From ringing the bell marking her cancer remission to celebrating her daughter’s wedding surrounded by friends and family, the last year has been a big one for 63-year-old Carie Sanchez, and she never doubted it for a moment.

“It was difficult, but I never lost my faith,” said Sanchez. “From the very beginning, my faith in God overruled everything else and I knew I was going to get out of there and get well and be cured.”

But the journey wasn’t easy.

Sanchez was diagnosed with adult leukemia three years ago. It all started with a routine check-up and blood work..

“The next day the doctor called and asked me to go to the hospital, to the ER, so that they could run tests because my platelets were at a 12 and they are supposed to be around 150,” she said.

Dr. Hugo Fernandez is the Chair and Medical Director of Moffitt Malignant Hematology and Cellular Therapy at Memorial Healthcare System.

“In these leukemias, what happens is abnormal immature cells, which don’t function normally, they start taking over the territory in the bone marrow and basically crowd out the normal cells,” he said.

Chemotherapy gets rid of the bad cells and new targeted therapies help the healthy cells function properly.

“Don’t be scared of the diagnosis,” said Fernandez. “People say you have leukemia and faces go white and they think it’s the end of the world, but it may not be. In fact, for most people these days it’s not.”

Symptoms of adult leukemia include fatigue, frequent infections, easy bruising and bleeding, and unexplained weight loss.

Thanks to an early diagnosis and targeted treatment, Sanchez is now cancer free.

Today, the proud grandmother is looking forward to the future, one that includes her own wedding next year.

“I don’t take anything for granted,” she said. “I thank the good lord every day when I wake up and every night when I go to sleep. I feel blessed that he gave me the opportunity to be in this thing they call life.”

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