‘Cancer loves me. Keeps coming back'

Lisa Hall is in the middle of her third battle with Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia.

“I lost my mother, a close friend from school days, amongst others, and I too have been diagnosed three times since 2010 with Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia, a rare but typically curable type of Leukemia. I have approximately 16 weeks in total hospital stays, well over 100 chemo treatments and over 2,000 chemo pills. The last relapse came Thanksgiving 2014, this time not in blood, but in my cerebral fluid. It required brain surgery to implant a Ommaya Reservoir under my scalp, a port-like shunt where I'm having intrathecal treatments through 2015, along with more of those chemo pills (as maintenance to keep body/blood in remission while we treat the cerebral fluid). This disease has disabled me, causing a number of side effects I live with daily.”

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Lisa’s six words to describe her cancer experience are “Cancer loves me. Keeps coming back.” Share your six words here.

Lisa’s words, which were shared digitally through Tell KC, have been lightly edited for clarity.

As part of a local reporting project around the upcoming Ken Burns documentary series, Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies, KCPT presents Cancer in KC.

We want to learn more about how cancer affects our community. How has cancer impacted your life? Share your story.