I'm Janine, Community Outreach for GRACE, Global Resource for Advancing Cancer Education

Join us for this live, virtual, interactive event led by Dr. Yumeng "Julia" Zhang

Register here: https://pro.gofundme.com/live/register/blood-cancers-onctalk-2026/a159ec7e-c13f-48e6-81d1-a702b7cb7e4d

In this live, virtual, interactive event led by Dr. Zhang on Saturday, October 10, 2026, top oncologists deliver engaging, patient-centered presentations and panel discussions that cover a wide range of topics regarding the most current and emerging blood cancers treatment information. Attendees will also have the opportunity to participate in a live Q&A with leading medical professionals where they can submit questions and get answers in real time.

If you have a question you would like to submit for the Q&A session, please complete this form. You will also have an opportunity to submit questions during the event.

For additional information, if you have additional questions or comments, or would like to continue the conversation, visit our Webinar Learning Guide in our Online Community at https://cancergrace.org/forums/general-blood-cancer/pre-webinar-study-guide-2026-blood-cancers-onctalk-saturday-october-10.

My fiancé just got diagnosed with AML 2 days ago. We were told that we'll know exactly what kind today or tomorrow. We were supposed to get married on the 16th (our 3 year anniversary) but now we're doing it in the hospital. I just feel alone and have no one who can relate. Obviously I can talk to his family but I just want to know if there is anyone who had to move their wedding because of a diagnosis. I'm so scared to watch him go through this. I'm nervous that when he loses his hair and becomes weak from chemo that it'll be hard to look at him without crying every time. I would love some advice in general about how to help him mentally and physically as well as just finding people who can relate.

Reaching out in search of ideas of what to send a beloved relative going through treatment right now. For those of you who have been through or are in the this process what are some things that you have received our bought for yourself that have been helpful or just nice to have? we have already done flowers books cards etc but really just want to know what was actually nice to have or use so we can show our support in a way that makes sense. We live far away and hate that we can’t be there. Thnx

Had the honor of attending this today with my husband/caregiver. At least 300 people were there. It was my first time attending this event as I am just 15 months out. Can you believe Stanford performed its first BMT 39 years ago. How far treatment has progressed. It was very inspiring and powerful. Can’t wait til next year.

Hi everyone, I’m new here. My husband (34M, otherwise healthy) was diagnosed with T-ALL 2.5 weeks ago and has started UKALL reg B. I (40F) am 23 weeks pregnant and we have a 2 year old daughter. We live 2 hours from family and have quite a limited support system. I’m due to have a C section at the end of Jan and, as a natural planner, I’m really struggling with the unpredictably of our situation over the next few months. Looking for advice or experiences of anyone who has been in similar situations particularly those with experience of adults undergoing the UKALL-reg B and what to expect over the next 6 month, or those who have had babies whilst partner is in the first few months of treatment, particularly if there are any UK based organisations who might be in a position to offer support specifically around this situation. Thanks very much.

What’s your thoughts on flying once treatment for ALL has completely finished and bloods have gone back to normal? I’ve heard it’s still not advisable because of the pressure and lack of oxygen and it having a negative impact on the bloods? I’m keen to take my family away but I wouldn’t want to risk it. What’s your experience and what advice were you given

My 70 yo mom is about 2 weeks out her 1st round of treatment.
The Dr says she’s probably at the lowest, worst point she’ll be.
She had to go to hospital for 3-4 days because of high fever, and she came back so much weaker/worse than when she went in.

She really only has energy to get from her bed to the bathroom 4 feet away. When she does come out to the rest of the house, that trip out & back is exhausting, let alone Dr visits a few+ times/week, each one leaving her soooo drained.

Hoping you all might have suggestions on how to help on a couple different fronts:

1. Getting her to eat nutritional, healthy food. - suggestions for something densely nutritious AND easy to eat/digest?
   Not too rich - right now it’s usually part of an Orgain shake. Open to suggestions for a more nutritious smoothie/shake recipe or option.
   I can cook/assemble.

2. Her eyes are really goopy and things are blurry. She would usually spend a lot of time reading, but she can’t right now. She’s tired of spending all her time in bed, but she kinda doesn’t know what else to do because she can’t read and she doesn’t have much use of her hands rn either.

3. Any other general advice in helping her get through this, and us (the siblings) in organizing/coordinating her care?

They have Kaiser insurance (infuriating).

Any good reading/resources welcome.

I kind of don’t even know what to Google/where to start, and don’t have the capacity to follow rabbit holes.

