Raymond Abella

It all started with a random visit to the doctor in February of 2024. I drove my wife that day to a clinic where she works and just because I had a cold and a little joint pain, she suggested that since I was already there why not go visit my family doctor and have them look at me. The cold and joint pains at the time had been ongoing for a few months but I didn't bother to see the doctor. I was just shrugging it off due to the winter weather and working in retail that requires a lot of movement.

My family doctor suggested tests to see what was going on. The following day he got the results of the blood work and called me while I was at work with an urgency saying I needed to go to another clinic “not tomorrow, not this afternoon" but now and just drop off whatever I was doing. I was a bit confused at the time since he never mention anything about the results of the test. My wife works with my family doctor and he told her the same, “drop everything, go to the clinic with your husband”.

Me and my wife met at the clinic to see another doctor, she handed the results to me. She was silent as I was reading the results of the bloodwork, the line I was never to forget said “cells that are suspicious of lymphoma or leukemia”. Before I could react to it we were called right away to see the Hematologist and suggested that we needed more tests. As we waited for results I was just sitting and reflecting about that line “lymphoma or leukemia”. How could I have gotten it? Well in my mind I just said it is what it is, I’ll just live with it and accept my fate. I didn't feel negative or sad about it, it’s just my personality of just always being positive.

Another round of tests were done to gather more data. I went to see the Oncologist when all the results were in and I was diagnosed with T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. The Oncologist said that the blood cancer I had was more common in younger people and not many studies were available on how to treat adults my age. I had to undergo an intense chemotherapy treatment as soon as possible because 83% of my bone marrow already had cancer, and was told I only had weeks to months to live.

After the appointment I was admitted to the hospital, but they did not have a vacant room so I waited for three days. Instead of feeling sad or thinking about my fate, I just continued my normal days, showing up at work until the day I was admitted to hospital.

Treatment began in the 1st week of March 2024. In the first two weeks I had 11 chemotherapies done, there was chemotherapy treatment every other day but instead of me feeling weak and tired of the treatments I felt that I was getting better. I was walking the hallways of the hospital for an hour everyday even just a minute after the treatment. Doctors and nurses were amazed how I was doing this and made a comment that I didn’t look like a patient there.

I had another biopsy a month after being in the hospital and was advised that treatment was not working as the tests still showed 83% of the bone marrow had cancer. I was back at zero, my wife beside me was crying when the doctor broke the same news a month ago that I would have weeks and months to live. I was sent home the 1st week of April of 2024 after a month of treatment. I was given an option to either go to palliative care or try another drug as an outpatient to see if it would work but was told that the drug might give more complications or even death as my case was rare for an adult treatment. I had accepted my fate that I would die soon, so I just said I had nothing to lose anyway. I'd rather try it, rather than just going to palliative care.

Coming home after a month from the hospital was the greatest, I missed being with my wife and kids and spending time with them. I had to face reality though, so I gathered the family, to talk about the possibility of me dying soon. I asked my wife and her sister, though it was hard for them to accept, to search for funeral services.

Weeks had passed with further tests, and then great news happened. The doctor announced I was cancer free. My next steps were to continue on chemotherapy, and I had a stem cell transplant in June 2024, with my son being my donor. There were complications after the transplant and I had to spend a few days in the ICU, but have overcome them, making me a great survivor. I went back to normal life after and was part of Light the Night Winnipeg in October 2024, walking the whole path with my family, as well as my Real Canadian Superstore Family.