What began as a regular checkup at his pediatrician’s office by Columbus Bishop Hartley High School sophomore Zaven Solomon two years ago turned out to be anything but routine. 

The X-rays taken during the doctor visit led to Zaven’s being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and that diagnosis resulted in treatment that enabled him to beat the cancer and to graduate on time with the Hartley Class of 2022 on May 28.

Before his diagnosis, “I had no idea anything was wrong with me other than shortness of breath,” Zaven said. “If I hadn’t told Dr. (Celina) LaBrec-Salmons about that, the lymphoma would have continued to grow. She took an X-ray right away, and she called me and my parents that night and told us to go to Nationwide Children’s Hospital.” This occurred in August 2019, about five days after Zaven had started his sophomore year at Hartley.

“I went to the intensive care unit, and about 10 cardiologists and oncologists were there, all asking the same questions. I told them I felt like something was pressing down on my heart, making it hard to breathe,” he said. Zaven then was admitted to the hospital and underwent a biopsy, with some tissue being removed to determine what was causing his problem.

Results of the biopsy were inconclusive, so some bone marrow was taken from him for a second biopsy about a week after his admission to the hospital. After the operation, he was told he had lymphoma. 

“I had no idea what that was,” he said. But his mother and father did. “I recall that when Lee (her husband) and I heard the diagnosis, there was dead silence,” said Stephanie Solomon, Zaven’s mother.

Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a type of cancer that attacks the lymphatic system, which is part of the body’s germ-fighting immune system. In Hodgkin’s lymphoma, infection-fighting white blood cells called lymphocytes develop changes in their DNA and grow out of control, causing swollen lymph nodes and growths throughout the body. A cell’s DNA contains the instructions that tell it what to do.

Doctors aren’t sure what causes Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which is the most common cancer for those age 15 to 19, accounting for 11 percent of all cancers in this age group. Hodgkin’s lymphoma also is common in young adults, especially those in their 20s. Zaven had just turned 15 when his lymphoma diagnosis occurred.

Following the diagnosis, his heart fluid was drained to stabilize his heart. He then underwent the first of four rounds of chemotherapy, receiving heavy doses of drugs to kill his cancer cells. Following the first round, he was sent home, but he had to return to the hospital once a month for the next three months, checking in on a Friday morning and being released on a Sunday evening. His appendix ruptured during one of those rounds. Other common side effects of chemotherapy are dizziness and vomiting.

After his fourth round of chemotherapy, he saw doctors at the James Cancer Hospital at Ohio State University, who told him the best way to eliminate the lymphoma would be through proton therapy, which uses protons to send beams of high energy that can target tumors more precisely than other forms of radiation. The cancer was close to his heart and lungs, so there was a particular concern about keeping it from spreading.

Zaven and his parents were told the only two hospitals offering such therapy were Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and a hospital in New York. So in January 2020, he and his mother made the four-hour round trip from the family home in east Columbus to Cincinnati for the treatment every day for 15 days. 

“This was in the winter during COVID, so it wasn’t the best time to do this, but it gave us a lot of mother-son time,” said Stephanie Solomon, who works for NetJets. Her husband is part of a logistics business.

“Most importantly, the therapy worked,” she said. When the therapy was completed, there were no signs of the lymphoma in Zaven. For the next year, he went back to Cincinnati once a month for a checkup. The frequency of those visits was changed to every three months, then every six months. His next checkup is in September.

“So far, there’s been no indication of the lymphoma coming back,” Zaven said. “The amazing thing through all of this is that I’ve never felt discomfort other than being short of breath at the beginning. If Mom hadn’t insisted on calling the doctor, I may not have been as fortunate as I am.”

During his sophomore year, he kept up with his education through use of a tutor from Columbus Walnut Ridge High School, where he was enrolled for that year. During that time, Hartley students and teachers kept in touch with him through texts and handwritten notes and sent him a “goodie bag” of Hartley items.

Zaven returned to Hartley for his junior and senior years of high school. “When I got back after a year away, the transition wasn’t hard at all,” he said. “It was as though I had never left. I picked up with the same friends, and things seemed as they had been before.” 

“When you looked at him when he returned to school, you’d never have believed he was sick for a year,” his mother said. “He looked healthy then and continues to.”

“When we found out Zaven’s diagnosis, it was devastating to say the least,” Hartley principal Chris Kowalski said. “Even though Zaven had to take a year away from Hartley in order to receive the treatment he needed and get his credits, he excelled in his studies and came back to Hartley as an academically strong student.  

“Over the last two years that Zaven has been back at Hartley, he never let his diagnosis be a problem and rarely wanted attention surrounding it. He is a respectful, hard-working, successful young man who continues to impress those around him.” 

Zaven’s period away from Hartley was difficult for him, but it also was a hard time for most of his fellow students. Much of his absence coincided with the COVID pandemic, which closed all Ohio schools in mid-March 2020 and resulted in students attending classes in alternating groups for most of the 2020-21 school year.

“During everything I went through, my faith in God was of great help,” Zaven said. “Once I understood what I was going through, my worries went away. I felt there was no doubt I would be all right if I did what I was supposed to.”

“Zaven’s always been that kind of kid, always a fighter,” his mother said. “Cancer was the last thing on our minds, but we just pushed through and made decisions together, with his father leading all of us, and we got through to where we are today. We leaned on each other.”