When Minnesota native Charles “Woody” Hubbell went to college, he thought his biggest hurdle would be the culture shock of attending an east coast school that he had never visited in person. But his freshman year, he fell completely in love with the Boston College community and his friends as he pursued a major in … Read more
Her home is filled with plants, inside and out, but one holds special significance for Tara Daniels. A visitor could easily miss it amongst its more grandiose neighbors, but to her it serves as a reminder of the most challenging period of her life — and how she got through it. Back in 2016, the … Read more
The last two school years will be remembered for the tremendous challenges they presented students due to COVID-19, but rising second-grader Caroline McMahan and her family were ready for the pandemic’s limitations after what they had already endured. By the time the pandemic began, Caroline, 7, was already adept at washing up, masking up, and … Read more
At just 18 years old, Gabbi Stewart is a two-time survivor of two very different types of cancer. While her care team acted quickly to aggressively treat her most recent cancer, Stewart was faced with what she says was her greatest challenge: building back up the self-confidence the disease had eroded. A rare diagnosis In … Read more
Charlie Benoit was told that he had a long road ahead of him when he was diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2011. More than seven years later, he’s still doing well—and by studying patients like Benoit, researchers hope to help other patients with this incurable form of brain cancer. In 2011, Benoit, then 48, was getting … Read more
In the summer of 2018, Kelli O’Hara was diagnosed with breast cancer—a difficult diagnosis for her to grapple with, since she lost her own grandmother to breast cancer when she was a child. But because of advancements in cancer research, as well as the care she received at the Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s … Read more
Harry Clark has faced many academic challenges in his dozen years of brain cancer treatment, but through surgeries, radiation, and chemotherapy, one person has always been there to guide and reassure the high school junior and his family on scholastic matters. School psychologist Marybeth Morris, EdM, is one half of a dynamic duo supporting pediatric … Read more
Adult Hodgkin lymphoma has one of the highest cure rates among all cancers. Still, the standard lymphoma therapies – including chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, and steroid therapy – may result in long-term side-effects beginning during treatment, and/or late-term effects arising years or decades after treatment. This is why check-ups and screenings are so important following treatment. … Read more
Ever since he drove a Good Humor truck to pay his way through college, ice cream has meant many things to Dan Schorr: hard work, freedom, friendship, fun. Now, after treatment at Dana-Farber for an aggressive form of lymphoma, he has added another – gratitude. Schorr is founder of Vice Cream, which in June served … Read more
Thanks to major advances in treatment in recent years, patients diagnosed with multiple myeloma today have a much greater life expectancy, even though the blood cancer isn’t curable. It’s possible to think of myeloma – a malignancy affecting antibody-producing immune cells – as a chronic disease with which some individuals can live for many years. … Read more
Saul Heller has been a professional singer and a cantor, a grocer, travel agent, and even an activist blogger. These days, however, the 88-year-old grandfather is especially proud of two new roles: stomach cancer survivor and Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC) volunteer. Each August for 12 years – missing only the summer after his January 2014 surgery – Heller has been … Read more
Gabby Spear, a young, active mom, had never noticed a lump or pain before suddenly finding her breast cancer in November 2013, when she was 38. She was shocked. But, with two young daughters, there wasn’t much time to adjust to her new normal. In the latest episode of Voices: Then and Now, Spear recalls her … Read more
Father’s Day may be when he says it with a card, but cancer survivor Derik Lampron will feel some of his most profound love and appreciation for his dad, Don, during the Boston Marathon® Jimmy Fund Walk presented by Hyundai on Sept. 24. As they cover the famous 26.2-mile course from Hopkinton to Copley Square, … Read more
Gaining the wisdom of another’s experience can be invaluable when facing something new – including cancer. Through the SoulMates program at Dana-Farber’s Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancers, newly diagnosed breast cancer patients can be paired with trained volunteers who have already been through surgery, chemotherapy, radiation or other kinds of treatment. “Our volunteers … Read more
In her research studies with young adult survivors of childhood cancers, pediatric oncologist Natasha Frederick, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, explored sexual dysfunction in survivors between the ages of 18 and 30 years old. She found that most of these young survivors reporting such problems keep their concerns from partners, loved ones, and caregivers, and … Read more
When Mike Johnston felt a lump in his chest in 2009, he assumed it was a side effect of a high blood pressure medication. But after a routine doctor’s visit, followed by a mammogram and ultrasound, Johnston’s diagnosis was confirmed: He had male breast cancer. Only 2,000 men in the U.S. are diagnosed with breast … Read more
Ben Blaisdell was a popular 16-year-old when he started experiencing uncharacteristic chills, which led to an anemia diagnosis and, soon after, the surprising news that he had acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The two-year treatment was tough on him and his entire family, but Blaisdell says that he wouldn’t change his cancer diagnosis even if he … Read more
When Catherine Goff was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma while attending college in the 1970s, it was the shock of a lifetime. Less surprising – but still life-changing – was her later diagnosis with breast cancer, a common secondary cancer for patients like Goff who received high doses of radiation therapy to the chest. Between these … Read more
Olivia Bowie says she’s never been one to make New Year’s resolutions. Since she couldn’t keep commitments like eating healthier or working out more, she didn’t bother making them, the college student jokes. Then, in 2015, doctors discovered she had rhabdomyosarcoma. “Being diagnosed with cancer, and going through treatment, has changed my whole outlook,” says Bowie, … Read more
By Sandy Cassanelli Finding out I had breast cancer in 2013 was very hard; learning two years later that my cancer was metastatic was even more distressing. But both times, exercise helped me face my situation. I was in the best shape of my life when I was diagnosed at age 36. I was running, … Read more