Leona from Paraguay has been playing volleyball since she was young. However, it became difficult because she was feeling unusually tired. Tests later confirmed she had chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).
She told her physician she wasn’t afraid and that she’d fight for herself and her children, who were 14 and 4 at the time.
“My name is Leona—like a lioness. I can’t stay lying down. As long as I’m alive, I’ll keep jumping,” she said.
Leona followed her treatment plan exactly, determined to celebrate her daughter’s 15th birthday. Her children are now 34 and 24 and she has two granddaughters. They supported her through every step of the process.
Over time, Leona was able to play volleyball again. It’s one of her greatest passions, along with dancing and spending time with her family and friends.
“It is a blessing to have this treatment, to be able to fight, and to have people who truly care about us,” she said.
Then, in 2021, she joined our Treatment Free Remission (TFR) program. Patients who have been on long-term treatment and whose diagnostic tests show they are responding well can try TFR, which involves living without daily medication. She was one of the first four patients in the program.
“I feel such great joy being off medication,” she said. “For a long time, I held myself back from many things—I was afraid to travel, worried about not being able to carry or store my treatment properly. Now my life feels normal again, and I am truly happy.”
The Max Foundation is a leading global health nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating health equity. For 28 years, Max has pioneered practical, scalable, high-quality solutions to bring life-extending treatments and patient-centered health care to more than 100,000 people living with cancer and critical illness in low- and middle-income countries. Max believes in a world where all people can access high-impact medicines, where geography is not destiny, and where everyone can strive for health with dignity and with hope.
Every year our South Asia team organizes 15–20 meetings that unite hundreds of the patients we serve, their families, caregivers, and physicians. These meetings provide a safe and comfortable platform for everyone to share their insights and learn from each other’s experiences with cancer.
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The journey from experiencing the first symptoms of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) to finding an effective treatment can be long, difficult, and painful, especially in low- and middle-income countries. That was the case for Chamu from Harare, Zimbabwe. It took him more than a year to get a diagnosis, but he kept fighting and is….
