Help Dwayne Fight His Second CLL Battle

Dwayne is currently going through his second cancer battle - a fight no one should have to endure once, let alone twice.

In 2013, Dwayne went to the doctors for swollen lymph nodes. The doctors originally thought he had mono, but that was not the case. He ended up having to go to CHOP and was told he had some form of cancer and that he would need a biopsy and a variety of tests. Dwayne was told they needed to confirm his cancer diagnosis, and may take some time.

After a month of waiting, he was called back down to CHOP and was told he was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL for short). Dwayne was 17 at the time, and a diagnosis of CLL at such a young age was unheard of. He was the youngest person in the world to ever be diagnosed with a case of CLL and is still to this day.

After 11 years of being in remission, Dwayne was having issues with constant sinus infections and excessive snoring. He proceeded to have sinus and septum surgery to fix this issue. It worked for a brief time, but this problem came back. After seeing 5 different ears, nose, and throat specialists with no relief after dealing with this for several months after surgery and still being congested and sick, Dwayne decided to go to the hospital to try to figure out how to get some relief. He had a chest x-ray and was immediately sent to get a CT scan. They found a 14.4 cm tall by 8 cm wide by 5 cm thick mass pushing up on his trachea, esophagus, and heart. The doctors told him he was a short time away from having a heart attack because of all the pressure the mass was putting on his heart. That same night, they sent him down to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He spent 11 days at Penn. He had biopsies, tests, and a pet scan. 4 days after being admitted to Penn, he was told his CLL had come back, but it had mutated. The mutation made it untraceable by the standard blood tests he was getting every 6 months while in remission. While in the hospital, he started a chemo pill, which he had to take daily. After taking this pill each day for a month, the side effects were so severe that his treatment plan was changed to a combination of immunotherapy and chemo therapy.

Dwayne is still receiving treatments, and has been making good progress. This is going to continue to be an on going battle for the rest of his life, as CLL is a cancer that always comes back. Even once he is done treatments for this second battle, he will continue to have to get bloodwork for the rest of his life to monitor him and make sure this cancer does not return for a third time.

Unfortunately, insurance doesn’t cover all the costs for his treatments, bloodwork, and other test. His bills are starting to pile up. Dwayne is a fighter, and he would really appreciate any other support that he can get, whether it’s through a donation, sharing this page, or simply keeping him in your thoughts and prayers. Every bit helps easing the cost of medical expenses, transportation to appointments, and day to day expenses.

Thank you for taking the time to read Dwayne’s story.