Young woman shares battle against leukemia

Ledi Salinas was juggling two jobs in Oxnard, California—as a cashier at a gas station from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and as a nurse assistant in a rehabilitation facility from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. Sometimes, she would work for seven days a week. During her free time, she would cook, pasta especially.

But Ledi had to give up all these.

One day, she felt pain on the right side of her lower abdomen. The pain wouldn't go away for days, and each day would only intensify.

When she finally told her mom about it, she was immediately brought to the nearest hospital. The ob-gyn in charge found a cyst in her right ovary and told her to see her primary doctor for minor surgery.

A day before the scheduled surgery, Ledi took a complete blood count (CBC) in preparation for the operation. It was June 7, 2014. But the nurse called her to cancel the surgery.

"There is something abnormal with my blood count. She wants me to go back the next day for blood re-examination. I ignored what she said because I was so busy working," Ledi said.

A week after, her ob-gyn got in touch with her.

"Ledi, I've been trying to contact you for a week now but you're not answering your phone. The reason why we want you to do a blood check is because you might have leukemia. Go to the hospital right now and I am going to call you back tomorrow once the results are out," the doctor said.

Ledi, then 23, was with a friend when she got the message. She just laughed it off, as if someone just told her a bad joke.

'I can do it, I will survive'

It only took one day for a bad joke to turn into reality.

At around 3 p.m. on June 15, 2014, the doctor called Ledi while she was at work. The doctor confirmed she had got leukemia—acute myeloid leukemia, to be specific.

The hardest part was telling her parents, especially her father.

"Noong confirmed na, wala. Hindi naman ako umiyak. Kasi wala naman ako nararamdaman sa katawan eh. Iniisp ko lang paano ko tatawagan papa ko at mama ko. Medyo excited pa nga ko noon pumunta sa ospital kasi first time ko. Ewan ko ba, bakit from the start palang kasi nafi-feel ko na magsu-survive ako at kaya ko. Kaya hindi ako masyado na-depress," she told GMA News Online.

She had no choice but to make the calls: "Pa, may leukemia ako, dalhin mo daw ako sa Santa Barbara ER. Uwi ka na. Ituwid mo isip mo. Huwag mo ko iisipin habang nagda-drive!"

The treatment began right away. A Groshong catheter, used in long-term intravenous therapy, was put in place immediately in preparation for the first chemotherapy session.

She went through another CBC. The doctors also made her get a bone marrow biopsy to check the cancer cells.  

After three weeks of treatment including induction chemotherapy, Ledi was discharged from the hospital. But the side effects were kicking in. She got mouth sores all over her lips, mouth, and throat. She also got rashes all over her body. She started losing her hair.

Ledi returned the hospital in August 2014, where she received consolidation chemotherapy.

Salvage chemo

"My body stayed cancer-free for a very short period of time. The type of leukemia that I have is very aggressive," she wrote in her now viral Facebook post.

The doctors found more aggressive cancer cells in her bone marrow not long after her consolidation chemotherapy was done. A salvage chemotherapy, or second-line chemotherapy, was scheduled in early 2015 to wash out cancer cells. This type of chemotherapy is given if a patient has not responded to first-line chemotherapy.  

Ledi was ready for another round of treatment in January 2015. She spent most of her time walking along the hallway looking for possible friends, toying with her guitar and cameras, using her coloring books, and dancing.  

When she was not busy acting her age, Ledi was dealing with cytarabine, mitoxantrone, and etoposide, her anti-cancer drugs.

Mitoxantrone made her urine green. She thought that it was the end. But the fight was far from over.

Transplant and drugs

After a month of second-line chemotherapy, Ledi had to decide on how she wanted her bone marrow transplant to happen: through haploidentical transplant, which would involve her dad, who was her only half-matched donor? Or through double cord stem cell transplant, in which the doctors would combine two umbilical cords from newborn babies to get a 100-percent stem cell match?

