Sharing Your Cancer Journey with Others
- Popular Twitch streamer Kyedae, 21, was recently diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. But she’s since shared the news with her fiancé and gaming community.
- Acute myeloid leukemia (AML), is a blood cancer that affects the spongy tissue inside of your bones called bone marrow. According to one of our experts, signs of the disease can include feeling unwell, shortness of breath, decreased exercise tolerance and unexplained bruising or infections, but some people experience no symptoms at all.
- There's no right way to deal with cancer. A person's health is a private matter, and a cancer battle is arguably even more private. This is why some people choose to keep their cancer battle to themselves. But others have said that sharing their battle to build strong support system made a huge difference.
Kyedae Shymko, whose fierce gameplay has earned her over 900k followers on YouTube and a whopping 2.2 million on Twitch, shared her diagnosis with her gaming followers just the other day with a post to her social media.
Hi everyone,
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I've recently been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (cancer). I'll be starting up treatment very soon. With that being said I'm not too sure how my body will react to the treatment so I do apologize in advance if my stream schedule isn't consistent! Stay safe <3kyedae 🧡 (@kyedae) March 3, 2023 “I've recently been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (cancer),” she wrote. “I'll be starting up treatment very soon.“With that being said I'm not too sure how my body will react to the treatment so I do apologize in advance if my stream schedule isn't consistent! Stay safe <3”
According to The U.S. Sun, Kyedae shared more details about her ongoing situation via Twitch.
“Streams will probably get… less regular, considering like, with chemo. I’m sure a lot of you, or I’m sure some of you might know what it does to your body,” she said. “And, like, I already feel quite sick. I’m trying, like, my best to put on a normal face in front. But I’ve been dealing with a lot of, like, health complications recently. Actually, for a little while now.”
She then shared how hard it’s been to share the news with everyone including her fiancé and fellow gaming pro Tyson Ngo, 21, better known as TenZ.
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“So, I found about my cancer probably about two-and-a-half weeks ago. So it’s been pretty recent. But I didn’t… tell anyone actually,” she said. “Not even my mom or my dad, or Tyson, until after his tournament.
“Because I just wanted to make sure that he was fully focused on his game and his work, before I, like, broke the news.”
Understanding Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Acute myeloid leukemia, otherwise known as AML, is a type blood cancer that affects the spongy tissue inside of your bones called bone marrow. Acute myeloid leukemia is rare, but it’s the most common type of leukemia in adults.
After an AML Diagnosis, Knowing Your Risk Group is Important for Treatment
Dr. Mikkael Sekeres, chief of the Division of Hematology at the University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, says bone marrow is essentially the factory that makes all of the cells in the blood stream. This includes the red blood cells that bring oxygen to our tissues, white blood cells that make up the immune system and the platelets which help stop bleeding.
Dr. Sekeres explains that a person with AML essentially has "broken" factory because the bone marrow fills with cancer cells. This, in turn, hinders the creation and function of the crucial blood cells.
"So there's a bit of a paradox," Dr. Sekeres previously told SurvivorNet. "The bone marrow has too many cells, yet the bloodstream has too few cells as the normal bone marrow cells die off."
Signs of AML can include feeling unwell, shortness of breath, decreased exercise tolerance, unexplained bruising or infections. But it’s important to remember that some people with AML have no symptoms at all.
Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) What Are The Symptoms?
"Most of the time, this comes as an unwelcome surprise diagnosis," Dr. Gail Roboz, a medical oncologist at Weill Cornell Medicine, previously told SurvivorNet. "Often, patients have no idea that leukemia is even anywhere on the radar.
“Sometimes patients actually have no symptoms at all and may be diagnosed in the course of a completely routine evaluation.”
What Are The Phases of AML Treatment?
Keeping a Cancer Battle Private
A person's health is a private matter, and a cancer battle is arguably even more private. This is why some people, choose to keep their health struggles to themselves.
People have different reasons for whether they share the news of their cancer diagnosis or not. Marquina Iliev-Piselli previously talked with SurvivorNet about how sharing the news can be a burden.
Deciding When and Who to Tell About My Diagnosis Became a Burden
"Deciding when and who to tell became quite a burden," she said. "You have to relive your story over and over again."
This, alone, is reason enough for some people to keep their cancer diagnosis a secret. But some people find it liberating to share their cancer news with others like in the case of Robyn Smith.
When Smith was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer, she didn’t have a huge support system at her disposal. But things got better when she opened up to her best friend, Debbie, who told their church that Smith needed help.
“It was my best friend Debbie… she talked to [my pastor],” Smith told SurvivorNet. “I wouldn’t have done it, but it was a lifesaver that she did.”
Finding Support Through Her Church Ovarian Cancer Survivor Robyn Smith's Story
Once her church knew what was going on, people started visiting her and her pastor even brought her delicious, homemade meals.
“He would bring over like six meals that he had cooked all in that day, so they were super fresh, and I would chow through those,” she said. “My appetite would never be better than that.
“I don’t know what he did, but they were magical meals… It's amazing how things turn, and what you need you actually get."
No matter what you decide to do, it's important to remember there's no right way to deal with cancer as everyone handles it differently. But try to find support if you need it a therapist, a partner, a friend, a community can make a huge difference when you’re fighting a cancer battle.
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