I, Mia Miller "cancer patient", am a 26-year-old Bastrop, Texas native and graduate of Texas State University who is currently battling cancer for the third time since 2011. To make matters more interestingly complicated my recent relapse was classified as Hodgkins Lymphoma. My treatment requires a lot of back and forth between Austin and MD Anderson in Houston. There is a lot of say one thing but
then forced to changed so you end up at a different conclusion. I am currently being prepped for an Allo Stem Cell Transplant that will hopefully take place before the end of the year. My sister was confirmed as a 10/10 HLA match and has since overproduced an abundance of stem cells for me 2x, research, and possibly a few other patients in need. Following a three to four-week stay in the hospital after the stem-cell transplant, I will be required to live in Houston for 90 days following my release and will need to live in an apartment 30min close to the hospital so that she can report to her doctor three to four times per week to check her blood levels and her body’s response to the transplant. My battle began in early April of 2011, when I discovered a lump on my sternum. Shortly thereafter, at the young age of 23, I was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, Primary Mediastinal Diffuse Large B-Cell Stage 2, a type of blood cancer that attacks the lymphatic system. As an initial response to the diagnosis, I received seven rounds of intensive chemotherapy. Right before her seventh treatment, while living with our mother for support, they were forced to evacuate the house while the Bastrop County Complex Fire threatened the neighborhood for 2 weeks. While we were forced to buy all new medications and supplies because of the evacuation we were grateful to have the house survive with only minor damage. After six months in remission, my cancer returned and was referred to the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. There I underwent four more rounds of chemotherapy and a high-dose chemotherapy with stem-cell transplant of my own cells. This past April, after two failed biopsy attempts, I underwent surgery to retrieve a better sample that confirmed what the PET and CT scans had indicated: that the cancer had again returned. Devastatingly, the test results diagnosed me with a new form of cancer, Classical Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. I am now scheduled for a donor stem-cell transplant after a few more rounds of chemo. To learn more about my story or to make a monetary donation, please visit Mia's Go Fund Me Page that was recently set up because of errors with the previous one. (http://www.gofundme.com/for-Mias-sake) In addition, the Austin American-Statesman wrote this article about Mia and her support for cancer survivors through the Relay For Life. (http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/rfl-of-bastropsmithville-team-up-for-a-cure/nXrnX/)
“My advice to others is to be hopeful of the future, but do not wait to enjoy the moments of the present. If you accept that what is, is, and that what has passed, has passed, then you can concentrate on what needs to be done now.” -- Mia Miller, May 2013
