Patient Updates
Nyla was just 2 when her mother noticed swollen glands on her daughter's neck and in her armpits. After multiple visits to doctors and misdiagnoses of the flu and strep throat, an X-ray revealed a mass in Nyla’s chest. She was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of cancer that primarily affects the peripheral lymph nodes, thymus or abdominal organs. Luckily, she lived just minutes away from a premier pediatric cancer research center -- St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
"I was hysterical," said Nyla's mother. "I couldn't believe my child had cancer. I didn't know what we were going to do. But when we arrived at St. Jude, we finally had hope."
Nyla experienced reactions to the chemotherapy and spent many nights at St. Jude when her counts dropped dangerously low. But today, she is in remission. There is no sign of the cancer.
In 2007, Nyla completed her chemotherapy.
"St. Jude is hope and beyond for us. It's a blessing. You feel scared, but everyone from the doctors to the Child Life specialists are smiling, and so you 'shake it off' and smile, too," said Nyla's mother.
In her free time, Nyla loves her dance classes and her visits to the beauty shop -- because now that her hair has grown back, "she wants to be beautiful," said her mother.
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