@MarcusStrong Battles Leukemia by Marcus

@MarcusStrong Battles Leukemia by Marcus - April 2016 Scholarship Essay

I was diagnosed with very high risk Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on April 10th, 2015 while I was a junior in high school. Immediately, I was started on a treatment plan that includes aggressive chemotherapy with various drugs including but not limited to: vincristine, methotrexate, L-asparaginase, prednisone, daunorubicin, cytarabine, 6-mercaptopurine, 6-thioguanine, and dexamethasone. I also was started on many spinal taps that are done either monthly or bi-monthly (sometimes even sooner) in order to check for leukemic blasts during my treatments. Along with the aggressive IV chemotherapy treatment, I also had several bone marrow biopsy tests done. Besides these treatments, I unfortunately suffered several blood clots in my right arm and have to self administer two Lovenox shots a day in order to keep the blood clots from causing further problems. I also had complications from my chemotherapy during the first month of my diagnosis and became temporarily diabetic and had to administer insulin four times a day and monitor my blood sugars. Aside from these medical conditions, I dealt with extreme mouth sores from methotrexate and had to be put on very high doses of both long acting and short acting pain medication temporarily and was also hospitalized several times due to the mouth sores. I have been hospitalized at least 47 days due to complications, dehydration, illness, fevers, or chemo treatments. My treatment plan will be for three and a half years.
I realized almost immediately after being diagnosed that I had an obligation to use my status in the media to bring awareness to pediatric cancer, not just for myself, but for every child that is battling cancer. On the day after I was diagnosed, several television stations and several local newspapers did articles about me and I made sure to be positive and show them that pediatric cancer was important and was newsworthy. I have been honored to speak at mini thon events at several high schools in my area and have just begun a pen pal campaign with a high school in Maryland as well to bring awareness as well. I believe strongly that most students are very unaware of what patients go through and I feel like I can be a bridge so that others can have compassion for those fighting this battle. I also had the amazing opportunity to take Miss New Jersey to my homecoming dance at Northeastern High School this year in 2015. I chose to ask her because she won the prestigious Quality of Life award for her service to others. This relationship then continued and Miss New Jersey came back to Pennsylvania and joined me in a motor cycle toy run to Hershey Medical Center, where the almost 700 participants raised $17,000 and hundreds of toys for kids being treated there. I have also been recently nominated as Boy of the Year by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society where I will be aggressively campaigning for 10 weeks for funding for pediatric cancer research and hope to be able to fund research grants like the $75,000 Pediatric grant in my name with the hope of finding a cure. I also believe that I have made a positive impact in the world through the mentoring that I have done with an 8 year old leukemic patient named Elliot Ross, who was diagnosed 4 days after me. I chose to do my senior project based on granting Elliot and his family mini wishes to help him get through his treatments. We have ended up growing an amazing bond, brothers almost. This friendship will be featured by the NFL initiative through the Eagles called Road to Victory stories. It will likely air sometime next fall but tells of a friendship that was formed from cancer that will never end. We are also excited to participate in the upcoming Penn State Thon together where we will be in the fashion show! These are some of the ways that I believe that my battle with cancer has made a positive impact with the world around me.