How Elekta’s Thiago Ramos overcame cancer

Thiago Ramos, 33, was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in 2013. Little did he know that he would become an employee of the company that helped him through his stressful journey.

“I was initially treated with chemotherapy, the most common treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma. Unfortunately, the cancer did not respond well so my doctor convinced me that a bone marrow transplant would be our best bet. But first we needed to use radiotherapy to reduce the lymph nodes as much as possible.”

Thiago was treated in São Paulo at Hospital do Coração on an Elekta Axesse™ linear accelerator, or linac. A linac is used to deliver radiotherapy to tumors, damaging its DNA and killing the cells. He says it was tough physically and emotionally. “Our son was only four years old at the time, so he wasn’t really affected, though I was feeling pretty bad from all the different therapies. But my wife was a hero, she was like a mother to both of us.”

During his long period of therapies, Thiago found little joy in the things he loves doing most: spending time with his family, watching movies and fishing. Time seemed to stand still. However, the first-hand experience made Thiago a first-rate employee. His cancer treatment encouraged him to join the Elekta team, where he now helps improve and save the lives of people with cancer, together with over 4,000 teammates globally.

In the end, the radiotherapy was a success and the tumors in Thiago’s neck and chest shrank. With that, he was able to start the bone marrow transplant and finally finished the treatment victoriously. “If you ask me, the outcomes were the best possible; I expected to be to be healed and that’s how it turned out. My wife and I pray to God for my successful treatment, but for also blessing us with another child, a daughter. So I have to say that every moment of the treatment was worth it.”