Voices Podcast – Season 2 Episode #3: Then and Now with Male Breast Cancer...
When Mike Johnston felt a lump in his chest in 2009, he assumed it was a side effect of a high blood pressure medication. But after a routine doctor’s visit, followed by a mammogram and ultrasound,...
View ArticlePregnant with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, This Mom Found Care and Comfort at...
Elizabeth Larcom has six children, but it’s the youngest that she calls her “miracle baby” – and with good reason. In August 1997, the Army moved the Larcom family to Alaska with five kids under 12 and...
View ArticleBattling Cancer: Restructuring and Enjoying Your New Life
In September 2013, I had a bone marrow transplant that doctors advised was the only potential cure for a blood cancer known as MDS (myelodysplastic syndrome). Although we lived in New York City, we...
View ArticleCancer Patient Creates ‘Living Art’ for Her Wedding Day
This story originally appeared on Offbeat Bride. By Jordan Kraft “Will you postpone the wedding until after your cancer is gone?” my friend asked the week I was re-diagnosed with lymphoma. My response...
View ArticleVoices Podcast – Season 2 Episode #4: Then and Now with Neuroblastoma Patient...
Amy McHugh’s 4-year-old daughter, Emily Coughlin, was a typical kid – playful and inquisitive – until May 2009, when she started complaining of knee pain. After a visit to the pediatrician, and a...
View ArticleVoices Podcast – Season 2 Episode #6: Then and Now with Multiple Myeloma...
When Linda Solomon, a trained medical technologist, saw the results of her routine complete blood count in 2009, she knew it wasn’t good news. Solomon, then 61, was diagnosed with stage III multiple...
View ArticleBrain Cancer Survivor Shares Wisdom and Humor in Book
On what was supposed to be a memorable night for all the right reasons, things suddenly went terribly wrong for Marie Fricker. Arriving at Brigham and Women’s Hospital for the birth of her first...
View ArticleSpreading the Love: One Couple’s Response to Inflammatory Breast Cancer
Love and commitment have enabled Lynda and Ellen Thomas to get through Lynda’s diagnosis and treatment for inflammatory breast cancer (IBC). The post Spreading the Love: One Couple’s Response to...
View ArticleShaped by the Past, Pancreatic Cancer Patient Takes Things Day by Day
By Yvette Kaplan From her early days growing up in Hungary, Yvette Kaplan has possessed a strong will to survive. Whether it was German occupation during World War II, communism and a daring break for...
View ArticleMeeting Two Challenges: Tips for Dealing with a Cancer-Related Amputation
Felipe Estrela thought things couldn’t get tougher when he was diagnosed with a rare soft tissue cancer called biphasic synovial sarcoma in 2014. Then, shortly after having a tumor the size of a small...
View ArticleStem Cell Donor, Recipient Meet Up – Seven Years after Their Cells
Sometimes the best things are worth waiting for. Charles “Chuck” Vanada and Tobias Gillmann, connected across 3,700 miles and one life-altering procedure, can attest to that. In September 2009, Vanada...
View ArticleVoices Podcast – Season 2 Episode #1: Then and Now with Lymphoma and Breast...
When Catherine Goff was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma while attending college in the 1970s, it was the shock of a lifetime. Less surprising – but still life-changing – was her later diagnosis with...
View ArticleWhat’s In Your Chemotherapy Bag?
Joy Yang, 36, diagnosed with stage III inflammatory breast cancer, finds support during treatment from her care team, led by Ann Partridge, MD, MPH, director of Dana-Farber’s Adult Survivorship Program...
View ArticleSocial Work Helps David Practice His Passion
Extreme stomach pains sent David Rubinstein to the emergency department in December 2011. After emergency surgery, he was diagnosed with stage IV carcinoid cancer, a rare gastrointestinal tumor –...
View ArticleExamining the Caring Culture at Dana-Farber and Brigham and Women’s
By Diana Stork, PhD Diana Stork, PhD, has spent much of her career observing, teaching, and writing about interpersonal behavior and organizational culture. After the...
View ArticleFeeling Lucky in an Unlucky Situation
By all accounts, Annie McNamara was living a typical young adult’s life in 2015. The 26-year-old lived in South Boston with a good friend from college, worked in Duxbury in the retail department of...
View ArticleVoices Podcast – Season 2 Episode #2: Then and Now with Leukemia Survivor Ben...
Ben Blaisdell was a popular 16-year-old when he started experiencing uncharacteristic chills, which led to an anemia diagnosis and, soon after, the surprising news that he had acute lymphoblastic...
View ArticleOn The Other Side
After a cancer diagnosis, people often ask you what the silver lining was, or is. Let’s get real here, cancer is a beast and what I’ve watched it do to my friends and loved ones, and experienced...
View ArticleQ&A with Young Adult Cancer Survivor Andrew McMahon
Andrew McMahon, founder of Dear Jack Foundation and front man of the band Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, was diagnosed with leukemia at 22, in the midst of his musical career. Like other young...
View ArticleAttacking A Weak Point in Pancreatic Cancer’s Defense
In the fall of 2015, at the age of 44 – young for a person to be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer – Doron Broman was stunned to learn he had a large tumor on his pancreas that had metastasized to the...
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