AML: The Disease That Doesn’t Ask Permission 
I.e., When Your Blood Goes Rogue

You jog. You swim. You eat your greens. You feel… great.
And yet, inside your bones, chaos may already be brewing.

That’s the cruel paradox of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) — a fast-moving blood cancer that often whispers before it screams. You can feel perfectly fine while your bone marrow quietly fills with dysfunctional cells that crowd out the healthy ones keeping you alive.

On a scale of 1 to 10? Be-nine it’s not.
AML is a 24×7 condition, so trust on-call-ogists, not just oncologists.

But before the science lecture kicks in, let’s get one thing straight:

👉 AML is not Anti-Money Laundering.
(Though you’ll definitely wish it were.)

🧬 What Is AML, Really?

AML begins in the bone marrow — the soft, busy factory inside your bones where blood cells are made. Normally, this factory runs like a well-managed startup: red cells carry oxygen, white cells fight infection, platelets stop bleeding.

AML is what happens when a few rogue interns (called myeloblasts) seize control.

• 🚨 Acute = fast and aggressive

• 🧪 Myeloid = affects a specific blood cell lineage

• 🧬 Leukemia = cancer of blood-forming tissues

These immature cells multiply rapidly, refuse to grow up, and crowd out healthy blood cells. The result? Anemia, infections, bleeding — and a disease that doesn’t wait politely.

😴 “But I Feel Fine…”

Many patients don’t feel sick at first. That’s not reassuring — it’s dangerous.

Common symptoms (when they do appear) include:

• 😵💫 Fatigue, weakness, shortness of breath

• 🤒 Frequent infections or unexplained fevers

• 🩸 Easy bruising, nosebleeds, bleeding gums

• 🎨 Pale skin, dizziness, headaches

• ⚖️ Unexplained weight loss

The trickiest symptom of AML? Feeling normal.

⚠️ Risk Factors (a.k.a. The Usual Suspects)

Often, there’s no single cause. But risk rises with:

• 🎂 Aging (AML loves older adults)

• ☢️ Prior chemotherapy or radiation

• 🧪 Benzene exposure

• 🚬 Smoking

• 🧬 Certain genetic syndromes (including Down syndrome)

Translation: you didn’t “earn” AML. It just… happens.

🧠 The Biology: When Blood Cell Software Breaks

AML is not one disease — it’s a genetic mess wearing a single name tag.

Inside blood stem cells, DNA mutations derail normal development:

• 🧬 Blocked differentiation: cells stay immature forever

• 🧫 Clonal expansion: one bad clone dominates the marrow

• ♻️ Leukemia stem cells: tiny but stubborn cells that drive relapse

Common genetic players include FLT3, DNMT3A, IDH1/2, TP53, RUNX1, CEBPA, and more. These mutations affect signaling pathways, epigenetics, and transcription — basically, the operating system of blood production.

This explains why AML outcomes vary wildly from patient to patient.

💊 Treatment: From Sledgehammers to Smart Missiles

AML treatment is intense, layered, and increasingly personalized.

Main approaches include:

• 🧨 Chemotherapy: Still the backbone (hello, cytarabine)

• 🎯 Targeted therapies: Drugs like venetoclax, midostaurin, ivosidenib

• 🧬 Stem cell transplant: Replacing damaged marrow with healthy cells

• 🛡️ Supportive care: Transfusions, antibiotics, bleeding control

• 🧪 Immunotherapy: Emerging and promising

Treatment usually unfolds in phases:

1. Induction: Hit hard, achieve remission

2. Consolidation: Keep leukemia from returning

3. Maintenance: Long-term control

Special shout-out to Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL) — a subtype that’s now one of the most curable cancers, thanks to targeted therapy (ATRA + arsenic). Proof that progress is real.

🔬 Trials & Hope: Where AML Is Being Cornered

The future of AML is precision-driven:

• 🧬 Mutation-specific drugs: ziftomenib, revumenib, quizartinib

• 🧠 Master trials: myeloMATCH, Beat AML®

• 🧪 CAR-T and iNKT cells: Immune systems re-trained to hunt leukemia

• ✂️ CRISPR: Gene editing meets oncology

These approaches aim to reduce chemo, increase precision, and finally outsmart relapse.

One day — hopefully soon — the disease will die.
Meantime, let the humor grow on you, not the sickness.

💸 The Cost Nobody Warns You About

AML doesn’t just attack the body — it hits the wallet.

Approximate U.S. costs:

• 🏥 Induction chemo: ~$200,000

• 🔁 Consolidation: $28,000–$73,000 per cycle

• 🧬 Stem cell transplant: $300,000+

• 🔄 Relapsed disease: $400,000+

Even with insurance, out-of-pocket costs and lost income add up. This is called financial toxicity, and it’s real.

🕊️ A Voice That Still Echoes

Writer and journalist Tatiana Schlossberg captured AML’s cruelty with devastating clarity:

“I did not—could not—believe that they were talking about me… I wasn’t sick. I didn’t feel sick. I was actually one of the healthiest people I knew.”

You can read her essay, “A Battle with My Blood,” in The New Yorker:
👉 https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/a-battle-with-my-blood

She died of AML on December 30, 2025, at age 35.
All healthy. All brilliant. Gone.

AML does not check résumés.

⚡ Quick Take / TL;DR

• AML is fast, aggressive, and often silent at first

• You can feel fine — until you’re not

• Genetics drive treatment and outcomes

• Therapies are improving fast, especially targeted ones

• Costs are enormous, emotionally and financially

• Humor won’t cure AML — but it can help you breathe

See the humor in the tumor.
You may have tumor (two more!) lives.

Don't Sleep on These Rules—Or Even Your Sleep Will Take a Siesta!

❓ FAQ

Is AML curable?
Sometimes — especially in certain subtypes like APL. Many patients achieve remission, but relapse remains a challenge.

Is AML hereditary?
Usually no, though some genetic syndromes increase risk.

How fast does AML progress?
Very fast. Treatment often begins within days of diagnosis.

Can younger people get AML?
Yes. Less common, but it happens — and outcomes may be better with aggressive care.

Is research actually improving outcomes?
Yes. Precision medicine is changing the AML landscape rapidly.

📚 Suggested Reading

• When Blood Breaks Down: Life Lessons from Leukemia by Mikkael A. Sekeres — a powerful, human look at life with blood cancer.
  If you want wisdom without sugarcoating, this book delivers truth the way AML does — directly and without asking permission.

✍️ About the Author

Frédéric Marsanne is the founder of FUNanc1al — part market analyst, part storyteller, part accidental comedian. A longtime investor, entrepreneur, and venture-builder across tech, biotech, and fintech, he blends sharp insights with humor to help readers laugh, learn, live better lives, and invest a little wiser. When not decoding insider buys or poking fun at earnings calls, he’s building Cl1Q, writing fiction, painting, or discovering new passions to FUNalize.

🧾⚠️📢 FUN(NY) Disclosure/Disclaimer 🧾⚠️📢

We’re not doctors.
This article is for education and entertainment.
Always consult qualified healthcare professionals for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Your future self will thank you.

Let's become the smartest possible patients or, even better, increase our chances of never becoming one by preventing disease (whenever possible). Still, consult a professional before experimenting with your body clock. ⏰🧬

Invest in your health, not just your portfolio. 🎶🎶
Love at any pace. Laugh at every turn. 😄
Be Happy! 😄😄

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