In 2023, Tammi Keitsock was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, endured intense chemotherapy to treat the disease, and had a bone marrow transplant. She lost her hair and was twice confined to the hospital for 30 days.
Today, she is on track to graduate in May with a master’s degree in athletic training.
“I first noticed it because I was bruising for no reason. I would wake up and have bruises,” she explains. Usually very active, she was “super out of breath and winded just going up the steps.”
In May of 2023, her doctor sent her to the ER at Penn Medicine, where she was diagnosed, admitted, and began her first 30-day stay. “The chemo got my white blood cell count down,” she recalls, but it impaired her immune system and necessitated hospital confinement.
Keitsock continued receiving weekend chemo treatment once a month until her bone marrow transplant – and another 30-day hospital stay -- in November of 2023. After avoiding crowds for 100 days, she was told she could finally return to school and pursue her dream of earning a master’s degree in athletic training.
In May of 2024, a year after her original diagnosis, Keitsock enrolled in Neumann’s program.
But in early February of 2025, she noticed four red dots on her skin. “It came back in my skin instead of my blood, a mutation. I was cancer-free for a year before it came back. It’s a rare complication but not as serious as being in the blood. I got low doses of IV chemo and took chemo pills.”
The relapse and new treatment affected her schedule with classes and clinicals, but Keitsock forged ahead, determined to stay on track to her degree.
“It wasn’t terrible compared to 2023,” she says, “and my teachers here were super accommodating and helpful.”
During courses this summer, for instance, the sensitive skin on her hands began to develop blisters and tear easily. “We had our ‘taping practical’ and I wanted to do it,” Keitsock recalls, “but Dr. [Kathleen] Swanik insisted that I let my skin heal.”
Her determination has impressed Hubert Lee, assistant dean for the School of Nursing and Health Sciences. “Tammi has been an inspiration to all of us,” Lee says, “with her dedication to her studies and her drive to become an athletic trainer, while dealing with health issues. She is a pleasure to be around, and I see great things in her future.”
Ringing the bell at the Perelman Center.
Her last chemotherapy treatment was on July 22, 2025. That’s when she rang the bell at the Perelman Center, the outpatient facility for Penn Medicine, as a sign that she completed her cancer treatment.
After receiving her master’s degree from Neumann in May of 2026, she plans to land a job as an athletic trainer at a local high school or college.
Don’t bet against her.