Patient’s Corner
Breast Cancer Stalked My Family for Generations and Finally Came for Me
Dawn Yates as told to Jo Cavallo
My maternal grandmother, mother, and two of my mother’s sisters were all diagnosed with breast cancer when they were relatively young, so I figured one day, the disease would come for me. Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed among Alaska Native women,1 and at a very early age, my sister...
A Clinical Trial for Bladder Cancer Gave Me Back My Life
Lesa Kirkman, as told to Jo Cavallo
About 8 years ago, I was just a few years into menopause when I noticed blood in my urine. It wasn’t accompanied by pain, frequent urination, or any other troubling symptoms, so initially I wasn’t too concerned. But when I started passing pieces of tissue, I became alarmed and made an appointment wi...
I Am Young and Fit—and Have Stage IV Alveolar Soft-Part Sarcoma
Alexis Browning as told to Jo Cavallo
Except for my right thigh being bigger than my left thigh, there was no hint that I was harboring advanced alveolar soft-part sarcoma when I was diagnosed with the cancer in 2019. I initially chocked up the discrepancy in my legs to the vigorous workouts I had received during my cheerleading days, b...
Preventing Cancer Should Not Mean Sacrificing Quality of Life
Kathleen M. Ruddy, as told to Jo Cavallo
My family first suspected we might have inherited the BRCA1/2 gene mutation after my father was diagnosed with his third cancer, colorectal cancer, following multiple bouts of squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma beginning in his 30s and later prostate cancer. But the high risk of cancer...
My Breast Cancer Experience Has Led Me to Leverage My Expertise in Human-Centered Design to Transform Patient Care
Sylvie Leotin as told to Jo Cavallo
The road to my breast cancer diagnosis in 2018 was long and tortuous. For 3 years leading up to the diagnosis, I had imaging scans and tissue biopsies every 3 months because of suspicious masses in my breasts. The uncertainty was so destabilizing that I was in a constant state of emotional unrest. D...
I Don’t Want Cancer to Define Me
Cindy Brown, as told to Jo Cavallo
Except for a series of unexplained multiple broken bones and inexplicable excruciating pain in my right hip and leg, I had no other hallmarks of multiple myeloma when I was diagnosed with the disease at age 48 in 2014. My blood test values were all normal, and I didn’t have anemia or kidney damage. ...
Having Colorectal Cancer at 32 Changed the Trajectory of My Life
Allison Rosen, MS, as told to Jo Cavallo
I’ve been contending with health issues since I was 12, when I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. As I began my early 30s, I was feeling the healthiest of my life. I was working out 5 days a week and attributed sudden weight loss and fatigue to weight training and high-intensity Zumba classes. Th...
A Cancer Diagnosis at 19 Taught Me That It Takes Constant Vigilance to Stay Mentally Healthy
Alec Kupelian as told to Jo Cavallo
A lot of my experience with cancer is hazy to me. I was taking narcotics for pain around the clock when I was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma in 2013, so there are some missing memories during those early days. I was 19 and a freshman in college when my symptoms started. I have always been active in...
Getting a Cancer Diagnosis at Age 16 Has Taught Me to Live in the Present
Nelson Peralta, as told to Jo Cavallo
I have been fascinated with death since I was 3 years old. I remember going to my great-grandfather’s funeral and asking my mother where my great-grandfather was. She said he is in heaven. I asked her if I were going to heaven, too, and she said, “Yes, but not for a long time.” Today, I don’t belie...
A Diagnosis of Ewing Sarcoma Altered the Trajectory of My Life
Mafalda Von Alvensleben as told to Jo Cavallo
In August 2014, just a few weeks after my 15th birthday, my body began sending me a lot of worrisome signals that life as I knew it would soon be over. The year before, I had developed a hematoma in my right femur, which was resolved with surgery. But now the pain I was experiencing in that leg was ...
Finding a New Life Purpose After Cancer
Carlos Rene Valdez, as told to Jo Cavallo
In the summer of 2012, I was living my dream. At 28 years old, I had gone from an impoverished childhood in South Central Los Angeles to the high life in the city of Los Angeles. Unable to afford to go to college, an after-school program helped launch me into a career in the hospitality industry. I ...
Instinct and Perseverance Helped Save Me From Two Cancers
Diana Heller as told to Jo Cavallo
My intuition about my health has served me well over the past 10 years, possibly even saving my life from two serious cancers. In 2013, I was diagnosed with follicular lymphoma. I believe that my awareness of changes in my body led to its early discovery. One evening, after exercising at the gym wi...
