Jeff Bridges’ diagnosis of lymphoma made me think about myself |

The man will comply.

And the man protects the cancer.

At least that’s my most sincere hope for the Oscar-winning actor Jeff Bridges, who played the character “Dude” in 1998’s best movie The Big Lebowski.

bridge Announced on Twitter on Monday night That he was diagnosed with lymphoma- Blood cancer that begins in the lymphatic system.

Most people find it easier to find Russian Vladivostok on a map than to find their own lymphatic system, but let me help.

Have you ever been to a potentially infected doctor and felt the side of your neck? Well, they probably felt your lymph nodes there. These small oval glands are found throughout the body, including the armpits, groin, and behind the knees. The 600 lymph nodes are where the body filters out bad things like toxins and infections.

I was diagnosed with lymphoma in July 2013, so I know all this.

Earlier that year, I found a strange ridge on my thigh. A few weeks later, the small ridge grew to the size of a grape. In the next few months, it grew to the size of a ping-pong sphere and even smaller egg proportions. At that time, despite the MRI returning to benign, I insisted on surgery to get rid of it, even though my doctor at the time complained that I was wary. Malignant or benign, complaining or endorsing, I no longer wanted this alien to grow in me.

I woke up from surgery, got sick from anesthesia, and saw a stern-faced doctor in front of me, something I never wanted to see in this situation. He said there was bad news for my wife and me: I had one of two illnesses: cat scratch disease or lymphoma.

Before that moment, the only “cat scratch disease” I knew was 1977 song by Ted Nugent.. My wonderful wife, Jen, quickly googled it and found it difficult to get the illness of the same name.As CDC says, It is transmitted when an infected cat licks an open wound on a person or bites or scratches hard enough to break the surface of the skin. a) No cats, b) I’m not really a “cat person”, c) Certainly there was no contact with such cats, so it seemed very unlikely ..

So, unfortunately, it left lymphoma. At the age of 41, I had to face the dreaded “c-word” -cancer.

I was surprised. Despite the great support of my family and friends, I absolutely felt lonely. I had hardly heard of lymphoma before my diagnosis. I certainly didn’t know anyone with lymphoma. Most tragicly, I was worried that I had just been sentenced to death.

But as I laid out Previous CNN.com Opinion Piece Written when Lloyd Blankfein, then Chief of Goldman Sachs, was diagnosed with the disease, I soon learned that it wasn’t a death sentence, not just me.

“The new S ** T has come to light,” Bridges wrote in a tweet announcing the diagnosis. This is the classic line from Dude in The Big Lebowski. Bridges, of course, mentioned his cancer diagnosis itself in his tweet, but many new s ** t have been revealed in the world of lymphoma, saying that this s ** t is really exciting. can also do.

Twenty-five years ago, the standard treatment for many lymphomas was a fairly brutal chemotherapy regimen. For those unfamiliar with cancer, it’s pretty surprising to learn that another way of thinking about chemotherapy is just this: you’re essentially poisoning your body. To be clear, chemotherapy has saved the lives of countless millions. However, while it may be very efficient in killing cancer cells in your body, it will certainly cause some collateral damage. This can lead to, for example, hair loss and nausea.

When I was treated 7 years ago, I had a relatively acceptable chemotherapy regimen-only a few infusions at manageable doses, and targeted areas where my tumor was removed Daily sessions of radiation. In fact, I lost my hair with chemotherapy (and most of my taste-even my favorite food, pizza, all tasted “gray”).

My chemo cocktail contained a drug called rituximab. This is one of the first immunotherapies, not chemotherapy, and a way to use the body’s own immune system to fight the disease. Here’s how it works: it attaches to proteins in bad cells (and some good cells as well) and tells the body’s immune system to destroy them. The immune system pawns do what they are told and destroy the cells. If all goes well, the good will come back, the bad will not, and the patient will live longer.

Rituximab was introduced in 1997 and has since reduced the mortality rate of the major subtypes of lymphoma. And, according to Meghan Gutierrez, it’s not just rituximab.She is the CEO of Lymphoma Research Foundation (LRF) is a non-profit organization that aims to fund research to find treatments while at the same time educating and supporting patients facing illness. In the 25 years since the existence of LRF, more than 100 new treatments (and new uses of old treatments) have been approved for lymphoma and related cancers. Gutierrez told me it was almost unprecedented in one illness. Note: I learned a lot from the Foundation when I was ill and am currently on the board.

The future looks bright thanks to the work of nonprofits like LRF, government agencies like the National Cancer Institute, and research scientists and clinicians around the world. My own oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Dr. Connie Butrevi, Told me that there are a lot of “cool” developments.

Butrevi points to CAR-T cell therapy, which further overcharges the body’s own immune system to fight lymphoma.

There is also a push to use genetics to guide treatment, according to Batrevi. Recalling high school biology, our cells are constantly dividing. When those cells divide, genetic errors can cause them to divide in uncontrolled ways. That is how cancer forms. If a doctor knows what genetic error caused the patient’s cancer, he or she can identify a very specific treatment plan based on the mutation.

The lymphoma vaccine is another weapon scientists are currently testing in clinical trials. When thinking about vaccines these days, our minds immediately turn to promoting vaccines to inoculate us against Covid-19. But As the American Cancer Society explains, Lymphoma vaccines do not prevent the disease, but treat those who already have it: “to create an immune response against lymphoma cells.”

“Do I have one of the good or bad lymphomas?” That is the question Dr. Batrevi says the patient always asks her. Her answer: “None of them are great, but they are all potentially manageable and treatable.”

I can tell you that it is true from my personal experience. And, let me be clear, this is a deadly illness. It killed my friends and acquaintances, and it kills 20,000 people each year. But as science continues to innovate rapidly, for those of us who have been diagnosed with this or other cancers, the outlook is better and life is only easier.

Bridges shared little detail of his diagnosis in his tweet, but betrayed the welcome optimism: “The prognosis is good …[I] Will continue to post to you about my recovery. “

Good, Mr. Bridges. We are all rooting for you and wish you a simple course of treatment and a lot of peaceful life on the other side!