Fighting the ‘Big C’

“Do I look like someone who has cancer?”  That was what my 23-year-old brother said when ‘The Big C’ took a hold of him. He was diagnosed in November 2011 with anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), an aggressive and rare type of cancer of the immune system with an estimated 7 per million new reported cases in the United States in 2011. ALCL has recently received more media attention, as it is the cancer linked to the breast implant scandal associated with the French company Poly Implant Prothèse (PIP), forcing women in several countries to have their implants removed.  A healthy and active young man, my brother started developing symptoms, such as continuous coughing, night fevers and weight loss. He eventually received medical examination at a renowned hospital in Beirut, and the results confirmed he had stage four ALCL. He was advised to seek medical care immediately, as his malignant