After Two Cancer Diagnoses, I’m Grateful for Another Day
Loriana Hernandez-Aldama, as told to Jo Cavallo
The start of January 2014 was filled with excitement. I was undergoing fertility treatments to have a second child and was living my professional dream. I was a network news anchor and medical news reporter for a national broadcast network. Although I was exhausted from my grueling early morning sch...
Overcoming Financial Toxicity From Cancer
Keneene Lewis, MEd, BSM, as told to Jo Cavallo
I knew the moment my fingers found a lump in my left breast, in 2018, that it was cancer, and I wondered if I was going to die. My maternal grandmother had been diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 39, the same age I was when I discovered the mass in my breast. She died 5 years later. Divorced...
Turning Fear Into Hope
Shirlee Simpson as told to Jo Cavallo
The first sign that pancreatic cancer was stalking my family was in 1982, when my mother was diagnosed with stage IV disease. She was just 54 years old and died several months later. After two more family members in their early 50s were also diagnosed with the cancer, I began to worry that I would b...
I Didn’t Want My Past to Become My Future
Yoli Origel, as told to Jo Cavallo
When I felt a large mass in my left breast as I was drying off from a shower on Thanksgiving Day, in 2007, I instinctively knew it was cancer. My mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 38, just 7 years older than I was at the time, and died 4 years later. I was 6 when she was diag...
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...
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...
Early Detection of Pancreatic Cancer Saved My Life
IVY DUNEIER, AS TOLD TO JO CAVALLO
When my sister was diagnosed with breast cancer 25 years ago, her medical team suggested we undergo genetic testing for the BRCA gene mutation. I knew that being a BRCA carrier put me at greater risk for breast and ovarian cancers, but I had no idea it also increased my risk for pancreatic cancer. I...
I Was Unprepared for a Diagnosis of Mantle Cell Lymphoma
Jeff Dunn, PhD, AO
The irony is not missed on me. In August 2022, 2 months before I was to start my tenure as President of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), I was diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma. My entire career over the past 30 years has been in the pursuit of improving global cancer control and...
An Incidental Finding of Cancer Likely Saved My Life
Debra Bowler, as told to Jo Cavallo
Except for a ganglion cyst that had mysteriously popped up on the palm of my right hand in the winter of 2016, I appeared to be in excellent health. I had never had any serious illnesses in my then 55 years and rarely even got colds. If the annoying cyst hadn’t interfered with my normal daily routin...
I’m BRCA-Positive and Survived Both Breast and Pancreatic Cancers
BETTY DICKER, RN, MSN, AS TOLD TO JO CAVALLO
Cancer has stalked my family for generations. My mother, brother, and maternal uncle were diagnosed with melanoma. Fortunately, all survived. When my sister was diagnosed with early-stage invasive ductal carcinoma in 2010, she underwent genetic testing, which showed she was positive for the BRCA2 ...
Genetics Likely Caused My Small Cell Lung Cancer
REBECCA GLOMMEN, AS TOLD TO JO CAVALLO
When I was diagnosed with lung cancer, in 2007, I asked the physician not to tell me the type, stage, or prognosis. I was about to start nursing school and was aware enough about the disease to know that not many people survived. I’ve since discovered that I had stage 3B small cell lung cancer, wh...
I Haven’t Known a Life Without von Hippel-Lindau Disease
Alexandra Vitale, as told to Jo Cavallo
Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease has been with me since I was 5 years old, when a benign tumor was found on the optic nerve of my left eye, leaving me blind in that eye. But I didn’t get an official diagnosis of the disease until 2011, when I was 20. By then, it was like a light switch had turned on,...
I’m Doing My Part to Erase the Stigma Surrounding Lung Cancer
Lindi Campbell, as told to Jo Cavallo
Ironically, I received a diagnosis of lung cancer when I was feeling my healthiest. In December 2015, when I was just 51 years old, a routine chest x-ray found a small shadow on the lower lobe of my right lung. Despite being a never-smoker, a regular exerciser, and a healthy eater, my primary care p...
Grateful to Be Alive
JOHNNY BORGSTROM, AS TOLD TO JO CAVALLO
Although there is no history of cancer in my family, I guess it isn’t surprising that I would develop an aggressive form of melanoma on my scalp after years of ultraviolet radiation from sun exposure. Still, getting the diagnosis was devastating. I first noticed a small lump on the top of my head...
