Patient’s Corner
Cancer Is Trying to Steal My Body, but I Will Not Allow It to Steal My Joy
Sheila McGlown, as told to Jo Cavallo
Until I was diagnosed with HER2-positive, estrogen receptor–positive/progesterone receptor–positive de novo metastatic breast cancer in 2009, I didn’t realize that Black women could get the disease. Although my mother died of metastatic breast cancer 5 years earlier when she was 65, she was the only...
I’m a Two-Time Breast Cancer Survivor, and the Experience Has Been Life-Altering
Terri Coutee, as told to Jo Cavallo
Even before my breast cancer diagnosis in early 2002, the year was shaping up to be life-altering for me and my family. We had moved from Seattle to Houston for a new career opportunity for my husband and were just settling into our new home when I felt a pea-sized nodule in my left breast during a ...
Facing the Trauma of Colorectal Cancer
Danielle Ripley-Burgess as told to Jo Cavallo
I first noticed blood in my stool when I was in the 8th grade. My mom and I did an Internet search and were relieved to find that the cause was most likely nothing more serious than hemorrhoids, so I put the problem out of my mind. I played volleyball and had an active social life, and the likelihoo...
I’m Alive by Sheer Force of Will—and a Lot of Luck
Marie Elaine Price-Lockridge, as told to Jo Cavallo
From the moment I felt a searing pain go through my right breast, I had a premonition that something was very wrong. Although I couldn’t feel anything unusual when I did a breast self-exam, I made an appointment with my gynecologist for a more thorough clinical breast exam and a mammogram. Because h...
Being Both a Cancer Provider and a Cancer Survivor Is a Rare Privilege
Raphael E. Pollock, MD, PhD, as told to Jo Cavallo
Perhaps my 35-year career as a surgical oncologist and researcher specializing in soft-tissue sarcomas should have prepared me to recognize the signs of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) when they first appeared a few days before Christmas in 2016, but it did not. In fact, my symptoms were so vague...
Breast Cancer Has Taught Me Many Life Lessons
Marci Greenberg Cox, as told to Jo Cavallo
In 2016, 2 years before I was diagnosed with stage III estrogen and progesterone receptor–positive, HER2-negative, invasive ductal carcinoma in situ in my left breast, I had felt a mass in my right breast that turned out to be a benign fibroid. When I felt a mass in my left breast one morning while ...
I Was Given a ‘Death Sentence’ at Just 17
Morgan Romero, as told to Jo Cavallo
A minor car accident I had with my mother when I was 17 probably saved my life. We were taken to the hospital for a routine checkup, and a subsequent chest x-ray found multiple nodules on my lungs. I underwent dozens of other imaging and blood tests, and finally, my pediatrician suggested my parents...
Cancer Has Taught Me to Live With Purpose
Mike Armstrong, as told to Jo Cavallo
I have had two life-threatening cancers over the past 3 decades and can say without equivocation that there is never a good time to get cancer. My first cancer diagnosis happened in 1992, just weeks after I had accepted the position of Chief Executive Officer of Hughes Electronics. The job meant a c...
What You Need to Know About Cancer and the Coronavirus
ELECTRA D. PASKETT, PhD, AS TOLD TO JO CAVALLO
As a three-time breast cancer survivor, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States this past January, I knew I had to do everything I could to avoid getting the virus. A host of lingering side effects from my surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation treatments have left me with cardiovascular ...
Grateful to Be Alive
Liza Marshall, as told to Jo Cavallo
Everything about my breast cancer diagnosis, from my presentation to diagnosis, was strange. In the spring of 2006, I was performing my monthly breast self-exam when I felt a hard lump in the upper left quadrant of my left breast. Having lost a good friend to breast cancer 4 years earlier, I was hyp...
I’m Living the Life I Was Destined to Have
David Hysong, as told to Jo Cavallo
At 33, I’m not living the life I had imagined for myself. If cancer hadn’t interrupted my plans, I would be serving in the United States Army Special Forces by now, a profession that was inspired by my father’s career as a military officer and helicopter pilot and one that I had dreamed about since ...
I Want to Live Long and I Want to Live Well
Susan Swanson, as told to Jo Cavallo
I’m a person who doesn’t like uncertainty. I’m also a worrier. So, when my hand kept going to the same spot on the upper part of my left breast near my chest wall, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t quite right, which persisted even after a routine mammography failed to find any susp...
