Woman, 22, who thought red blotches on her hand while vacationing in Mexico is ... trends now
A 22-year-old woman's Mexico vacation turned into a struggle for survival after she noticed red blotches had appeared on her wrists.
Johanna Mendoza wasn't concerned when she first saw the spots on her body, thinking it was brought on by an allergic reaction to something she ate.
But when it spread to the rest of her body, she was rushed to the hospital where, 24 hours later, she was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL).
ALL is a progressive cancer in the blood and bone marrow and accounts for less than one in 200 of all cancers diagnosed in the U.S.
Johanna Mendoza (left) found out she had acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) after she developed red spots on her hands while on vacation
ALL affects less than .5 percent of all people diagnosed with cancer in the U.S.
The majority of ALL cases occur in children, but most deaths - roughly four out of five - occur in adults.
Symptoms of ALL can include feeling tired, weak, dizzy, experiencing lightheadedness, bruises or red spots, and recurring infections, among others.
When Mendoza found out she had ALL, her overnight stay at the hospital turned into a two-month stay as doctors worked to get her platelet count up through numerous blood transfusions.
The spots showed up on Mendoza's body because the leukemia causes blood vessels to break and were bleeding under the skin.
The platelets are blood cells developed in the bone marrow to form clots to stop or prevent bleeding, and without them, the blood vessels can't heal.
Once Mendoza's platelet count was high enough, she was sent home and told she would need to undergo chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant.
For two months, Mendoza underwent around-the-clock chemotherapy and was put on a bone marrow transplant list after her twin sister and brother were both considered to not be a viable match, but said she was surprised at how long it took to find a
