Cancer Horizons

Last week brought the approval of two new cancer therapies, as well as some data about the ongoing cancer drug shortage and which groups of patients may be affected most. Also, CURE® spoke to an expert about how sexual activity — while not a requirement — may help follow-up exams be more comfortable for cervical cancer survivors.  In this episode we’re looking back at the top oncology news from la...

Meet Dr. Ulka Vaishampayan* – an oncologist and leading expert in treating people with kidney cancer, including renal cell carcinoma (RCC) which is the most common type of kidney cancer in adults. She understands all too well how scary and overwhelming hearing the words “you have cancer” can be for anyone – especially when facing an advanced diagnosis in RCC. In these cases, Dr. Vaishampayan belie...

Charlene Wexler has turned profound grief into a world of stories. Wexler is the Chicago-based author of seven books as well as several short stories. Inspiration for what would become her 2014 debut novel, “Lori,” arrived following the loss of her son, Jeffrey, who received a diagnosis of leukemia in 1977 at the age of eight and died in 1981 at the age of 12. “I always wrote for myself, and writi...

Last week, the European Society of Medical Oncology (EMSO) held their annual Congress in Madrid. The conference brought together cancer researchers from around the globe, who presented their clinical trial data — some of which has the potential to change the way cancers are treated.  For example, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves therapies based on study data that proves that the reg...

For patients with metastatic breast cancer, the annual October observance of Breast Cancer Awareness Month can bring a complex mix of emotions. “I think a lot of the messaging in October tends to focus on pink, and it almost looks a little sparkly,” said Sally Joy Wolf, who first received a diagnosis of breast cancer eight years ago before learning it had metastasized five years ago. Wolf, to be c...

For opera singer Kathleen Watt, a life-changing cancer journey began during an otherwise routine trip to her family dentist. In January of 1997 when Watt was 43 years old, the examination of a bump in the gumline at the back of her upper jaw eventually led to Watt receiving a diagnosis of the bone cancer osteosarcoma, which would be followed by treatment that included chemotherapy and a decade-lon...

For Andrew McMahon, a singer-songwriter and cancer survivor, the act of forgetting an anniversary was a good thing. Alongside his band, Andrew McMahon and the Wilderness, he was set to play the inaugural Adjacent festival on the beach in Atlantic City, New Jersey on May 27, part of a daily lineup that included Paramore, Jimmy Eat World and Bleachers.  The date of the festival coincided with a land...

It’s been more than 35 years since Peter Kahan and Dr. Ravi Munver first met. Back then, they were a teacher and his student, respectively. These days, the two men remain connected, but their relationship has evolved — Munver is now a key member of Kahan’s bladder cancer care team. “To have to have a somebody who really looks upon you as a friend as (your) doctor, (who) really can see you as more...

Bill C. Potts, author of the book “Up for the Fight,” lends his experiences and knowledge about cancer to his readers as a five-time cancer survivor.  “In September of 2020, I woke up from surgery to remove a really painful tumor in below my right hip,” Potts told CURE® during an exclusive interview. “And I had an emotional breakdown, when I was waking up from the surgery in the recovery room, and...

It’s been nearly a decade since Christina McAmis began her journey with stage 4 breast cancer. At the time, she was a 32-year-old married mother of three, including twin boys and a baby daughter, and had recently begun studying at a California law school. “All sorts of positive, amazing things were coming together into what I thought was going to be the happiest time of my life,” she told CURE ®....

The work continues, and evolves, for the team at Latinas Contra Cancer as the service and advocacy organization working with Latino patients with cancer approaches its 20th anniversary later this year. “The needs have changed,” executive director Darcie Green, who has been with the organization for five years, told CURE ®. “It's important for organizations to do this continuous check-in to see, 'I...

William S. Laird gives readers an enlightening, inspiring and unflinching look at his journey with appendiceal cancer in the memoir “Not Me, Cancer,” now available via Archway Publishing. “I wrote this book when I was on chemo,” Laird tells CURE . “And I told my wife one day, I said, ‘I'm gonna write a book about this experience.’ And of course, I got a pump on my side, and she's looking at me lik...

Mike Peters, the singer and guitarist of Welsh rockers The Alarm, gives fans an inside perspective of his cancer journey on “Forwards,” the band’s new album arriving via The Twenty First Century Recording Company on June 2. Peters wrote his band’s latest LP while hospitalized for leukemia — often using members of his care team as an unofficial sounding board for the new material. Peters’ two-month...

There’s no stopping Dr. Dawn Mussallem. Mussallem — a lifestyle medicine and integrative breast cancer specialist at the Robert and Monica Jacoby Center for Breast Health at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida — is a cancer survivor, a recipient of both bone marrow and heart transplants, a mother and a marathon runner. Mussallem explained to CURE® how her own life experiences have helped her...

It took a 15-minute doctor’s appointment to change Shannon Miller’s life.  Miller, a two-time Olympic gymnast who earned seven medals, was diagnosed with a rare form of ovarian cancer in January 2011. She first had surgery to have a baseball-sized tumor removed from her ovary before undergoing aggressive chemotherapy.    Throughout this experience, she tapped into her competitive and hardworking n...

Before being diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer at the age of 34, Jennifer Broxterman was constantly told that she was young and healthy — but the registered dietitian knew that something was off. 

At the time of her cervical cancer diagnosis in 2015, Emily Lynn Paulson was involved in a multi-level marketing (MLM) company — a business where individuals sign up to sell products, and then are encouraged to recruit others to distribute under them.  “When I got the diagnosis, I thought ‘OK, I’m going to have to step back and take a break from this,” Paulson said in an interview with CURE®. “I w...

Teri Griege completed an Ironman triathlon in 2009, and less than a month later received a stage 4 colorectal cancer diagnosis. In this episode of Cancer Horizons, she shared her story. 

In this episode of the “Cancer Horizons” podcast, “Rabbi G” discusses his global travels to teach breathwork to children with cancer, and gives an exercise listeners can use to decrease their pain and anxiety. 

Lung cancer survivor Terri Conneran shares her story of creating a non-profit to help connect with fellow patients and survivors who have the KRAS biomarker. 

A childhood cancer survivor now works raising funds for Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the same hospital where she received treatment for Ewing sarcoma at 12 years old.  

When Sean Korbitz was a 20-year-old college student, his life trajectory changed with a rare cancer diagnosis, resulting in the removal of 40 tumors; fifteen years later, a new drug made him feel like a “medical miracle.”  

After Marshall Morris was diagnosed with a rare cancer and given only six months to live, he created a charity that empowers people with terminal illness and provides them with counseling and support. 

A nurse shares what it was like when her daughter was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.