Joel
Age: 18
Hobbies: playing basketball and soccer
Diagnosis: Acute Lymphoblastic Lymphoma (ALL) at 14
currently fighting a relapse and going through chemotherapy for the second time
Friends: He says he has a lot of friends, especially his teammates. He laughs at the thought of a girlfriend, says he likes to just date around, no serious relationships for him.
Future plans:
He used to hope he had a shot at playing pro-basketball eventually, now he is unsure what he wants and will be able to do in the future.
Diseases Effects:
1. Symptoms Before Diagnosis - he started to always feel tired and lethargic, even when he had slept 8 or 9 hours the night before. He would bruise and bleed very easily. He first went to the doctor because he had a cold that would not go away and the gland in his neck were really swollen.
2. Treatments and Effects: He had chemotherapy the first time and is going through another round now. If it doesn't work this time, he will need a bone marrow transplant. He often has dry mouth and diarrhea, he is losing his hair now for the second time around, and he feels like his skin is shriveling up and drying out.
3. After Treatment the first time - It took a long time for him to get his appetite back and gain weight again. Finally he did and got enough strength to play basketball again. But, now he is sick again and once again, can not play.
Experiences with Doctors: He is very tired of doctors. He says they poke and prod him too much and make him feel uncomfortable. he says they always ask him the same questions over and over again, every single time he has an appointment and it is starting to annoy him.
How Others Treat Him: Most people feel sorry for him, constantly telling him how sorry they are this is happening again. They make him feel helpless, constantly reminding him, as if he didn't already know, "How unfair this is."
Current feelings:
"Well obviously, I'm pretty depressed."
"Because of this relapse, I am having to miss my senior year of high school with all my friends. I probably won't be able to go to prom. I had to get a tutor at home so that I can try to keep up and still try to graduate in June.Will I get through these treatments and manage to go back and finish? Who knows..."
" Life feels bitter and sour. I rarely have fun at all. I'm worried about my health, this relapse, and what exactly it means. I will have to worry about this disease for the rest of my life. My mom is making me go see a psycho-therapist or something, who she says will help me with these feelings, but I don't think anything can help, except for someone to tell me this disease is gone once and for all."