Teen battles the same rare leukemia that killed her brother

Acute myeloblastic leukemia, or AML, sounds dire -- and it is. And rarely does it occur within the same family. But Jamie Botteon, who was diagnosed with AML after watching her brother die from the disease, is one of those rare cases.

The disease is an aggressive and life-threatening form of leukemia that starts with the mutation of a single bone marrow cell. Researchers don’t know why the cell changes, nor do they know why most people diagnosed with AML don’t have any of the risk factors.

“I only allowed myself one day to feel sorry for myself,” Botteon, 17, told the Hartford Courant. “From that first day on I knew this was life or death and I had to beat it.” The paper chronicles the disease and the Connecticut teen’s remarkable resilience in “Keeper of hope in winning cancer fight.”

Patients diagnosed with AML generally start chemotherapy immediately to kill off as many mutated cells as possible, treatment that continues even after they are in remission. For an overview of symptoms and more about treatment of the disease, go to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society‘s website.