The Beauty and the Beast of Cancer
Ann Graham, as told to Jo Cavallo
The most humbling—and fortunate—experience I’ve had since I was diagnosed with osteosarcoma 13 years ago at the age of 43 was being treated in the pediatric wing of a major cancer center in New York City. It is pretty difficult to feel sorry for yourself when you are sitting next to a 14-year-old ad...
Undaunted
Donna Chen, as told to Jo Cavallo
Soon after my marriage, in 2003, I noticed swelling in the glands around my throat. Although I otherwise felt fine, I went to see my primary care physician for a checkup and a blood test. The results of the test showed that I had an abnormally high number of lymphocytes circulating in my bloodstream...
A Serendipitous Ride Along a Highway May Have Saved My Life
Denise Lee, as told to Jo Cavallo
In 2017, I noticed a roadside billboard touting the benefits of low-dose computed tomography (CT) imaging for lung cancer screening. The message probably saved my life. The public service campaign, called Saved by the Scan from the American Lung Association, included an Internet address where I coul...
I Have the BRCA2 Gene Mutation: Here’s What I’m Doing to Prevent Cancer
Steven Kalister, as told to Jo Cavallo
My father was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1994, when he was just 55 years old. He died 6 years later. The cancer was so aggressive, it took only a few weeks from the time he was diagnosed for the cancer to grow to the size of a softball, and even a radical prostatectomy couldn’t save his life....
A Laryngectomy Altered How I See Myself in the World
Bill Brummel, as told to Jo Cavallo
There is a 2-decades-long separation between the time I was diagnosed with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma in 1996 and my laryngectomy in 2016. The surgery was necessary because of the long-term damage to my larynx from the radiation therapy I received. In 1996, I had a low-grade sore throat ...
I’ve Had Two Primary Lung Cancers, and They Haven’t Defeated Me
Dorothy Turner, as told to Jo Cavallo
I don’t know why I am so susceptible to developing lung cancer. Since 2014, I have been diagnosed with both non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer, each occurring in my right lung. I have also been diagnosed with precancerous colon polyps, which necessitated invasive surgery. ...
Living With Metastatic Breast Cancer
Pam Kohl, as told to Jo Cavallo
After my first breast cancer diagnosis, in 2010, the odds for a cure were seemingly all weighted in my favor. A routine mammogram screening had picked up a small—less than 1 cm—mass in my right breast, and a tissue biopsy confirmed it was stage I estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer. I had no fa...
An Aggressive Type of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Threatened My Life
Devorah Aschendorf as told to Jo Cavallo
I was just 31 and about to give birth to my fourth child, Yitzchok, when I received a diagnosis of primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma. The news was terrifying and crippling. For months, I had been experiencing shortness of breath, coughing, and a pain in my left shoulder, all of which were ex...
Surviving Advanced Prostate Cancer Has Made Me a More Empathetic Physician
Gary M. Onik, MD, as told to Jo Cavallo
My diagnosis of terminal prostate cancer 3 years ago was filled with irony. As an interventional radiologist, I have treated hundreds of patients with advanced prostate cancer, and I knew my prognosis wasn’t good. After experiencing some of the common symptoms of the cancer, including voiding proble...
Thriving After a Diagnosis of Stage II Anal Cancer
Daniel G. Garza, as told to Jo Cavallo
About 7 years ago, I had emergency hernia surgery and soon after began experiencing severe constipation and abdominal bloating. I had started to have minor symptoms leading up to the surgery, but now the pain and exhaustion of trying to have a bowel movement became unbearable. I met with a gastroent...
CAR T-Cell Therapy Gave Me Back a High-Quality Life
David Wellenstein, MD, as told to Jo Cavallo
A radiologist by training, I knew the minute I saw the results from my chest x-ray that I had multiple myeloma. In 2015, I was semiretired and had just taken up the game of golf. After making a big swing at the ball, I instantly felt pain in my ribs and thought I had either pulled an intercostal mus...
Immunotherapy Has Given Me Back My Life
Susan Falbo as told to Jo Cavallo
Hearing the words “You have cancer” is a devastating blow, especially when the biggest health issues you’ve had to contend with over more than 6 decades are common colds and knee and hip replacements. But in 2017, the symptoms I thought were from a lingering summer cold drove me to seek medical atte...
