Beating all the odds

Graduate student Hanna Kolodziejski is not a gambler by nature. But one warm evening last July she went out with her boyfriend to purchase a lottery ticket. As luck would have it, Kolodziejski didn't win the lottery. \nToday, the tremendous odds against winning the lottery do not seem as unlikely as she had once thought. On that warm night in July, an event that had once seemed just as improbable changed her life forever.\nTwo days before her twenty-fifth birthday, Kolodziejski was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer that attacks the body's lymph system and usually affects older men.\n"The doctor was very straightforward about it," she recalled. "He just walked in the room and was like, 'You have cancer.'"\nAs a young woman, the odds of Kolodziejski being diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma were slim. According to a report published by the National Cancer Institute, the incidence of the disease increases with age in both sexes.\nSusan Littel, a registered nurse with a private hematology and oncology practice in Indianapolis, finds this to be true in her experience as well. \n"Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is not prevalent in younger age groups," Littel said. "We see it in a lot in older groups."\nMost of the patients that Kolodziejski travels with to Indianapolis for rounds of chemotherapy are women much older than she. Although these women share with her the common bond of suffering from cancer, Kolodziejski\'s concerns as a young, single, graduate student carry a different load.\n"It sucks getting cancer now because I'm young and I have no family yet. There\'s a chance that the chemo could make me infertile," she said. \nMost of the women that Kolodziejski has met already have families. Therefore they do not share this concern with her.\nLittel agreed that infertility is a possibility that young women undergoing chemotherapy should consider. \n"The chances of becoming infertile from chemotherapy treatment are very high," Littel said. \nPotential changes for her personal life are not the only considerations Kolodziejski has had to face. Her diagnosis has led to changes in her academic and career plans as well.\n"I used to spend 10 hours a day in the lab," the biology student said. "Now, (my boyfriend) Jason gets up in the morning and goes to work and I go to the couch." \nHer illness has forced her to reconsider her academic pursuits.\n"If I didn't have to think about health insurance and I didn't have to think about money, I would probably take some time off from my program," she admitted.\nShe manages to stay covered by the University's health insurance program by continuing to act as an associate instructor for an undergraduate biology class from her home. Unlike many of the women she goes to treatment with, she is not married and therefore cannot be covered by a spouse's insurance. Even though Jason is now the primary supporter of their household, Kolodziejski has to continue to work to remain insured.\n"He always wants to come visit me when I have to go to Indianapolis for treatment, but I tell him not to sometimes. It's important for him to stay here and make money," she said. \nWhen she is feeling well enough, Kolodziejski distracts herself from treatments by grading tests from her hospital bed.\nDespite the physical toll that chemotherapy treatments take on her, the treatments are working. After four out of the six required rounds of chemotherapy, Kolodzi-ejski\'s cancer slipped into remission.\nShe credited this to the strength of her young body.\n"They say that once you're over 40 your chances of survival just plummet," she said. "So if you are going to get cancer its better to get it young." \nKolodziejski also claimed her youth has helped her remain emotionally and mentally strong.\n"I'd like to think that I'm a stronger person now because of this," she said. "I sort of feel like everyone has to go through at least one really difficult hardship and I think this is my real big thing."\nEven though her cancer has slipped into remission, she still plans to finish off the two remaining rounds of her chemotherapy treatment.\n"I don't want to leave anything up to chance, so I am eager to finish up all six rounds," she said.