Meet Amanda Hadzimichalis, a 36-year-old diagnosed with Stage 3 Classic Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. She first began experiencing, what she believed were mild symptoms, of headaches, lightheadedness, fatigue, body pain mainly in my lower back. This concerned Amanda about her health, which led her to having an MRI of her brain. The results of the MRI showed 4mm brain aneurysm. Later down the line, doctors realized that she did not have a 4mm brain aneurysm, it was much smaller at a 1.5mm size.
Amanda then started getting daily low-grade fevers, drenching night sweats, and her inflammation blood tests were very high. In addition to all the other symptoms, her iron was low, but her primary doctor told her that she was borderline anemic. All these signs continued to worry Amanda, leading her to be sent to a rheumatologist to see if she had an autoimmune disease. This doctor did not feel like Amanda’s symptoms met her specialization, leading Amanda to be sent to an infectious disease doctor and hematologist.
The infectious disease doctor did not see anything visible and did not believe there was anything to wrong, but he was still concerned so he ordered a CT scan of her chest, abdomen, and pelvis. It was here where Amanda’s world changed.
The infectious disease doctor called Amanda back, as soon as the results came in, in a panic and told Amanda that she had many enlarged lymph nodes all over the inside her body and needed to have a biopsy done ASAP. “That’s when we knew something was really wrong and the emotions flew high.” – Amanda stated.
Soon after, Amanda had a fine needle biopsy where it confirmed it was lymphoma, but it was still unclear the type of lymphoma it was. Amanda then had to go for a surgical procedure where they removed a lymph node, where they officially staged it as Stage 3 Classic Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
Fightstrong heard of Amanda and reached out to show our support, with the full intent of donating to her. Upon speaking, we figured we could help her out with a ton of her food shopping. She originally loved this idea, but Amanda has really been struggling with losing her hair. We were able to donate her a brand-new wig, accessories to keep it in beautiful shape, and a ShopRite gift card for her to keep up with her food!
This whole journey has been quite shocking and emotional for Amanda. Never in a million years would she have suspected cancer. She was living an amazing life and everything flipped, but that is not going to stop Amanda from becoming even greater!
Currently Amanda is doing chemotherapy and is on her way to a full recovery. She just completed her third chemo treatment, with nine more to go! Please keep Amanda in your prayers.
We love you, Amanda. We know that there is a beautiful end and a new beginning at the end of the story. We will always be by your side!
