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As a recent graduate from UCLA preparing for a role as a substitute
teacher in her childhood school district, Bliss Saleebyan found her-
self at the perfect moment in life. Then, in the early months of winter,
the 19-year-old was faced with an unsettling reality: cancer. She
used her writing, her attitude and a little lift to keep her spirit
strong—eventually becoming an inspiration to herself and to thou-
sands around the world.
✦
“I was born at Glendale Adventist Medical
Center, but never did I think I would end up here as a patient,”
Saleebyan recalls.
“It was early December when I went to
the emergency room for chest pain with a
swollen face and neck that made me look
like a giant chipmunk. The doctors gave me
the terrifying news that I had a large mass
in my chest and pulmonary embolism!”
She remained hospitalized for 15 days
while Glendale Adventist Medical Center
(GAMC) physicians continued thorough
testing and surveillance. The final results
were frightening: Saleebyan was diag-
nosed with a “rare and aggressive” form of
stage III non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Over the course of the year, she had
POWER
LIFT
several rounds of aggressive and targeted
chemotherapy, but she refused to let the
weight of her diagnoses slow her down.
After 17 weeks and roughly 625 hours of
chemotherapy, Saleebyan received some
miraculous news: She was officially in
remission. A PET scan on April 13, just
four months after diagnosis, indicated
that the 10-centimeter malignant tumor
invading her body and harming all sur-
rounding organs had gone down to a few
centimeters of inactive, and presumably
dead, tissue. In three months, she will
continue surveillance to ensure that all
remaining tissues have broken down.
Along her journey, Saleebyan used
social media to share her writing, gather-
ing thousands of fans and followers and
inspiring others to pick up the weight
of life’s challenges and lift it high above
them. Saleebyan shares three key points
she attributes to her healing.
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PHYSICAL FITNESS
“When the horrific news of my diag-
nosis shook up my world, one of the first
things to cross my mind was, ‘How long
until I can lift again?’”
Two years ago, Saleebyan was intro-
duced to the world of powerlifting by
her big brother, Braven. Powerlifting is
a strength sport that consists of three at-
tempts at maximum weight, lifting using
squats, bench presses and deadlifts. “It
seemed to be a silly concern to those who
didn’t share my passion for powerlifting,
but I was determined to maintain my
strength.” She found herself falling in love
with powerlifting, disciplining herself and
training hard.
“Why powerlifting?” Saleebyan asks.
“The thought of not lifting was one of the
Bliss Saleebyan with
her lead oncologist,
David Shin, MD
The
of the
Battling
cancer, Bliss
Saleebyan is
an uplifting
inspiration
CANCER CARE
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T O F I N D A D O C T O R , C A L L
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