Ledi did not want to involve her dad; she close the latter. Her donors were from the US and Europe. The transplant was scheduled in February 2015. Until then, chemotherapy and radiation therapy sessions continued to exhaust her bone marrow.

February 24 was "Transplant Day." The transplant was not done through surgery but through transfusion, where the stem cells flowed to her bone marrow to produce healthy blood cells.

To make sure her body accepted the transplant, Ledi had to take anti-rejection drugs. They tested Ledi's fighting spirit more than leukemia, chemotherapy, and the transplant.

"Iyong anti-rejection drugs ko nag-cause siya ng severe tremors. Ilan days ako nanginginig nonstop up to the point na kahit bottled water hindi ko na mahawakan. Sa sobrang tremors, napagod muscles ko kaya naging stiff talaga ako. Once na na-position na katawan ko, hindi na ako maka-reposition ulit. Kailangan na ako buhatin ng dad o mom ko," she said.

Stop the treatment, ready to go

Ledi grew swollen and everything inside her was dry. She vomited blood because her esophagus and stomach were full of wounds because of dryness. She was weak, sleeping most of the time. She was never fully aware of her surroundings; she was confused much of the time.

She was paralyzed. But most of all, she was in pain. She was ready to stop. She was ready to go.

"I told the nurse na magsa-sign na ako ng agreement to stop the treatment. Hinang-hina na ako noon, pati loob ko humina na... Talagang hiningi ko na kay God na kunin niya na lang ako kasi I feel like I can't tolerate the pain anymore," Ledi said.

Her father made her change her mind. He asked her to fight.

When she prayed that night, she saw her parents sleeping. While the past few days were a blur, that moment was surprisingly vivid. She knew her parents' hearts would break if she died. Ledi did not have the heart to disappoint the two people who never left her as she went through her journey.

After all, her parents were her strength, her rock.

"Kung lakas lang ang pag-uusapan, number one talaga yung parents ko. Nag-start iyon nung time na unang una ako nagsuka from chemo, kitang-kita ko sa face nila na hindi nila alam gagawin nila. Kung pwede lang nila kunin iyong pain, gagawin nila. Bigla ko naisip noon, mas masakit pala makita mo sila nasasaktan. Kaya all throughout my battle, nagpaka-happy at in-enjoy ko nalang lahat," she said.

With renewed fighting spirit, she decided to pour all her energy into recovery. And she did.

After a year of being a cancer patient, Ledi is now a cancer survivor.

Cancer, you picked the wrong girl

Cancer has never been picky. It will hit a child, an old man, a friend, a co-worker, a CEO, a loved one. It hit Ledi. And she fought back.

To celebrate her victory, Ledi posted a Facebook album titled "Brave Heart" on July 31—a little over a year since she found out she had leukemia.

In this album, Ledi detailed the battle and how she won it. It has been shared almost 100,000 times on Facebook.  

"Number one talaga is iyong i-offer ko lahat lahat ng worries ko kay God. Iyon kasi una ko ginawa, noong time na nag-sink in na sa utak ko na I have to fight. That's the very frst time na umiyak ako and I asked for forgiveness at sinabi kong kung oras na I'm willing to be with Him. Ngayon ko lang naiisip din na maybe binigyan niya ako ng second life to inspire people. Kasi imagine, isa lang akong ordinary na babae dati pero ngayon a lot of people ang nagsasabi na they admire me," she said.  

Ledi may have won against cancer, but she knows there are others who are still going through what she overpowered. She hopes her story will inspire people to move, to help those with cancer.

"Gusto ko i-encourage din sila lalo na mga Pinoy na mag-donate ng blood. Marami ako kilala diyan na minsan blood lang hirap na hirap sila makahanap. Natutunaw puso ko. Kasi dati akong blood donor," she said.

For now, Ledi is up and cooking again. Change in taste buds be damned. — BM, GMA News