The Leukaemia Cares charity in the UK posted a detailed thread in response to feedback and questions about Roman Reigns‘ battle with cancer.
The group posted the following remarks on Twitter to help answer questions about Reigns’ and other laeukaemia patients’ health and symptoms, as well as potential relapses and physical appearances:
Firstly, incredible news about Roman Reigns. Relapse is a scary reality for all leukaemia patients. Either fear of your cancer returning or having to face treatment for relapse. It’s great to hear some positive news from a leukaemia patient.
The tweets we are seeing mainly centre around the idea of what a cancer patient should look like. “How can he have hair?” “How can he have not lost weight?” “Why doesn’t he look like a cancer patient?”
We’re going to weigh in here with some leukaemia information. We feel like we know a little bit and the Vince gif is appropriate pic.twitter.com/FzMgSswuIB
— Leukaemia Care (@LeukaemiaCareUK) February 26, 2019
Back to basics. Leukaemia is a cancer. It affects people of all ages. There are four main types of cancer: ALL, AML, CLL and CML. However, there are other types and subtypes. LEUKAEMIA IS COMPLICATED!
The different types are key. Acute leukaemias are aggressive and need aggressive treatment to save a patient. Chronic leukaemias are incurable but treatable.
DON’T FORGET – We do not KNOW what type of leukaemia he has. Therefore, NONE of us are in a position to question his treatment, how he should look etc.
The first question – How can he have hair? Treatment for leukaemia may cause hair loss. It may cause hair thinning. It may cause no hair loss at all.
Leukaemia can make you lose weight. Leukaemia can also make you gain weight. There is no one way that leukaemia SHOULD look.
A key example of this is huge @WWE fan and patient advocate @KrisTheScript who has lived with a chronic leukaemia for the past decade. Does he look like a leukaemia patient to you?
Our website is full of stories of leukaemia patients – if you have ten minutes, it might be worth having a read
A final few thoughts on the psychological impact of leukaemia. Living with or beyond a leukaemia diagnosis is scary. The fear of relapse is always there. Think before you tweet.
We’re more than happy to answer any questions you have about leukaemia/leukemia or point you in the right direction of other information. Don’t be shy, there is no such thing as a silly question.
Remember, everything in life isn’t a work. </end thread> #wwe #wrestling #romanreigns
We're very grateful that @KrisTheScript has taken the time to add his own blog on this issue on his site: https://t.co/G7btvKoIHA#WWE #Leukaemia #leukemia #RomanReigns pic.twitter.com/RXAXdvOW8Y
— Leukaemia Care (@LeukaemiaCareUK) February 26, 2019
