👋 Hi everyone! I’m Cody “Links” Morrison, the eponymous Cody of Cody’s Corner.
Now, your first question might be, “Why is your nickname Links?” Maybe I am a big fan of sausage links? Or did I get it at one of the outdoor adventure camps that are available to young adults? Nope!
It’s because I am over ten years into having cancer, and I have accumulated quite a few resources related to cancer (both young adult cancer and not) that I love to share to help people out.
Cody’s Cancer Experience
Now, a bit about me, my cancer credentials, and why I have this monthly feature:
I’m Cody (…wait, I already told you that!), I’m 35, and I live in New Jersey with my parents and sister (If you’ve seen me in person, you’ve met my sister!).
On May 18th, 2015, I was given the dual diagnosis of both Chronic NK cell and Chronic T-Cell Large Granular Lymphocyte Leukemia (or LGLL).
Before cancer, I had been dealing with medical issues my entire life – epilepsy, autism, dysgraphia, some very mild cerebral palsy, anxiety (a cancer patient’s best friend!), and some other things that I am forgetting to list here.
Wait…you haven’t heard of large granular lymphocyte leukemia? How have you not heard of it?! …Just kidding! 🤪
I hadn’t heard of it either before April 2015, when I was first told that I had a “hematologic malignancy of some kind” and that the doctor was suspecting “LGL Leukemia.”
“Large granular lymphocyte (LGL) leukemia is a rare form of blood cancer, with fewer than 1,000 new cases diagnosed in the U.S. each year.”
So…it’s just a tiny bit rare.
Cody’s Cancer Story To Date
Let’s rewind a bit. In March of 2015, I had my yearly blood test ordered by my neurologist, and my GP had said I looked pale a few weeks prior when I came in for my annual bronchitis visit (yes, I was lucky enough to get bronchitis every winter!).
Fun tidbit: I went to New York Comic Con in October 2014 and saw the fantasy author Brandon Sanderson—he asked me if I was okay, since I looked very pale. Did an author catch my cancer before doctors?
A week later, I got that email, “New results available,” and I decided to check it (while I was on the way into NYC for a job fair—obviously the best time to look at medical results, right?).
When I clicked the link, I saw 17 things that were too high or too low, so I did what everyone does at first: Google! I saw all of the things like “this is cancer!!” which…turned out to be right for once? I guess there’s a time for everything!
I was officially diagnosed on May 18th, 2015, I started treatment 10 days later (with a lot going on in those ten days – I had to make decisions like, “Might I ever want kids? If so, I need to find a sperm bank!”).
Lines of Treatment
My first line of treatment was methotrexate pills once a week – I did that at one dosage until May 2016, after I saw Dr. Thomas Loughran (the doctor who discovered LGLL), when he suggested I lower the dose due to side effects. We eventually stopped the methotrexate due to side effects – I would vomit around 8-15 times in 48 hours despite taking Zofran (after starting medical cannabis – a lifesaver – it went down to 2-5 times…mostly from the smell/taste of the marijuana.)
Then I had my first medication vacation – a lovely thing after taking pills weekly for two years that made me nauseous and fatigued! That vacation lasted until 2020—my counts were consistently low. I had to start the second line of treatment, a daily pill called Cytoxan, on February 15th, 2020 (for some reason, everyone decided to join me inside in March 2020…), which we had to stop on June 24th, 2020, due to no response. I got another, shorter medication vacation—until April 28th, 2021! They started me on a low dose of weekly injectable methotrexate (chemo in the thigh = ouch); this stopped on July 7th, 2021, because I was having no response, and I started requiring blood transfusions every two weeks (the joys of sitting in a chair for 4-6 hours hooked up to bags of blood!)
After that, my managing oncologist had something difficult to tell me: I couldn’t have a break this time; I had to start a new treatment ASAP. He gave me two weeks to decide, and I decided on a trial, since the worst-case scenario was that I was contributing to science and showing how the drug affected me. I started that trial on August 15th, 2021, and I am still on it today. Every 12 hours, I get to swallow these incredibly expensive pills that are free courtesy of the clinical trial! It took me a while to respond, which eventually turned into a “robust response!”
