Lymphoma Patient Stories

If you feel something, say something: facing lymphoma at 31

Eight days after her 31st birthday, Marleni learned that the pain and shortness of breath she had been experiencing were caused by a large tumor in her chest. As she faced treatment for what she soon learned was a diagnosis of Lymphoma, now too there was uncertainty on things that before seemed pretty certain - school, relationships, fertility and the future she was building.

Nobody expects to get cancer in their 20s, but I was 28 when I was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma.  

My cancer journey started one day in the summer of 2022 when I discovered what felt like a pimple on the back of my neck. The next day, the “pimple” had vanished, but two weeks later it was back, and this time it didn’t go away. Over just a few days, it grew so rapidly that I finally went to a local hospital to get it checked out.

After two months of testing, the doctors still couldn’t give me a definitive answer. Meanwhile, the welt on my neck had grown to the point where I couldn’t even turn my head to the right. That’s when I decided to go to Fox Chase Cancer Center.

I started out 2021 as an active, healthy 26-year-old transgender man. I was an avid hiker. I was engaged, and I was on my way to a promotion at my job. But by early 2022, I was also a cancer survivor living with HIV.

I feel supported by Fox Chase; they are family.