survivor remorse

Jeepguy654

I'm not sure if anyone has this issue. I've looked for years for people treated in the 1970s. No luck so far. It gets difficult thinking I'm one of a very few number.

lunar2228

I'm so sorry for that. Although I'm not a survivor that was treated in the 1970s, I too am somewhat familiar with the feeling that I am very alone in this experience. I was diagnosed a month before my 21st birthday, in the middle of my junior year of college, which also happened to be during the height of the COVID pandemic. Been in remission for almost 2 years now. I don't mean to liken my experience to yours as I can only imagine how different things were for us leukemia patients in the 1970s-- I know I must sound like a toddler crying at daycare in my experience compared to yours but it certainly felt isolating to be stuck in the hospital doing my chemo while my peers were partying and being dumb college kids. I was just a little too old to be treated in the pediatric department. I think being treated in the pediatric department might have helped me-- knowing that there are other people my age going through life like this too. Again, not too sure how helpful my message will be, I know this wasn't what you were looking for. But if you see this message and would care to share, I'd love to hear more about your story and your experience being treated in the 1970s. Your story is a piece of history that I think many people would like to read and could even really help some of us out.

clcomito

Hi, my daughter (who just turned 50), had a Wilm's Tumor when she was 8 months old. She was treated with one of the first chemos in 1973, (I think it was called Actinomycin). She has been cancer free for almost 50 years now.