Michelle Karalekas’ time in the Mont Tremblant Ironman Triathlon in Quebec on Aug. 20 — 14 hours, 5 minutes — was not her fastest in the grueling event, but it may have been her most impressive. It was the first time she’d competed since undergoing a stem cell transplant for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) almost … Read more
By Julia Segovia By the time I found out that my mother, Melbey Segovia, had stage III ovarian cancer, she had already had a hysterectomy and started chemotherapy. It was three months after her Feb. 2016 diagnosis. At first I felt a lot of anger around Mom not telling me sooner, but then I understood … Read more
The last thing Alan Rubin imagined he’d be doing after retiring from a successful career in financial services was helping his son run a hot dog cart. Then he was diagnosed with stage III kidney cancer, and found himself in another unexpected locale: Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center. Like the decision to join his son’s business … Read more
The trip from Nantucket to Boston, involving a long drive and ferry ride, is an arduous four-hour journey (not counting summer traffic). But when Nantucket resident and retired educator, Claudia Kilvert, was diagnosed with breast cancer, she committed to regularly getting in the car with her husband and 80-pound golden retriever Luna to get treatment … Read more
Treatments used for many forms of cancer, as well as certain rare types of cancer that directly affect the ear(s), can affect your hearing. It’s important to understand the possibilities and know what to look for because, in some cases, early action can help. If you are affected by hearing loss, there are also resources … Read more
Jennifer Thorn has worked hard her whole life running a family law practice and raising her family, but in April 2021, just as she began to enjoy her success, she faced a new challenge. After experiencing pain while lying on her side, Thorn, 48, of Wilbraham, Massachusetts, visited her primary care physician who ordered bloodwork … Read more
Cancer has not stopped Bethany Ross and Jeremy Pivor from undertaking numerous adventures, from Pivor’s sailing trips on the high seas to Bethany’s forays into skydiving and outdoor rock climbing. It is also often the catalyst for their actions, such as when both Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center patients headed to Washington, D.C. to advocate on … Read more
After nearly nine years of living with follicular lymphoma, a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), it took just a few minutes for things to change dramatically for Marc Cummings this spring. That was all the time needed to transfer the small bag of modified CAR T-cells — which had been recrafted from Cummings’ own T … Read more
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
In early March of 2018, at age 58, Roger Miller went to a local doctor’s office in Maine for outpatient surgery. He’d been putting off getting what he’d thought was a cyst removed from the back of his head. During the procedure, he overheard the surgeon say, “Oh, this doesn’t look good.” Miller, who at … Read more
Black men, particularly men of West African descent, are nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than Caucasian men, and three times more likely than Asian men. They are also twice as likely as Caucasian men to die from the disease. These disparities are among the largest in cancer. What is driving … Read more
Two weeks after turning 50, Wendy Tamis Robbins learned she had stage II colon cancer. Having lived with anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, and panic disorders nearly all her life, she used the same strategies that helped her navigate these struggles to meet her cancer diagnosis head-on. Robbins handled the ups and downs of her summer … Read more
In most ways, Bill Ross’s stem cell transplant for multiple myeloma at Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center (DFBCC) wasn’t out of the ordinary. He received chemotherapy to destroy the tumor cells in his body and then an infusion of his own hematopoietic stem cells, which flocked to his bone marrow and regenerated his blood supply. Over … Read more
During a long career in the food industry, Susan Greelish, 64, has prided herself on forming strong, familial-like bonds with her colleagues and customers. When it came to her treatment for breast cancer and kidney cancer, however, these feelings of kinship and trust were missing — until she found her newest family just a few … Read more
As a longtime volunteer for the Red Cross, Jeanne Dodge knows the value of gaining as much information as possible about a situation or injured individual before administering aid. Making assumptions without all the facts can result in more harm than good in an emergency. Accordingly, when Dodge comes to Dana-Farber for her multiple myeloma … Read more
As a cast member on the television series “America’s Test Kitchen,” and host of its companion podcast “The Walk-In,” Elle Simone Scott delights in sharing her expertise and recipes. The Boston-based celebrity chef and food stylist is also a role model, as founder and president of SheChef, Inc., a professional networking organization for fellow women … Read more
By Valerie Frank Ever since I can remember, I’ve made people laugh. I was always the funny friend, and when I was in my mid-20s I made it official by becoming a Main Stage cast member of ImprovBoston — an improvisational comedy theater in Cambridge, MA. Once I retired from improv to become a suburban … Read more
More than seven percent of adults in the US identify as LGBTQ+, according to a 2022 Gallup poll. That’s a record high and a doubling of the percentage measured a decade earlier. People in the LGBTQ+ community can face many societal barriers, including to healthcare. According to multiple surveys, about one in three LGBTQ+ people … Read more
Just over a year after giving birth to her son, Emmett, Abigail Myers faced a devastating diagnosis of breast cancer in March 2014. It started when Myers woke up one morning feeling sore. When she found a lump, she rushed to her doctor, all the while in disbelief that she might have cancer. A resident … Read more
When the time came for Jeffrey Ferreira to undergo a stem cell transplant for acute myeloid leukemia (AML), his Dana-Farber hematologist, Corey Cutler, MD, MPH, had some intriguing news: he was eligible for a clinical trial of a new approach to lowering the risk of chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), a common and sometimes severe aftereffect … Read more