September is Leukemia and Lymphoma Awareness Month.
Lymphoma is a cancer of the lymphatic system, which is part of the body’s germ-fighting network.
The lymphatic system includes the lymph nodes (lymph glands), spleen, thymus gland, and bone marrow. Lymphoma can affect all those areas as well as other organs throughout the body.
One of Manning’s own fought the tumultuous battle against Lymphoma in 2015.
Carlyle Ardis was a well-known member of the Clarendon community. After returning to his hometown in Manning around 1978, Ardis began running the family owned and operated Manning Furniture. Ardis’s father ran the business, and it was just a natural move for Ardis to take over once his father passed away. As business declined at Manning Furniture, it eventually just became Manning Farm and Garden.
In 2015, Ardis decided to downsize and moved Manning Farm and Garden across Mill Street. His daughter Carole Evans was helping run the family business at the time.
Evans said, “Dad only worked at the new location for about a month, and he was having back pain.”
Ardis went to the doctor to check the back pain and the doctor thought that it was his gallbladder causing it and removed the gallbladder. At the next check up, his numbers were higher, and the back pain was still there.
Ardis’s wife of 43 years, Susan Ardis, recalled, “At this point we were sent to the Spine Institute in Mt. Pleasant, where they took an x-ray of his back. We were on the way home about ten miles from the Manning exit and the phone rang. We didn’t recognize the number, so we just went on home, when we got home, we had a message from the Spine Institute for us to turn back around immediately, as it was cancer causing the back pain.”
They soon found out he had lymphoma.
Susan said, “This was April 1, 2016. He was admitted on a Wednesday and had surgery on that Friday to remove as much of the cancer that was wrapped around the spinal column as possible.”
Ardis stayed in the hospital for about two weeks. Ardis was only home a few days when he fell. His family took him to a local emergency room before being transferred to MUSC in Charleston. That was where Ardis underwent chemotherapy and radiation. He was put on Hospice in Charleston and was there for nine days.
Ardis passed away on September 17, 2016. The family believes it may have been from all his years of working around chemicals since there is no family history.
In honor of Lymphoma month and Carlyle Ardis, learn the symptoms, learn the signs of early detection, and see your doctor frequently to help in the fight against lymphoma.
Signs and symptoms of lymphoma may include:
painless swelling of lymph nodes in your neck, armpits, or groin; persistent fatigue; fever; night sweats; shortness of breath; unexplained weight loss; and itchy skin.
