She may be an accomplished competitive skier, but Maggie Gove, 15, is just as adept at getting up and over mountains as she is racing down them. Gove is a three-time cancer survivor who has managed to keep up on the slopes and with her studies despite long periods sidelined by surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation … Read more
A study led by Dana-Farber researchers has revealed that inherited variations in certain DNA damage repair genes may increase an individual’s susceptibility to Ewing sarcoma, an aggressive cancer that tends to strike teenagers and young adults. Ewing sarcoma is rare, with only about one in a million cases diagnosed annually in the United States, and … Read more
Carcinomas and sarcomas are different types of cancer. Carcinomas are much more common than sarcomas, but the biggest difference between them is where they occur in the body. Carcinomas are usually named for the location where they arise (such as breast cancer, colon cancer). Sarcomas can occur in many different body locations and are generally … Read more
One of the rarest of rare cancers, cardiac angiosarcoma is a tumor of the heart that has gained some notoriety because it caused the death of fashion designer Virgil Abloh in 2021 at the age of only 41. Abloh, the artistic director of Louis Vuitton menswear and the founder of his own brand, Off-White, lived … Read more
Asked how he has dealt with three bouts of bone cancer and a partial right leg amputation in less than four years, 14-year-old Jack Berry says that he takes things “one step at a time.” That is, when he’s not surfing, riding his mountain bike, sprinting across tennis courts, or winning ski races. An osteosarcoma … Read more
Investigators led by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Kimberly Stegmaier, MD, have discovered that knocking out a protein regulator in Ewing sarcoma cells causes the tumor cells to die from an overdose of a cancer-promoting protein. The regulator, a protein known as TRIM8, is critical to the survival of Ewing sarcoma cells because it controls the levels … Read more
Cancers known as sarcomas develop in the connective tissues, such as muscle, fat, and bone, that hold the body together. Liposarcomas originate from immature fat cells that develop abnormally into cancerous fatty growth as a result of errors that can develop in its genes. Sarcomas are rare, accounting for about 1% of cancers in … Read more
At 4:00 a.m. on a mid-March morning, while most of the country was hunkering down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Jennifer Huber began the long drive from her home in the Hudson Valley Region of New York to Boston. With her was her 14-year-old daughter, Emma Levine, who was suffering from excruciating headaches caused by … Read more
For almost half of his life, Michael Murray has had to grapple with cancer, including multiple relapses. One of his hardest setbacks was hearing that his cancer had returned just weeks before he was set to start his freshman year at Boston College. With the news, Murray worried that his future would be in jeopardy. … Read more
It lacks sunsets and skylines, but Maddie Carlson loves the view from her dorm room at Emmanuel College in Boston. If the 20-year-old junior sticks her head out the window at just the right angle, she can almost make out a portion of the place she credits for saving her life after she was diagnosed … Read more
Cancer biologists led by Cigall Kadoch, PhD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, have identified a key molecular event that leads to synovial sarcoma, a rare, aggressive cancer in adolescents and young adults for which scientists are seeking better treatments.
To make Sarcoma Awareness Month, we take a look at the symptoms of Ewing sarcoma, a rare disease that grows from cells in bones or in the soft tissue surrounding bones.
Researchers at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center are leading a number of studies in osteosarcoma, a type of cancer that starts in the bones.
“Amelia is an amazing and extremely bright girl who has faced her disease and treatment with tremendous courage,” says Steven DuBois, MD, MS, her oncologist at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center.
The revelation brings a surge of hope to the field of pediatric oncology, which has long been challenged to find new drugs against childhood cancers.
Deciding to have a baby can be a happy – and sometimes scary – time for parents. Worries and questions about finances, the future, and the baby’s health are common. But most parents-to-be don’t have a cancer diagnosis looming over their heads like Abby and Tom Morgan did. A 32-year-old teacher, Abby says she always wanted … Read more
By Lyndsay McCaffery Two months. That’s how long I knew I had cancer before it was gone. I was a patient, and then a survivor, all before I had time to process what was happening to me. It has been almost five years and I am still trying to wrap my head around it. I’m … Read more
Soft tissue sarcoma refers to cancer that begins in the muscle, fat, fibrous tissue, blood vessels, or other supporting tissue of the body. View the slideshow below to learn more about signs and symptoms of this cancer, as well as risk factors. Learn more from Dana-Farber's Center for Sarcoma and Bone Oncology Learn more from … Read more
By Mary Anne Oldford I was born to survive. Before I was born, I almost lost my life when my mother had a fibroid tumor surgically removed while I was still in the womb. Later, as a 5-year-old, I was diagnosed with polio, paralyzed, and told I would never walk again. After years of therapy in … Read more