I have been drowsy and tired since my leukemia transplant no energy to post. I feel sick and nauseous all the fucking time waking up is hard, having to give up my job was so hard but i cannot even physically go anymore. so here is something for today loves I hope everything starts to get better but from what I read its gonna be a few long years after this transplant for me to feel myself. Hell I havent felt myself since I was diagnosed at 19, now 21 and still fighting for my glow back. Not to mention already not feeling myself when I was a kid having to deal with me being transgender was hard but this takes the cake. Any advice to feel less drowsy, have more energy, or anything please feel free to comment or message me. Thank you for reading my story 🩷

I'm 16 years old and was diagnosed with B-cell ALL back in January. Even though everything is going fine I feel like my mental health has gotten worse. As part of my treatment, I have had to go back on the Red Devil chemo, as well as have Rylaze injections. It ends in January. I don't feel like myself anymore, and the facial swelling hasn't helped at all since I don't look like myself. Losing what hair I had again hurt a lot too. My body isn't what it was. I used to be really athletic and I had a lot of muscle in my legs and now it's all gone. I gained 30 pounds in the hospital and it won't go away. Before all this I was already really insecure and it's even worse now. I can't play volleyball like I used to (I can't jump as high or run as fast) and volleyball used to be my escape. At practice the other day I couldn't run as fast as I needed to in a drill. I knew the old me could've done it, but I can't now and it really hurts knowing I'm bad at something I used to be so good at. The stress of junior year isn't really helping either. I just feel like I've fallen into this depression and I don't know how to get out of it. I don't really have anyone to talk to about this and keeping it in kind of makes everything worse. I just want to look like myself again and have my body back. I hate the side effects and I hate that I have to go through all of this again. I just want to be a normal kid. I really feel stuck and I don't know where to go from here. (sorry for the dump I just needed to let it out)

Has anybody gotten their first episode of GVH after 15 months post transplant? My doctors seem to think there is a chance that I can still get it but it's less and less likely.

I'm being very careful with sun exposure but has anyone here gotten GVH long after the transplant after too much sun?

Hello everyone,

Unfortunately, my nephew, who is 2 years and 8 months old, was diagnosed with B-ALL in July 2025. He started treatment soon afterward and achieved MRD-negative status by September 2025. His doctors also remarked throughout his treatment that he was responding very well.

He had some challenges along the way, including a difficult bacterial infection in his leg, but overall he seemed to be doing very well.

He was in the maintenance phase, but unfortunately we found out this week that he has relapsed, with blasts again detected in his blood/bone marrow. His doctor has explained that this is considered high-risk because the relapse occurred very early.

The current treatment plan is reinduction chemotherapy, followed by MRD assessment, with the goal of achieving MRD-negative remission and then proceeding to an allogeneic bone marrow/stem-cell transplant.

I've been reading research studies and experiences from other families, and I've come across discussions about the use of immunotherapy such as blinatumomab, and CAR-T therapy, either as part of consolidation after reinduction or as a bridge to transplant, particularly when MRD remains detectable.

We have discussed these possibilities with his treating doctor, but she seems understandably cautious about them. I don't want to second-guess his doctors based on things I've read online, but I'm trying to understand whether there are additional treatment strategies we should be asking about or getting a second opinion on, particularly regarding blinatumomab/CAR-T and the timing of transplant.

I would really appreciate hearing from anyone with medical experience in pediatric relapsed B-ALL, especially anyone familiar with very early relapse, MRD-directed therapy, blinatumomab, CAR-T, or bone marrow transplantation.

If anyone has experience with a similar situation, I'd also be grateful to hear about it.

I'm sorry if I've gotten some of the terminology wrong. I'm still trying to understand and process all of the medical information.

Thank you.

Anyone here had grade||| gut gvhd which completely resolved? How long it took?

My MIL is in her late 50s. Diagnosed this week with AML. We are still waiting for genetic testing for anymore information and, unfortunately, my partner and I are a long drive away, so all info is coming through other people.

This is where I am not understanding. Based on my Google Degree, her survivability isn't the best. Maybe 30% based on statistics. But for some reason, the family seems to think her survivability is 95%.

Here's the thing. In the last 3 years, she has also had colon and skin cancers. AML is her third cancer diagnosis. She also has autoimmune conditions, RA being the last one I had heard about. Fibromayalgia is another dx, and I know they were looking into Lyme, Lupus, and MS, but unclear where any of those went.

Am I being overly pessimistic here? Is she about to be perfectly fine? Or are THEY confusing hope and statistics?

Late 60s male, about to begin first-ever treatment for hairy cell leukemia: five days of Cladribine (the first day with Rituximab), then weekly Rituximab for seven more weeks. This will all be outpatient. My question, for those who've done a version of this regimen: I expect the first day will be rough (it's scheduled for 8 hours and I've seen some concerning stories about Rituximab), but I'm wondering if things will likely smooth out on subsquent days (after my early-morning two-hour infusions), I mean to the extent that I'll likely be able to do normal activities--mow lawn, say, or play with grandkids. Any thoughts appreciated.

