Hi!  My name is Hannah Groth and I live in Clearwater, Florida.  I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma on September 1st, 2019 on my fourth day of college at 18 years old and my life has forever changed.  Having to dropout of school and start chemotherapy, feeling sick for months and losing my long curly hair was so traumatic for me.  I thought my life was over.  My 4 month treatment went according to plan and I was declared in remission on March 4, 2020.  This was the happiest day of my life.  I thought everything would fall back into place and life would go back to normal. 

 

My body however had different plans for me.  In May 2020, my hip collapsed in a parking lot.  It was extremely painful and something I will never forget.  I got an MRI of my hips and due to steroids in my chemotherapy protocol, I was diagnosed with Avascular Necrosis (AVN), a rare side effect that causes joints to die due to lack of blood flow.  I needed immediate treatment and at 19 years old I had both of my hips replaced.  I now have AVN in 8 joints and 6 long bones.  To date I have had 25 surgeries and ongoing pain procedures to tackle this chronic illness.

 

I could have given up and stopped, but all life has purpose and I knew mine did as well.  I continued college online throughout all of my surgeries and graduated with my Bachelor of Health Sciences degree in May 2023 and I have continued on into graduate school to obtain my Master of Public Health in Epidemiology. With the support of my family, my boyfriend, and my close friends, I have come such a long way.  I am here to spread hope and resilience.  No matter what we must have hope and courage to go on, to know that everything will come together the way that it is supposed to. 

 

The American Cancer Society has given me an outlet as a survivor to share my story.  I want to raise awareness regarding cancer and all of the ways it changes a person’s life.  ACS is a community where others understand the cancer burden and how important it is for us to all do our part to support funding for research to one day hopefully end this disease.