Laura Hendricks.Photo:Laura and Brock Hendricks_Luminaries
Laura and Brock Hendricks_Luminaries
In an interview published Wednesday, Laura Hendricks, 40, toldTodaythat she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) after a comment from her kids' pediatrician led her to make a doctor’s appointment.
“She really stopped me middle of the sentence and said, ‘What’s going on with you?’ and I was really taken aback that she was focusing on me rather than the kids,” Hendricks recalled toToday. “I said, ‘Well, I’m really tired and I think I’m coming down with what they’re coming down with.’”
Hendricks added, “She challenged me again and said, ‘No, your coloring doesn’t look right. Let me see your hands.' She looked at them and said, ‘I think you should have some bloodwork done.'”
The pediatrician and Hendricks’ mother, who accompanied her daughter during the visit, insisted that the woman see her own physician.
Hendricks got bloodwork done and initially, the results via automated email indicated that things were normal. However, the following day, three voicemails were left for Hendricks, with one of the messages saying that she needed to go to the emergency room. When she contacted her doctor, Hendricks was told that she need a blood transfusion for possible anemia.
At the hospital, Hendricks received an upsetting diagnosis: “[The doctors] said, ‘You have leukemia, and you have an aggressive form of it called AML,'” she recalled, adding that her “whole world changed.”
AML, according to theMayo Clinic, is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow affecting a group of white blood cells known as the myeloid cells. Among the symptoms associated with AML include fever, bone pain, lethargy and fatigue, shortness of breath, pale skin, frequent infections, easy bruising and unusual bleeding.
TheAmerican Cancer Societyestimates that in the U.S. this year, there are 20,380 new cases of AML mostly in adults, with about 11,310 deaths from the disease also mostly in adults.
Hendricks described her ordeal after the diagnosis, which necessitated a 7-month hospital stay and included a stem cell transplant. She went into remission and became cancer-free and has been cancer free for 5 years.
“I had that mentality that I was going to be a survivor,” she toldToday. “What rooted me to survival … was my children and my husband and my family. Truly, I wanted to be their mom for the rest of their lives.”
Hendricks’ experience with cancer led to her and her husband, Brock, startingLuminaries, a non-profit that helps cancer survivors through self-care kits. “We really wanted to help support survivors,” Hendricks toldToday. “That’s where we saw the [biggest] of lack of resources."
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source: people.com
