{"id":18424,"date":"2017-09-21T12:27:29","date_gmt":"2017-09-21T16:27:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=18424"},"modified":"2017-09-21T12:27:29","modified_gmt":"2017-09-21T16:27:29","slug":"rare-blood-cancer-diagnosis-leaves-local-couple-fighting-back-and-helping-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/rare-blood-cancer-diagnosis-leaves-local-couple-fighting-back-and-helping-others\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare blood cancer diagnosis leaves local couple fighting back and helping others"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just a few short months ago, Mark Silverstein and Nelia Pacheco prepared to say their goodbyes.
\nDiagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) in 2010 at the age of 45, Mark has been following a tough road with his wife by his side every step of the way.
\nAlong the way, the blood cancer which typically hits people with a median age of 72, has put them on a vicious cycle of repeated remission and relapse, but things came to a head earlier this year.
\n\u201c2017 has not been great,\u201d says Mark. \u201cI went through my third relapse at the beginning of this year and wound up in the hospital for the first time in my seven years since diagnosis.\u201d
\nThe white blood count in a healthy adult typically runs between 5,000 and 11,000. Mark\u2019s, however, was a staggering 400,000 and the prognosis was grim.
\nDespite the dire diagnosis, however, Mark and Nelia are still fighting the fight and coming forward with their story to raise awareness during September\u2019s Blood Cancer Awareness Month.
\nAn estimated 138,000 people in Canada are living with, or in remission from, a type of blood cancer. Over 2,200 people in Canada alone are thought to be diagnosed with CLL each year but it remains a relatively unrepresented type of cancer, according to doctors, as CLL is a unique breed: difficult to diagnose, early diagnosis does not help, and relapse is high.
\nAfter several tests which pointed in many different directions, doctors finally pinpointed his exact diagnosis. Doctors took Nelia aside to break the news and it was left to her to tell her husband. Being the first to receive the news was overwhelming, she says, but they had to move forward.
\n\u201cInitially our thoughts were about can we get through the treatment and make this go away?\u201d says Mark. \u201cThe one thing about my cancer, and the one thing I picked up on, was it took almost a month before I was diagnosed and it was a chronic cancer. Part of this whole journey has been wrapping our minds around it.\u201d
\nAdds Nelia: \u201cWhen we finally got the initial diagnosis, the focus is so much on just getting through the treatment. It is almost secondary because you\u2019re focused on what\u2019s going to happen with your home life, Mark\u2019s work, my work. You have two kids you\u2019re trying to raise and you\u2019re trying to go through this treatment almost day by day. When the treatment is complete, then you can sit back and actually evaluate the cancer diagnosis.\u201d
\nYou put your \u201cgame face\u201d on to get through the treatment, says Mark, but there comes a time when you have to address those emotional and intellectual hurdles.
\nAlong with those emotional and intellectual hurdles, there are also practical ones.
\nYou are unable to work, there are huge financial impacts, the balance between the marriage partners changes, and your relationships can be redefined.
\n\u201cThe first year was an absolute nightmare,\u201d Nelia recalls. With a cancer diagnosis, there is an aspect of denial. I don\u2019t like the term \u2018caregiver,\u2019 I use the term \u2018care partner\u2019 and I was automatically thrown into the position of being a care partner \u2013 and I am not a natural care partner. It is not part of who I am, but there is also that expectation. It is a challenge because you\u2019re put into a certain category of who you are supposed to be and I find that as a couple, and a family, that it was challenging. We can be honest with each other, and express the good, the bad and the ugly and still not take it personally and respect what each other\u2019s roles, strengths and weaknesses are.\u201d
\nThis honesty has transcended Mark\u2019s work.
\nShortly after his diagnosis, Mark lost his job. He took this as an opportunity, going back to school to get his degree, now working as a psychotherapist to help others who are facing a similar journey, including facilitating a program at Hope House Hospice in Aurora called Picking Up The Pieces.
\n\u201cA diagnosis can also be a bit of a blessing and give you opportunities to change the way you live and how you love your partner,\u201d says Mark. \u201cI ended up losing my job soon after chemo, but now I can actually help people who are survivors and who are terminal cancer patients get through it.\u201d
\nDuring this month of Blood Cancer Awareness, Mark and Nelia encourage anyone who might be on a path like theirs to learn everything they can about their disease.
\n\u201cThe more you understand, the better you can advocate for yourself,\u201d he says, noting his current medical treatment stems from a combination of drugs he read about and suggested to his own hematologist, spurring the doctor, in turn, to find out more. \u201cThere is a loss of control in this whole process and the only control you can probably find is in the choices you make. The more you understand, the more you advocate for yourself, the better choices you will probably make.
\n\u201cIf the disease is going to get you, it is going to get you, and there is only so much you can do about that part.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just a few short months ago, Mark Silverstein and Nelia Pacheco prepared to say their goodbyes.
\nDiagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) in 2010 at the age of 45, Mark has been following a tough road with his wife by his side every step of the way.
\nAlong the way, the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/2017-09-21-03.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4Na","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-15 10:21:22","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}