Amanda is an honor-roll student whose favorite subject is math,
but she's facing another kind of problem: Hodgkin's disease.
Hodgkin's disease (often called Hodgkin disease) is a form of
lymphoma (say: lim-FOH-mah) — a cancer that starts in the lymph
nodes. Lymph nodes are masses of tissue that control the flow of
lymph, a fluid containing white blood cells that is responsible
for fighting infections in the body. Her Parents Noticed a
Swollen Neck She was diagnosed when she was 11. It all started
when Amanda's parents noticed that her neck was swollen. She
didn't feel any pain. Her family doctor first thought an
infection could have caused her swollen lymph nodes and sent her
to a children's hospital for further investigation. There,
Amanda had an X-ray and a CT scan of her neck, which showed a
lump next to her windpipe that was in danger of blocking her
airway. That lump was a tumor, so things started to move fast.
Amanda was immediately scheduled for a biopsy (say: BY-op-see),
a surgical procedure to remove