Alana's Lymphoma Fight

Alana's battle against cancer has continued to throw new challenges her way constantly.In August 2016 Alana was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. A 6 month course of chemo was on the cards, and she handled it, and the numerous side effects like a champion! Treatment was initially successful, and the cancer had gone. Unfortunately in December 2017 it returned. It is quite unusual for lymphoma to return so quickly. The next step was to throw everything possible at the cancer. 6 weeks of chemo followed, then a stem cell harvest, 6 days in a row of high dose chemo and finally a stem cell transplant. At this point Alana had almost zero immunity. Alana then contracted a really bad blood infection which resulted in her being placed into ICU. Alana fought hard through the infection and was finally released to go home and rest prior to the commencement of radiation. She was home for two weeks before she started feeling unwell and ended up back in hospital, where she is now, battling pneumonia. The next step for Alana is to beat the pneumonia, get well, and then start her course of radiation. The battle isn't over, but she's not giving up and fighting very hard! Alana has spent her whole life volunteering and working in fields where she is always helping others. Alana has had to take significant amounts of time off work and is out of annual and sick leave. Hopefully through this, we can all help Alana in her time of need.