Well, that was a bit of a tangent! So, why me? Why do I have this monthly feature?
I started attending Cactus Cancer Society’s programs back in 2021, including YA Cancer Gabfest (put on by Cactus Cancer Society and Elephants and Tea—full disclosure: I am on Elephants & Tea’s Patient Advisory Committee), which I strongly recommend to everyone!
By March 2023, I became a regular! I started with the weekly Coffee & Oodles program (It’s great! It’s a nice 30 minutes to respond to a prompt and see how your soon-to-be friends react to them! Also, Stephen & Christina are awesome!) after getting newsletters for years, dating back to when it was still Lacuna Loft.
It took me years to build up the courage, but it was worth the wait! I also attend the monthly Guy’s Discussion Group, which is an amazing place for men to spend time with other men who are patients or survivors.
In 2025, I was one of the nominees for Cactus Cancer’s Young Adult Advocate of the Year, and after a great fundraising competition, I was one of two winners of the award! The other winner was my friend Ashley Landi – the two of us might’ve met up over donuts to discuss how the competition was going…and we definitely didn’t text each other every day to encourage each other (we did both of those, that was sarcasm – I do a lot of that!) I also joined Cactus Cancer’s Rooted Voices Advisory Board this year!
Community & Family: November Energy
November makes me think of family and connections because here in America, we have Thanksgiving at the end of the month. Thanksgiving is a holiday when people get together—it’s the start of the holiday season. For that, we gather with our family—blood or found (or both!). Sometimes it’s in person, and sometimes it’s virtual. You could text a friend if you know that the holidays are a tough time for them, so that they know you are there. If you think you might forget, put a reminder in your calendar or just schedule a “Hey, thinking about you” text. This time of year also makes me think of delicious food, pumpkin pie, and how in elementary school they had us trace our hands on construction paper and then cut them out so we had “turkeys.”
If we’re lucky, we get friends when we are in the YA cancer community. I have gained a lot of friends in the young adult cancer community over the last close to three years that I have been attending groups, some of whom I count among my closest friends. With my friends, I like to do things like get together and go to a museum, go bowling, get lunch, or just do something simple like go out and get some ice cream (who doesn’t like ice cream? Or your diet-friendly equivalent!). If you can, plan some time with your friends – be it something in person or just an afternoon or evening on Zoom (sit there and chat, craft, or maybe watch a movie or two); this is a hard time of year for some, so think about your friends when you are having a good time.
Enjoy that turkey (or tofurkey, or whatever you want to enjoy!) if you’re in America celebrating Thanksgiving—if you don’t, have a lovely November!
🔗 Links, Links, Links!
To close out this inaugural Cody’s Corner, it’s time for some resources!
Stupid Cancer (https://stupidcancer.org/) has Digital Meetups every Monday from 9-10 PM Eastern time. Just click on Calendar and register for the next meeting!
Elephants & Tea (https://elephantsandtea.org/) publishes a quarterly magazine, puts articles on their site three times a week, and has a variety of other programs, including Happy Hour (make this link to https://elephantsandtea.org/elephants-and-tea-happy-hour/), their weekly social group from 6:30-8:30 PM Eastern.
Young Adult Survivors United (https://yasurvivors.org/) has support groups multiple times a month – usually on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Some LGL Leukemia resources:
The LGL Leukemia Clinic at the University of Virginia: https://uvahealth.com/services/lgl-leukemia-program
Then there are two things I manage:
LGL Leukemia Support: https://lgllsupport.com/
The Facebook group I run, LGL Leukemia Support: https://www.facebook.com/groups/lgllsupport
Want to get in touch? Every month, I will write at least a bit about what you guys want (for that, you should email questions to programs@cactuscancer.org - you can also ask for resources and I will try to highlight them in the future!) along with a topic. Sometimes the topic might be what the month makes me think about, it might be about things I did in the last month, or maybe I will just end it with something I did in a Cactus Cancer program!