I Let Science, Not Emotion, Dictate My Treatment
Karen Peterson, as told to Jo Cavallo
I had my first experience with cancer when I was just 3 or 4 years old and complained to my mother that my “tummy hurt.” I was diagnosed with Wilms tumor, the same cancer my 18-month-old brother died of before I was born. I remember being in the hospital for weeks at a time and being known by family...
I Credit Cancer Research With Saving My Life
Retired Col. Gary R. Steele as told to Jo Cavallo
In December 2015, I thought I was through with cancer. I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2011 after a routine blood test showed that my prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level was high. I underwent prostatectomy, and although it was clear the cancer had breached the capsule of the prostate, for ...
Finding Hope With Cancer
Stephanie Walker, as told to Jo Cavallo
Sometimes there just is no escaping cancer. I thought I had done everything right. I was diligent about adhering to my annual physical exams, including mammograms, and routinely performed breast self-exams to spot any early changes in my breasts. Still, in the summer of 2015, I was diagnosed with ho...
My Life of Service to Other Cancer Survivors
Tristana Vásquez, as told to Jo Cavallo
Six months before my diagnosis of metastatic colorectal cancer, in 2016, at age 38, I told my mom, “I feel like I’m dying.” Even though more than 10 specialists I had seen over the previous 8 years for unexplained bouts of abdominal pain and bloating, fatigue, and constipation kept assuring me that ...
Staying a Step Ahead of Cancer
Jamil Rivers as told to Jo Cavallo
When I was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in 2018, my first thought was, I hope my three young children do not lose two parents to cancer. My husband, Ricky, had survived two bouts of cancer, early-stage colorectal cancer and, most recently, stage I kidney cancer. Like Ricky’s two previou...
Yes, Men Get Breast Cancer, Too
Kirby Lewis, as told to Jo Cavallo
You could call it a sixth sense, but the moment I felt a lump in my left breast I knew it was cancer, although it would take several weeks to confirm the diagnosis. When I saw my primary cancer physician and told him of my concern, he said: “Don’t worry. Men don’t get breast cancer; it’s a woman’s d...
My Age May Have Been a Barrier to Timely Diagnosis of Glioblastoma Multiforme
Adam Hayden as told to Jo Cavallo
I think my age and apparent good health contributed to a delay in my diagnosis of glioblastoma multiforme. The first symptom I had of the cancer appeared on December 26, 2014, when I was 32 years old. My family and I had just gotten home from celebrating the Christmas holiday with our relatives when...
Becoming Acquainted With Cancer
Patrick Beauregard as told to Jo Cavallo
Editor’s Note: The ASCO Post learned of the death of Patrick Beauregard due to colorectal cancer on September 6, 2020. Just weeks after my wedding in late summer of 2017, I had a sudden bout of abdominal pain so severe that it sent me to the emergency room. I was just 29 years old and in great phy...
My Inherited Condition Has Led to a Life and Career I Love
Mark A. Lewis, MD, as told to Jo Cavallo
My father died of thymic cancer when I was 14, and that’s when I decided to become an oncologist. Ironically, the first patient I diagnosed with cancer was me. In 2009, during my first week of training in hematology/oncology at the Mayo Clinic, I began having severe abdominal pain, which had plagu...
I’ve Turned My Pain Into a New Life Purpose
Scott Wilson, as told to Jo Cavallo
The first half of 2016 was arguably the most exciting of my life. My wife, Jaione, and I had decided to leave the United Kingdom and move with our two children, Andrew, then 14, and Alba, then 10, to Denver, where I was taking on a leadership role in corporate affairs for a brewery company. By the b...
I Refuse to Capitulate to Cancer
Paul Kalanithi, MD, as was told to Jo Cavallo
Editor’s note: We regret to announce that Paul Kalanithi, MD, passed away on March 9, 2015. Dr. Kalanithi was Chief Resident in Neurological Surgery at Stanford University when he shared his story, reprinted here, with The ASCO Post just over 1 year ago, in March 2014. We extend our deepest sympathi...
I Say ‘Yes’ to Life
Maureen Markham as told to Jo Cavallo
I have been a registered nurse for almost 5 decades and was completely unprepared to hear the words “You have stage IV lung cancer.” I think receiving the diagnosis was especially shocking because the symptoms I began experiencing in the summer of 2015, including some unusual weight gain, shortnes...
