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Nicole Schultz was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia at 14, and she immediately felt like her life was over. However, the nurses at City of Hope encouraged her, joked with her, and talked to her as though she would get through what was ahead.
Nicole Schultz said in an interview that she immediately felt like her life was over. The nurses at City of Hope treated her like a teenager who would survive, encouraging her, joking with her, and talking to her about her future.
Treatment and Support
Her treatment included full-body radiation and two bone marrow transplants in 2005 and in 2009. She spent 11 months in the hospital during the first transplant, later developed chronic graft-versus-host disease, and enrolled in clinical trials of treatments for it.
The staff at City of Hope believed in her, which made Nicole Schultz want to fight harder. Child life specialists encouraged her to leave her room, spend time with other pediatric patients, and take part in activities when she felt well enough.
When Nicole Schultz did not want to get out of bed, the staff pushed her to open the blinds. Nurses invited her to sit with them when she was awake overnight and had lost track of whether it was day or night. Nicole Schultz recalled that she never had to be alone.
She always had somebody there for her, which made a big difference.
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Long-term Effects
About a year after her second transplant, Nicole Schultz began having symptoms her doctors initially struggled to explain. Her joints and connective tissue tightened and calcified, her calves and ankles swelled, and her range of motion narrowed.
Doctors eventually identified chronic graft-versus-host disease, a complication of transplant in which donor immune cells attack the recipient’s tissues. At the time, chronic graft-versus-host disease was not as well understood as it is now.
Nicole Schultz enrolled in trials of treatments for it at City of Hope, where her doctors told her they did not know whether the experimental treatments would improve her symptoms but could try to keep them from worsening. She decided to take matters into her own hands, starting acupuncture, physical therapy, yoga, and stretching, and changing her diet.
Life After Cancer
Through the City of Hope Survivorship Program, Nicole Schultz is monitored for long-term effects of the treatment she received as a teenager. Her follow-up care includes pulmonary function tests, chest CT scans, thyroid ultrasounds, EKGs, echocardiograms, bone density scans, and colonoscopies.
Nicole Schultz said that the program allows her to relax because she does not have to worry about her health every day.
For Nicole Schultz, the experience has been a long and difficult journey, but it has also taught her the importance of cancer care and support after treatment. She is determined to help others who are going through similar experiences.