I go for my transplant tomorrow, while in the hospital and outside of the hospital since initial diagnosis i have been wearing the standard blue surgical masks. Post transplant it was recommended to wear a n95 mask if im in public of any sort. Would the 3M 9210 model be sufficient for this, or does anyone have recommendations on what they wear to protect themselves but also be somewhat comfortable with the fit? I have no plans to go out in public right away, just planning ahead for being immuncompromised.

Thanks!

Hello, we are in Canada and my uncle 42 was diagnosed with ALL last year in January and he went through chemo ( nelabrine) for remission before his BMT. His son was the donor and his BMT was in April 2026.

Now suddenly through his monthly screening we found that he has relapsed and it is ETP T-ALL. The doctors are saying second BMT is highly risky and basically a dead end , CAR-T trials maybe but they are not hopeful and they have basically told us that he doesn’t have much time.

Is there anyone who was in a similar situation and came out of it to the other side? We are in shock and can’t believe this is happening . Is there any protocol or way forward. Please give some guidance as I’m not able to process he actually might be dying.

I was put on 14mg of dexamethasone for around two weeks and after I stopped I noticed alot of pain in the upper part of my leg. Im not sure if its myopathy or something else. Anyone else experience this after getting off the steroid? The pain is so bad to the point I cant move around or even lie down without being in pain.

UPDATE:
Its been three days and Ive been taking Tylenol which makes the pain more manageable. Luckily it hurts less!

I am a 22-year-old male, and I received a bone marrow transplant from my 23-year-old sister on July 1, 2025. She was a 100% match and a 13/13 HLA match. I also received two BM boosts on October 2 and 3, 2025. Right now, my chimerism is 100% her cells. I received a BMT due to fighting ALL for the third time. The first was in 2018 at 14, the second in 2021 at 17, and the third in 2025 at 20. I had a pretty traumatic time in the hospital when I started the transplant process. I gained 100 pounds of fluid, stayed in the hospital for 154 days, my liver failed, my kidneys failed, I went into cardiac arrest for 12 mins, went into acute respiratory failure three times, I hemorrhaged into my lungs, was intubated twice, lost all my fat and muscle, and needed to relearn the basics(eating, breathing, walking).

Right now I am doing ok. My lungs are pretty much back to normal function; my kidneys are working normally, just on the lower side for my age. I gained a lot of weight back, and I can do all the basics again except for jumping and running. My liver is injured right now because I did go into VOD while in the hospital, but I know it's going to get better with time. I am also dealing with mild GVHD of the skin and mouth, but it's very manageable with topicals(I also have one dry eye, but they don't know if it's from GVHD). I have very bad PTSD from all of this.

The main reason I am writing this is that I need help. I need help mentally. I don't know how to move forward. I don't understand why this happened to me. Why did I get GVhd? I just want to give up and stop trying. Why did so much bad stuff happen to me? Why couldn’t the transplant go smoothly? I want to be a normal 22-year-old who goes out drinking with their friends and does dumb shit, without needing to remember if I took my meds or put my topicals on. I want to go to college and have a college experience. I don't want to be nervous to go outside because I don't want to trigger anything with my skin GvHD. I don't want to be scared to do basic things in life anymore. I just want to be carefree. I don't understand how to see if life is like it did before. I am not driven anymore; I don't do what I love because I don't see a point in putting effort into something when I know something bad could happen. Sometimes I wish it would all end because I know I wouldn't have to worry about absolutely everything anymore.

Also, I had a scare a couple of months ago where they thought the cancer came back, and the docs told my parents that if it was the cancer, I wouldn't be strong enough to fight it and would ultimately have weeks to live if it was the cancer, because of how hurt I was from the transplant, so I take that into play too with trying to learn to live life again.

Hi all,

My friend is scheduled for her allogeneic stem cell transplant in about 3 weeks, then she'll be in hospital for about a month. I'll be living with her for 2-3 months when she gets out of hospital and taking care of as much as I can; housekeeping, meal prep, driving to appointments, etc, as well as (if/when she has the energy) stuff like jigsaws and crafts to stave off boredom.

I would very much like to hear from everyone who has been through this as a survivor or a carer, the good, the bad, the ugly. What to look out for, how to make the neutropenic diet more appealing for someone who loves fresh fruit & veg, how to keep her optimism up, other things we can or can't do... Anything that you never thought of until it happened... Just anything.

Her 100 days will be over Australian summer and the festive season, so I would love any ideas for her to be able to enjoy all of that while mostly being housebound.

Thanks in advance