Helaina Hillyard is an athletic college student from Iowa. At the end of 2021, the young woman had to learn that she was suffering from blood cancer.
The cancer diagnosis was an incredible shock that came out of the blue for 20-year-old Helaina Hillyard. The young woman from the US state of Iowa first noticed small dots on her skin in November 2012 when she was changing after a basketball game.
At first, Helaina suspected she had bruised herself playing the game and wasn’t worried. But then, within a few hours, these areas spread across her body, covering her arms and legs. So she wanted to get to the bottom of the matter and introduced herself to the hospital.
She was immediately taken to the emergency room. A blood test showed her levels were concerning and a doctor told her the spots on her skin were petechiae, which are pinhead-sized signs of internal bleeding. An oncologist then confirmed the suspicion: Helaina was suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
The skin areas were the only sign of blood cancer, otherwise Helaina felt healthy and fit.
“I would have almost died if I had waited a few more hours to go to the doctor. The doctor in the ER said I was very lucky not to have played basketball anymore. Otherwise I could easily have had a brain hemorrhage or severe internal bleeding,” she said, stunned.
The young woman immediately started treatment. She received blood transfusions and began regular chemotherapy. For now, she has put her studies on hold and is focusing on getting healthy again quickly. She is confident that she will survive this serious health crisis. By also sharing her story on Twitter, she wants to raise awareness about this disease.
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The original of this post “Strange spots on the skin: Young woman receives shocking diagnosis” comes from Bunte.de.