Having Cancer Has Not Affected Me in Any Negative Way
Radhakrishna Vemuri, MD, FACP, as told to Jo Cavallo
I have witnessed much sickness and death over my 35-year career as a medical oncologist. During the early years of my career, I had difficulty dealing with the sickness and death I witnessed on a regular basis. As a result, with help from the Hindu scripture of Bhagavad Gita, I have trained my brain...
A Diagnosis of Advanced Lung Cancer Is No Longer a Death Sentence
Xin Zheng, as told to Jo Cavallo
In hindsight, the symptoms I began experiencing in the winter of 2013, including pains in my chest and shoulders and a persistent cough, should have rung loud alarm bells. However, having undergone a pancreatectomy and splenectomy to cure a history of mucinous cystic neoplasms of the pancreas 5 year...
The Wake
Rashmi Chugh, MD
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of the “Art of Oncology,” as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays, histor...
Facing Death and Appreciating Life
Trent E. Tipple, MD, as told to Jo Cavallo
I have had to come to terms with my own mortality three times in my life and I’m only 46. When I was 17, I was diagnosed with end-stage renal disease and experienced renal failure 2 years later. I underwent my first kidney transplant at 21, just before starting medical school. Finally, I thought my ...
I’m Not Too Young for Colorectal Cancer
Shawn Farrah as told to Jo Cavallo
The first symptoms I had of colorectal cancer—blood in my stool and abdominal pain—coincided with surgery I had to remove my appendix in the spring of 2017. My surgeon attributed the symptoms to the appendectomy and to the medications I received both before and after the surgery. In addition to thos...
My Future Is Doled Out in Increments of 6 Months
Chip Baldwin as told to Jo Cavallo
In the fall of 2015, I was looking forward to a trip to Florida for a visit with my daughter and her family, along with a little relaxation. The evening before the trip, I experienced some abdominal pain that my wife, Angela, and I thought might be appendicitis. Concerned the problem could jeopard...
Brain Cancer Prepared Me for the Isolation and Uncertainty of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Jeremy Pivor, as told to Jo Cavallo
The symptoms of low-grade oligodendroglioma first appeared in the summer of 2003, when I was 12, but they were vague enough—mild headaches and occasional weird sensations on my right side—to ignore. In the fall, I tripped and fell during a game of rollerblade hockey with my classmates and started co...
I Have Multiple Myeloma and Am Concerned About the Coronavirus
Tiffany H. Williams, as told to Jo Cavallo
In hindsight, the symptoms I began experiencing in the fall of 2013—sudden excruciating back bone pain and severe fatigue—should have tipped me off that I had a serious disease, but 7 years ago, they were easy to explain away. The bone pain was similar to what I had experienced several years earlier...
A Clinical Trial Saved My Life
MELINDA BACHINI, AS TOLD TO JO CAVALLO
In the fall of 2009, I began experiencing some abdominal discomfort, pain in my right shoulder, and severe fatigue that were easily explained away as the result of gallstones and by my career as a paramedic. I had many of the risk factors for gallbladder disease, and both my mother and sister suff...
Living A Full Life After Pancreatic Cancer
Marsha Edwards, as told to Jo Cavallo
I have been a radiologic technologist for 47 years, so after going to the bathroom one Sunday morning in October 2018 and finding my urine had suddenly turned dark, I knew something was wrong. I wasn’t in any pain and did not have a urinary tract infection, which would explain the discoloration of m...
I Wasn’t Prepared for the Emotional Turmoil of Breast Cancer
Carrie Kreiswirth as told to Jo Cavallo
Nearly a decade ago, my mother tested positive for the BRCA1 mutation; soon after, my twin sister and I were tested for the inherited defective gene, and I learned I, too, have the BRCA1 mutation. My sister is not a carrier of the mutation. Although there is a long history of both breast and ovarian...
Therapy Is Keeping My Metastatic Breast Cancer Manageable
Eva Joseph, as told to Jo Cavallo
Despite being vigilant about adhering to my annual schedule of screening mammography, in 2002, I was diagnosed with stage III triple-negative breast cancer. The diagnosis scared me, and I wondered if I was going to die. Determined to do what I could to survive the cancer, I underwent aggressive ther...
Cancer Has Made Me the Person I Am, and I’m Grateful
Tomma Hargraves as told to Jo Cavallo
The only clue that I was harboring a life-threatening cancer came as I was driving to a golf lesson in the fall of 2006, and I casually rubbed the left side of neck and felt a tiny bump. Although I wasn’t alarmed at the time, I did point out the mass to my primary care physician when I m...
