly enjoying it. There is nothing quite like being on a submarine. Im an Electrician's Mate 1st class who is nuclear trained. I was fully looking forward to taking over my division of fellow electricians. I got out of the shower one day and a shipmate noticed that there was huge lump on my neck. He asked "Dude, what is that on your neck?" I looked in the mirror, and said "Gee, I don't know" I probably used more explicit language than that, but I can't remember. I went directly to the doctor and showed it to him. He said he had no idea what it was but he can run a few blood tests (there is not a whole lot you can do on a submarine). He then took some digital pictures and sent them to the doctors on the USS Nimitz who then said "Get him off that boat." (You can see the pictures of the medivac at http://www.news.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=7880.) So I spent a couple of hours there before being flown first to Bahrain, then Kuwait, then Germany, and finally Bethesda, Maryland, where I received very good care. I was diagnosed with nodular sclerosis type Hodgkin lymphoma, stage IIAX, and immediately started with treatments, which consisted of EPOCH-R chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy. I had a couple of hospital stays due to neutropenic fever, but for the most part the treatment went all right. And then I did my radiation therapy, which I finished up in December 2003. Thank God for my parents and the loving support that they were able to give me during this harrowing experience. Without them, I never would have made it. I love you guys. I am now in remission soon approaching my one-year mark. |
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