Jeff Stricklen, a senior Spanish major from Pilot Point, Texas, found out he had a chronic illness in 2011.
“That summer I had gone on vacation with my family to South Padre,” Stricklen said, “and on the second day we were there, I developed a strange rash.”
Jeff Stricklen. Photo courtesy of Facebook.
Stricklen said his family thought it was heat rash, but he was experiencing strange symptoms.
Because he was out of town, Stricklen said he had to wait until he was back home to go to the doctor.
Stricklen said the rash got better until he came to spend the rest of summer in Lubbock.
“I actually went over to the wellness center, and a doctor there recognized it from his first year in medical school as Henoch- Schönlein,” Stricklen said.
The rash is usually only seen in children who are under the age of seven, Stricklen said, but when it shows up on an adult, it is even more severe.
“When it does present itself in an adult, it is usually a precursor to something called IgA Nephropathy, which is an autoimmune disorder,” Stricklen said.
IgA Nephropathy is when one of your antibodies attacks your immune system because it recognizes it as a foreign body, Stricklen said.
According to the National Longitudinal Mortality Study from December 2012, in a study from 1992, renal failure was in the top 100 causes of death in the United States.
It did not register, Stricklen said, as to how serious it was when the doctor first told him about the disease, but the rapid way his life changed was a red flag.
Stricklen said his nephrologist told him many people who have IgA nephropathy do not go into kidney failure, and those who do take five to ten years to get things, like transplants, in order.
Stricklen said it took him seven months before he had to begin dialysis.
“The first semester I went back to school,” Stricklen said. “I didn’t really know how serious it was, but the fatigue was so much. I had to work myself up to even get up and wash dishes.”
A doctor at the Student Wellness Center diagnosed Stricklen. Picture courtesy of Texas Tech Media.
Stricklen said he ended up having to withdraw from all of his classes for the Spring 2012 semester, but he enrolled for the next fall not knowing how intense it would be.
That fall is when everything fell apart, he said.
“My parents had to come up and help move me out, and I had to start dialysis immediately,” Stricklen said.
With a port connected to his heart, Stricklen said he was on hemodialysis, and, instead of making him feel better, it made him feel drained.
“Dialysis does not just remove the bad stuff; it removes everything that is beneficial — all the vitamins, all of the stuff that makes you feel healthy,” Stricklen said.
Barclay White also knew what life was like to deal with a chronic illness while trying to maintain some type of social stability.
White is a senior agriculture and applied economics major from Lubbock. His life began to change with what he thought was a simple cough.
“It was just a dry cough,” White said. “It got to the point that it was more like a honk.”
He was getting ready for an on-stage production of “Phantom of the Opera” and finally convinced his parents to take him to the doctor.
Barclay White. Photo courtesy of Facebook.
In April 2011, after taking chest x-rays and blood tests, White said his doctor informed him he had an abnormal sighting on his lung.
White said he went to the radiologist and that is when he learned he most likely had some type of lymphoma. He said he later found out the tumor was wrapped around his heart.
After learning his needle biopsy did not work, White said, he had to go back for a surgery that was much more extensive and scary.
“They were able to remove just a few inches of a rib,” White said, “so now I have a hole sort of in my chest, and when I laugh, it puffs.”
On May 23, 2011, White said he had his first chemotherapy treatment after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
According to a document, “Development of a Risk Model For Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia for Niosh-Irep,” from the Center for Disease Control website, there were 41 reported cases of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma reported in 2010-2011.
White said he went through the summer being treated and lost all of his hair, but he went to orientation at Texas Tech and wanted to begin school on time.
“I had actually already shaved my head before I came to orientation,” White said. “I went to Raider to Raider, which is a small group where they try to get people to know each other.”
When they went around the group to say something unique about themselves, he said he had an identical twin brother. He said a member asked if his brother was also bald.
“’Because I have cancer,’ and immediately the whole room just stops and looks,” White said.
On October 6, 2011, White said he was given the all clear and no longer had active cancer cells in his body.
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