Cancer comes with significant stress and anxiety for patients and their loved ones, which can make managing treatment even more difficult. Recently, Karen Fasciano, PsyD, clinical psychiatrist at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center, joined four patients to discuss their experiences. “Often when we tell ourselves we can’t feel anxious, the anxiety gets bigger,” said Fasciano, … Read more
Young women may think about having children, but when diagnosed with breast cancer, patients often face these decisions long before they thought they would have to. For Maggie Loucks, NP-C, who was diagnosed at age 28, preserving fertility became a major factor in deciding what treatment plan to pursue. “You’re 28-years old and you want to … Read more
Young adults often have their sights set on the future, anticipating college, working at their dream job, or traveling. One place they don’t plan to be is in an infusion chair undergoing cancer treatment. Cancer disrupts everyone, but especially adults age 18-34 who are growing into adulthood and starting careers and families. The Young Adult … Read more
One of the most difficult aspects of having cancer is deciding who to tell and when. For young adults who may be attending college, maintaining an active social life, or starting a family, these questions are especially critical. Karen Fasciano, PsyD, and her colleagues in the Young Adult Program at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center … Read more
Testicular cancer, which is most often diagnosed in men between the ages of 20 and 34, often creates major concerns about fertility and sexuality for people of all ages. While treatment will require removal of the affected testicle, someone can still retain full sexual function after surgery. Likewise, while treatment can affect fertility, there are … Read more
For anyone who’s been out of circulation for a while, re-entering the world of dating can be awkward. It’s extra-challenging for cancer survivors. “Concerns about when to disclose health status, and the feeling that they don’t know how to deal with these questions, make dating relationships more difficult for cancer survivors,” says Karen Fasciano, PsyD., … Read more
Ben O’Clair was a college senior studying for finals when he first felt the twinges of pain in his side. A day later, the 21-year-old was in a hospital learning he had cancer. He left school immediately, moved back to his mother’s house in Holliston, Mass., and began arduous chemotherapy treatments at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s … Read more
If you look down at your stomach, glide your eyes diagonally from your belly button to the lower right side of your abdomen: that’s your appendix. It is a finger-shaped organ that stems from your colon. With two primary functions — supporting the immune system and potentially serving as a safe house for good bacteria, as theorized from some– the appendix is a small, but mighty organ that is important to take note of, especially given the recent … Read more
Devon Choi had a great job, a terrific group of friends, and had just run the Boston Marathon – the first of six 26.2-mile races he hoped to complete in major cities around the world. So, when the East Boston resident felt a lump on his left testicle while showering in May 2023, he shrugged it off. Choi was … Read more
Whether it may be genetic or environmental, there are many factors that can lead to cancer. One of these factors could be infections, which can be caused by bacteria, fungi, and/or viruses. Viruses insert themselves inside our bodies and alter our otherwise functioning genes, making us sick. Viruses can only thrive when they infect a … Read more
The walk is a little different each day, sometimes a twisting, turning path through the various side streets of Boston’s Longwood Medical Area, and on other occasions more of a straight line down bustling thoroughfares. One thing, though, remains consistent: no matter which route Paris Prinsen, 21, takes from her apartment to classes at the … Read more
As a record-setting high school runner, Colby Rochford was an anchorman — the guy teammates depended on to take the baton and sprint to victory. These days, while away at college, Rochford is still a young man in a hurry. The opponent now is T-cell lymphoma, and every third Monday, he dashes from class to … Read more
With the Boston Red Sox having their best season in years and contending for the playoffs, crowds have been regularly filling Fenway Park to capacity this summer. For one small contingent of these baseball fans, the trips will prove especially meaningful regardless of what transpires on the field. This rotating group, mostly young children and … Read more
“The world needs more Dr. Soiffers – and more Nicoles.” Such is the wisdom of Judy Mangione, 80, who credits these two individuals for the fulfilling life she is enjoying with her husband, Bob, and their combined six children and 10 grandchildren. Robert Soiffer, MD, treated Mangione with the January 2022 stem cell transplant that … Read more
When Clelia Lavoie, then 49, began experiencing abdominal pain in 2019, she had a feeling it was something serious despite dismissals from her doctor. Lavoie’s intuition was right. A colonoscopy led to a diagnosis of stage IV colorectal cancer that had metastasized to her thyroid, back, and liver. She needed surgery to remove part of … Read more
As a 20-year mammographer, 72-year-old Catherine Mulqueen often encountered patients at their most vulnerable. And she was always proactive about her own healthcare, especially because her cystic breasts made potentially worrisome lumps hard to detect. Mulqueen stayed current on mammograms until 2010 when her husband, Michael, became gravely ill with renal cell carcinoma. When she … Read more
In recent decades, rates of some cancers, such as colorectal cancer, have been rising in young adults under the age of 50. One possible explanation for this rise is a parallel rise in obesity rates and changes in diet, activity levels and lifestyle. However, says Kimmie Ng, MD, MPH, director of Dana-Farber’s Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer … Read more
A recent analysis of pancreatic cancer statistics in the United States has found that the incidence of pancreatic cancer is increasing faster in younger adults than among older adults. Though this finding is cause for further investigation, the incidence overall remains low. “This is still a rare cancer in young people,” says Asaf Maoz, MD, … Read more
Andrew Ciardelli’s annual brothers’ hunting trip in Idaho took a turn for the worse when the stomach issues he had lived with for years suddenly became unbearable. Years before the trip, a urologist told Ciardelli that the cause of his pain and the blood in his stool was hemorrhoids. “They told me as long as … Read more
Dana-Farber researcher Charles Stiles, PhD, remembers the call. It was 2008 and a colleague phoned from a conference to deliver the news. Two separate research teams had discovered a genetic driver for the most common of childhood brain tumors called pediatric low-grade glioma. The problem of finding a genetic target to improve treatment for this … Read more