Hi! First off, I am so honored to be here and be able to share some insight into my journey. I’m so happy we live in a time where we can talk about uncomfortable situations in hopes to help others who may encounter the same or similar, feel like they aren’t alone.

My name is Amber Blake I am 30 years old and I was born and raised in Sarasota, Florida.

Growing up I lived a “normal” life. I have always had generally good health. Pretty active my whole life. I am currently a hair stylist and salon owner.

To give a little insight to my life right before I was diagnosed let’s jump back to March of 2020. I had celebrated one year of opening my salon and was told I had to close my doors for quarantine, I had just ended A toxic 7-year relationship and was just really feeling life was at an all-time low. I felt like, okay I’m free of that, I’m young, I’m cute. It’s fine we are going to be fine right ?! life has a funny way of throwing things at ya doesn’t it? April 2020, I started to have some symptoms but like we all do I brushed them off. It started with a lump in my throat sensation. When I would swallow it felt like I had a piece of bread or something in my throat. Then progressed into swelling in my face and neck. We were at the height of quarantine, and I wasn’t letting any snacks go to waste. So, I thought I was gaining a little weight… maybe. Then I noticed just getting dressed I was completely winded, and my veins were bulging on the sides of my neck and a lump at the bottom of my throat, where u have that little dip, mine was bulging out. Strange right? So, when I got to this point that just at rest, I couldn’t breathe I decided to call my doctor. Mind you this all happened in a matter of weeks for me. It was so fast! April 29, 2020, I have an appt with my internal med doctor. Who I give so much praise to! He took me very seriously even though I was self-diagnosing myself with a thyroid issue. Silly me lol. He sent me for blood work and a CT scan and ultrasound that he wanted done the next day. So, I am freaking out at this point. Calling my parents telling them I don’t know wats going on, but I am going for this scan tomorrow. So, I went for my scan and within 30 minutes of leaving the office my doctor called me. He said you need to stop whatever you’re doing and go to the ER. I had an 11cm by 13cm mass in my chest that was pushing on my airway to the point I was basically breathing through a straw. It was pushing on my esophagus. It was working its way into the lining of my heart and pushing on one of the main veins which was cutting off the blood supply to my head explaining my veins bulging. He was afraid my airway was going to completely collapse.

So now I’m in the hospital with no one because the hospital was on lockdown. I was terrified. Then started the whirlwind. Multiple scans, a biopsy surgery, countless blood draws, throwing up from all the medication and contrast they had given me with no food in my system. It was full on awful. On day 3 of being in the hospital on facetime with my family while multiple doctors came in and out of my room I asked if I could please go home and wait for the results of my biopsy. I was told yes finally and that I needed to get set up with an oncologist because its looking like lymphoma.

So, I made my first appointment with my amazing oncologist. Who right off the bat suggested that I get started with fertility treatment to preserve some of my eggs because I hope to have children one day and chemo could cause infertility. Wonderful…. Fertility treatment is not for the faint of heart. It’s a lot of shots every day for a couple weeks but in hindsight I’m glad I had the opportunity to go through with it.

So during my first appointment with my fertility doctor I got the phone call that the results were in, and it was non-Hodgkin’s. Chemo was to start right after my egg retrieval surgery.

My chemo was an interesting regimen. I have asked countless cancer gals if their treatment was like mine and no one’s has been. Which is really cool that everyone kind of has their own unique regimen. So, with mine I would go in on Monday morning sit for about 5 hours. Starting with a Benadryl drip that would knock me out. And a long round of chemo that they would have to monitor. Then before I left, they would hook me up to another bag and send me home with this bag attached to a pump and to my port. It would pump for about 24 hours. All through the night and everything and I would go back the next day to refill it and continue for next 24 hours until Friday. I would the go in on a Friday and they would take the pump and de access my port. Then I would get a Neulasta on body injector attached to my stomach that would inject me Saturday morning. This would help boost my white blood cells. The main side effect I got from this was bone and muscle pain. Oh my goodness I felt like I got hit by a truck. And nothing could really help so I rested a lot after that injection. After that was done I had about a 2-week break. Then I went back again for the same regimen. I had 6 rounds of this same protocol.

One of the most interesting things was how much it changed my taste buds. If it wasn’t super sweet/sour like lemonheads or spicy like salsa or buffalo sauce, I didn’t want it. I was lucky enough that my side effects were minimal in comparison to some.  

I lost my hair after my first round of chemo, and I have to say this was probably one of the hardest parts for me because hair surrounds my whole life with being a hairdresser myself. And I knew even after this nightmare was over I would still not look or feel like my old self. So, to accept that has taken me a long time. But I did a lot of research to find good wig companies. I named all my wigs and gave them personalities to have fun with the situation. Now when I go out places my friends ask me if I’m going to wear “Kylie”(my favorite lavender wig). Its become a part of who I am and it makes me laugh. I am very lucky to have such an amazing support system from my parents, my friends, and wouldn’t ya know I met a guy in the middle of all of this?! When feeling my lowest self-esteem I meet the most amazing supportive man who is now my boyfriend.

Oh life, you are just too crazy…

My last round ended on Sept 4 2020 and to ring that bell was a tremendous feeling. November, I went for my scan to find out that I was finally in remission. I now follow up with scans every 3 months with blood work and so far, so good.

 It’s hard to imagine how you’re going to feel through all of this. My confidence was shot at a young 28 years old. I was scared as hell, but I took the time to give myself some grace and to let others help me, when I’m normally so big on doing everything myself. But now I look back and think holy moly what a whirlwind. This situation really gives a whole new perspective on life and an insight to who is going to be there for you when life gets you down. So, I am grateful for the opportunity to have come out of this situation with the best results I could have. To be able to share my story with others who may be going through this as well has really helped me cope. I highly suggest anyone going through this to not be afraid to talk about it. You don’t have to go through this alone. There is so much support out there.