Active in physical pursuits and a world traveler, Harry Beskind, MD, was surprised when he started feeling tired while on a bike ride in 2014. He had just returned home from a river trip to Portugal with his wife, and Beskind, then 82, was having trouble riding up hills on his bike. “I thought I was just … Read more
Tara Shuman didn’t necessarily set out to be a blogger, let alone a book author. Yet in the throes of a cancer diagnosis she turned to writing as an outlet. Abby Morgan also turned to blogging. A painter since an early age, and an art teacher, writing carried less pressure than painting. “I don’t want … Read more
Five hundred miles from her hometown in northern Virginia, newlywed Jeannie Choi, 30, and her husband were settling into to Massachusetts and their new careers in July 2015. Just three months later, their wedding vows – to support each other in sickness and in health – would be put to the test with another transformative … Read more
As researchers and clinicians in the Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancers at Dana-Farber continue studying the benefits of a two-drug combination in slowing progression of recurrent ovarian cancer, one patient is as a beacon of hope for her caregivers – and for others facing the disease. Betsy Brauser, treated with standard chemotherapy near … Read more
When Judy Rosenbaum was diagnosed with breast cancer, the thought of serious treatment and surgery, like a mastectomy, was frightening. Working with her doctors and care team, Judy found a “less is more” treatment approach and elected to have a lumpectomy rather than a mastectomy. “I was terrified of having surgery,” Rosenbaum says. “The only … Read more
Kerri Antonuccio marked her 40th birthday this spring with a fresh lease on life. For the first time since 2012, she didn’t feel too sick from cancer treatment to enjoy her big day. She was also able to travel to Mexico and serve as matron of honor at her sister’s wedding in May, as well … Read more
After more than a year of chemotherapy and radiation, Pamela Gasek was finally cancer free. She had completed treatment for breast cancer, but now she had to decide how to move forward. Breast cancer remission brings new challenges such as managing relationships and dealing with lasting side effects from treatment, and Gasek needed some guidance. … Read more
For otherwise healthy individuals, a CT scan or an MRI is an uncommon event. But for cancer survivors like Jeremy Pivor, it’s a routine part of life. So too is the anxiety that often accompanies each test – often referred to as “scanxiety.” Diagnosed with a brain tumor at age 12, Pivor navigated his way … Read more
By Lyndsay McCaffery When you find out you have cancer, your mind goes to a million different places. You have an endless amount of questions, an overwhelming sense of panic, and life as you know it is changed forever. I was diagnosed with parosteal osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, right after I gave birth … Read more
Some people may think of breast cancer as a disease that only affects older women. But many young women can and do get breast cancer – just like Maggie Loucks, NP-C, who was diagnosed one week after her 28th birthday. “Hearing the words ‘the lump is malignant’ isn’t really anything you can prepare yourself to … Read more
By Katherine Walsh When faced with something as scary and life-changing as a cancer diagnosis, the way we see the world drastically changes. My story is a literal shift – from cancer researcher to leukemia patient, and a very sick one at that. My world came to a screeching halt in September 2010, when at … Read more
No one wants to give their kids bad news, and it’s hard to imagine worse than telling your kids you have cancer. For lymphoma survivors Gina Johnson and Connie Grayson, the challenge was greater, because they not only had their own kids to tell, but as teachers, they also had a school full of children … Read more
Shortly after she was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer, Duncan Finigan met with her oncologist, Eric Winer, MD, at the Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancers at Dana-Farber. “I can’t deal with this ‘stage’ thing,” Finigan told him right away. In response, Winer said Finigan didn’t have to refer to her disease as … Read more
Mary Taber’s marathon training requires a singular focus. It is demanding, solitary, life-affirming – not unlike her treatment five years ago for aplastic anemia and paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH). Taber, intranet editor at Dana-Farber, will mark five years from her March 2011 bone marrow transplant by taking to the storied Boston Marathon® route on April … Read more
By Bob Ferris I thought I could handle things myself when my wife, Ruth, got cancer – and for a while I did. Six years ago, at age 52, Ruth was diagnosed with stage III ovarian cancer. She has a family history of ovarian and endometrial cancers, and was always good about getting regular screenings, … Read more
When Melissa Angiolillo was diagnosed with breast cancer in January 2015, she had all the support of her husband, family and friends. But what she really needed was someone who had gone through what she was about to experience, someone who knew what it was like to face a stage III breast cancer diagnosis. Enter … Read more
Ronaldo de Oliveira was close to death. The 33-year-old father of two young children had been diagnosed with myeloid sarcoma, a rare form of leukemia that worsened despite treatment with six different chemotherapy regimens. His wife pleaded with his oncologist, Richard Stone, MD, director of the Adult Leukemia Program at Dana-Farber, to find something else … Read more
We all know what to expect following a car accident: insurance claims, whiplash, maybe even a broken bone. Cancer, though? Not so common. For 40-year-old Laura Greco, this is what happened following a collision on a snowy day in February 2015. If I hadn’t been in the car accident, I wouldn’t have found the cancer … Read more
By Erin Cummings As a 44-year survivor of childhood cancer, I never would have imagined that patients could be treated in a place as warm and inviting as Dana-Farber. Each time I come for follow-up care, or as a member of the Art and Environment Committee that helps select artwork for the Institute, I think … Read more
Peter Silveira took to calling his daughter, Hannah, a good luck charm during his treatment for gray-zone lymphoma in 2014-15. Now, with her dad’s cancer in remission, the grade-schooler – who accompanied him to several of his treatments at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center (DF/BWCC) – has taken it upon herself to pass some of … Read more