Genomics-Guided Molecular Targeted Therapy Gave Me Back My Life
Keith Taggart as Told to Jo Cavallo
In October 2014, I noticed a small pea-sized lump on the left side of my cheek. It didn’t hurt, and I didn’t have any physical symptoms that could connect the lump with a rare and serious disease, but I was curious enough about what the lump could be to get it checked out by my primary care physic...
Cancer No Longer Scares Me
Denise Leprine, as told to Jo Cavallo
Cancer was a disease I feared until 3 years ago, when I was diagnosed with gastric cancer. After receiving the diagnosis, I knew I didn’t have any time to indulge in fear; I had to take action if I was going to survive. In hindsight, symptoms of the cancer, including some fatigue and indigestion, st...
My Dream Is That Multiple Myeloma Will One Day Be in My Past and No Longer a Part of My Future
Jenny Ahlstrom as told to Jo Cavallo
A year before my diagnosis of multiple myeloma, in 2010, my husband Paul and I moved with our six children to Monterrey, Mexico, where Paul was helping to create a venture capital industry. We were so busy settling into a new country and getting our children integrated into school that when I star...
Having Cancer Should Not Make You Homeless
Molly MacDonald as told to Jo Cavallo
In the spring of 2005, I was launching a new career as a sales consultant for a startup graphics company and wanted to cross off a few essential things on my to-do list, including getting my annual mammogram and physical, before I started my new job. Although I was surprised when I got a call from...
A Diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma Taught Me to Live in the Moment
Richard Hite, as told to Jo Cavallo
I was just 39 in 2015 when I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. I have a wife and three young children whom I love, a challenging and fulfilling career, and I wasn’t ready to die. When I was first diagnosed, I met with a medical oncologist who had little experience treating this type of cancer. Sh...
Remembering Craig Alguire
The ASCO Post Staff
It is with great sadness that we report Craig Alguire, MD, 42, died on October 11, 2019, at his home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Diagnosed with grade 4 glioblastoma multiforme in 2015, Dr. Alguire chronicled the effects the cancer was having on his life in his Patient’s Corner column, published in th...
A Clinical Trial Was the Right Choice for Me
Cheryl Krafft, as told to Jo Cavallo
Nothing prepared me for a diagnosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in the fall of 2016. I had none of the typical symptoms of the cancer, such as night sweats, enlarged lymph nodes, or fatigue. In fact, my energy level was as high as ever, as I traveled around the country for business, a...
Cancer Taught Me What It Means to Be a Man
Bin McLaurin, as told to Jo Cavallo
Let’s face it, men don’t go to the doctor as often as we should. At least that has been my experience. I felt compelled to finally make an appointment with my primary care physician after I began working as a research assistant at the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai in 2014, as it felt hypocri...
Finding a New Focus After Cancer
Cynthia Hayes, as told to Jo Cavallo
In the early fall of 2015, my daughter and I were on our way to our favorite nail salon to get picture-perfect ready for a gala later that evening at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York, when I got a call from my gynecologist saying I had “flunked my Pap test.” The Pap smear showed at...
Having Cancer as a Teenager Derailed My Life Course
Hernan Barangan, as told to Jo Cavallo
In 1994, I was a normal, active 15-year-old, who loved cars, sports, and rock music, especially songs from my favorite group, The Clash. In fact, it was while jubilantly dancing alone in my room to one of their tunes that I vomited into my hands, an early symptom of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). I h...
A Clinical Trial Was the Right Choice for Me
Tina Marin, as told to Jo Cavallo
I found my cancer quite accidentally. In March 2018, as I was taking a shower, my hand casually brushed against my right mastoid bone, and I noticed the area sounded hollow. Around the same time, I realized I had developed a sense of fullness in that ear as well. I had been feeling tired, but that w...
Remembering Michael D. Becker
The staff of The ASCO Post were sad to learn of the passing of Michael D. Becker on July 9, 2019. When Michael was diagnosed with human papillomavirus (HPV)-related oropharyngeal cancer in 2015, he made the decision to go public with his diagnosis to raise awareness of the importance of having every...
Becoming Acquainted With Cancer
Patrick Beauregard as told to Jo Cavallo
Just weeks after my wedding in late summer of 2017, I had a sudden bout of abdominal pain so severe that it sent me to the emergency room. I was just 29 years old and in great physical shape. In the emergency room, a physician examined me and was about to release me with a prescription for a laxativ...
