Haley Hardy
Haley Hardy turns cancer diagnosis into career change; chance to help others
Most moms will tell you after giving birth, their bodies feel different. But for one Cincinnati woman, after having her daughter, her body was fighting a disease she would learn to live with for the rest of her life.
Becoming a New Mom Comes with Big Changes
Haley Hardy gave birth to her daughter in February of 2022. At the time, she was a women’s lacrosse coach for the University of Cincinnati. She was traveling a lot with the team and often felt tired. Chalking it up to being a new mom, she didn’t think much of it.
After several months, not only did the fatigue continue, but now she was having bone pain and even fractures. Haley was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma in December of 2022. At that time, she had 12 bone fractures including five in her vertebrae. Only 1% of myeloma patients are under the age of 40. Multiple Myeloma is cancer of the plasma cells. It is chronic and incurable. Treatment can often include chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant.
My main goal was to get out of pain. My specialist said as soon as you start treatment you will get out of pain.
Haley Hardy
Cancer Treatment Includes Stem Cell Transplant with Hoxworth Apheresis Nurses
Before Haley started chemotherapy, she received platelets from Hoxworth Blood Donors. Haley remembers this procedure enabled her to go home from the hospital to care for her young daughter.
After chemotherapy, Haley was told her next step would be an autologous stem cell transplant performed by Hoxworth. Hoxworth can perform this procedure at their own Apheresis Department, or they can come to local hospitals to collect the stem cells.
An autologous stem cell transplant uses your own blood stem cells to restore your bone marrow’s ability to make the cells. It’s a common treatment for Haley’s type of blood cancer. In an autologous stem cell transplantation, healthcare professionals remove healthy blood stem cells before you receive high doses of chemotherapy to kill cancerous cells.
The same treatment that gets rid of cancerous cells also kills healthy cells. It can also damage your bone marrow so it stops making blood cells. An autologous stem cell transplant is how you receive healthy blood stem cells so your bone marrow can make new, healthy blood cells.
Haley says she’s thankful to be in Cincinnati during that time because of the world-class medical care.
“All of this was way over my head, and I’m just so thankful that there’s people whose brains work like that and understand all the hematology stuff.”
Once Haley finished her treatment, she started to reevaluate aspects of her life, especially her career. Coaching lacrosse at UC was a dream come true. However, the constant travel and long hours took her away from her family.
“I really feel like I came out of cancer a bit of a different person. There was no going back, only growing into someone new.”
That’s when Haley started a new job at Blood Cancer United (formerly Leukemia & Lymphoma Society).
“Once I entered survivorship and remission, I wanted to slam the door on cancer for as long as I could and not talk about it. But I knew there were women like me about to go down the path that I had gone. And I wanted to help those folks.”
Haley works to raise funds and awareness for the more than 100 blood cancers that impact people here in the Cincinnati area.
She knows her cancer journey is not over. But with advanced research, people are living longer, more normal lives. Haley hopes she can share that message of hope with people just like her.
Save Local Patients at Local Hospitals
You can help provide hope and healing for people like Haley. Your donation of blood and blood products help local cancer patients at all Cincinnati area hospitals. Schedule your donation today and be a Hoxworth Hero: Saving Lives Close to Home.