Friendship Proves a Strong Foundation for Patient and Caregiver 

In 2023, Jackie Coté had just been diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. Feeling shocked and overwhelmed, she and her friend Nancy Gill, who accompanied Coté to her appointment, silently made their way to the front desk to schedule Coté’s weekly chemotherapy. As Coté entered the appointments into her phone calendar, Gill did the same in … Read more

The Power of Long-Range Hope and Courage 

While participating in a clinical trial, Kathleen McEvoy-Schufreider, a 60-year-old communications executive living in Haverhill, Mass., traveled to Dana-Farber for scans every twelve weeks to monitor her cancer. In between appointments, it was hard to put the scans out of her mind.  “I was living in twelve-week bursts,” says McEvoy-Schufreider, who was diagnosed with early-stage … Read more

Fundraiser, Marilyn Monroe Impersonator, Snow Queen: Breast Cancer Patient Does It All 

While planning her annual breast cancer fundraiser in Hull, Mass., Ellie Destito’s friends learned some surprising news. For the first time, their friend revealed that she was living with breast cancer herself.  “They had no idea,” recalls Destito, who was first diagnosed with breast cancer back in 2008. Through the years, she was treated with … Read more

From Staff Member to Empowered Patient: A Journey with Lynch Syndrome 

In March 2016, two months before joining Dana-Farber, Sara Menendez, LAT, ATC, attended LYNKED IN, an annual one-day conference hosted by Dana-Farber’s Lynch Syndrome Center. The event gave her an opportunity to meet colleagues and learn about treatment advances, screening guidelines, and prevention efforts for Lynch syndrome, an inherited and often underdiagnosed condition that increases … Read more

Breast Cancer Survivor Provides Textured Wig Options to Women of Color 

In the midst of a lumpectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation for ​​breast cancer, Dianne Austin thought finding a wig to cover her balding head would be easy. She quickly learned otherwise.  As a Black woman, Austin desired a wig that resembled her tightly coiled, kinky and curly hair. This was 2015, and although several hospitals near … Read more

Artist Explores the Renewal and Healing of Stem Cell Transplants 

In 2023, Denise “Necee” Regis was brought face to face with her old art studio building on Brookline Avenue. As she walked by, she was able to identify the window that belonged to the room where she once spent the late 70s and early 80s working on a Master of Fine Arts at the Massachusetts … Read more

Grandmother Continues Life of Adventure on Endometrial Cancer Clinical Trial  

Roberta “Bert” Green is a woman with a full and busy life. When not driving across the country with her husband, Ralph, in their RV, she alternates between paddle boarding, walking, e-biking, and skiing with the changing seasons around her rural Vermont home. Retired after a long career as a school neuropsychologist, she also makes … Read more

State Rep Stays Committed to Constituents During Pancreatic Cancer Treatment 

Ann-Margaret Ferrante likes a good fight. The daughter and granddaughter of Gloucester, Mass. fishermen has long devoted herself to helping those in and around her hardy hometown, first as a lawyer, and since 2009 as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives.   For the last three years, however, Ferrante has had to balance her … Read more

Living with Multiple Myeloma, Doctor Becomes Powerful Resource and Patient Advocate 

Jim Omel, MD, helped many cancer patients during his long career as a family physician, and that has not changed since his own 1997 diagnosis with multiple myeloma. What has changed is the reach of his support.  While Omel, 77, cared for primarily farming families near his Nebraska clinic during 25-plus years in practice, his … Read more