Finding a New Normal After Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma
Aram Demirjian as told to Jo Cavallo
As every patient diagnosed with cancer knows, the disease affects not just your physical well-being, but your emotional well-being, too. I was just 35 years old when I was diagnosed with early-stage classical Hodgkin lymphoma this past summer, and the news came at a time when I was feeling in top ph...
Why Are Black Women Still Dying at Higher Rates Than White Women From Breast Cancer?
Rev. Tammie Denyse, MDiv, MCL, as told to Jo Cavallo
What is so dismaying to me is that the statistic on survival for Black women with breast cancer has not changed since I was diagnosed with breast cancer 17 years ago. In 2005, Black women were 41% more likely to die of the disease than White women, even though Black women are less likely to be diagn...
Having Metastatic Breast Cancer Has Led Me to Focus on What Matters
Reverend Tawana Davis, PhD, as told to Jo Cavallo
Nothing can really prepare you for cancer, but it helped that I have dedicated my life in service to others as a minister and advocate for social justice and health equity in breast cancer survivorship. Before my own breast cancer diagnosis in 2016, I had spent years as a volunteer for several breas...
I Enrolled in the WISDOM Study and Learned I Am at High Risk for Cancer
Sally Luckett, as told to Jo Cavallo
I have always been interested in volunteering my services and helping others, so when I got an e-mail asking if I’d like to participate in the WISDOM (Women Informed to Screen Depending on Measures of Risk) study (www.thewisdomstudy.org) I signed on. The study plans to enroll 100,000 diverse women f...
Grieving the Loss of Sexual Intimacy as a Result of Cancer and Its Treatment
Aaron Martin as told to Jo Cavallo
About 5 years ago, I began experiencing some digestive issues that I initially blamed on the stress from coping with my mother’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. But after 2 weeks of unrelenting symptoms, including abdominal pain, a change in my bowel habits, and rectal bleeding, I saw my primary c...
As a Black Woman, I Knew I Had to Advocate for the Best Breast Cancer Care
Shannon Coleman, MA, as told to Jo Cavallo
When I got the call from the radiology department telling me I had to come back for a follow-up mammogram right before Christmas of 2020, I wasn’t surprised or initially concerned. I have dense breasts, and my first mammogram 2 years earlier had also detected suspicious areas in one of my breasts th...
Cancer Has Made Me a Risk-Taker, and That’s Good
Tiffany Fagnani, RN, as told to Jo Cavallo
In 2017, I was caring for my brother, who was suffering from respiratory failure due to complications from cerebral palsy, and working full-time as a registered nurse. I was feeling overwhelmed and exhausted all the time. I was also losing weight at an alarming rate—more than 70 pounds in just a yea...
I Don’t Know Why I Got Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer
Diego Davis-Olegário, as told to Jo Cavallo
Throughout my adolescence and early adulthood, I had been plagued with digestive issues, including bouts of gastritis and constipation, which seemed normal for me and wasn’t too concerning. But by the time I turned 30, in 2015, the acid reflux I had been experiencing became so frequent and uncomfort...
I’m Living—and Thriving—With Stage IV Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
Janet Wohlmacher as told to Jo Cavallo
A diagnosis, in 2020, of stage IV adenocarcinoma non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was found accidentally. I was 55 at the time and in the best physical shape of my life. I had spent the previous year and a half on a diet and exercise regimen that had rendered me 35 pounds lighter and feeling healt...
From Cancer Survivor to Citizen Astronaut
HAYLEY ARCENEAUX, AS TOLD TO JO CAVALLO
When I was diagnosed with osteosarcoma of my left femur nearly 20 years ago, I remember telling my parents that I didn’t want to die. The diagnosis was terrifying because all the people I knew who had cancer had passed away, and I thought this cancer would kill me, too. That evening, my dad went onl...
The Worst Part of Having Cancer Was the Guilt
Tonie Forster, RN, PMHNP, DNP, as told to Jo Cavallo
When I was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer in 1992, at age 38, I remember thinking, “I wish I had breast cancer.” Breast cancer elicits such sympathy from people. A diagnosis of small cell lung cancer mainly gets you stern looks of disapproval and disappointment. There is so much stigma attach...
Having Stage IV Lung Cancer Has Refocused My Life
Frank Sierawski, as told to Jo Cavallo
The first indication I had stage IV lung cancer was a persistent cough during the beginning of the cold-and-flu season in the fall of 2013. I was 35 years old, never smoked, and in otherwise excellent health, so I ignored the cough for several months until I noticed my breathing had also become more...
