The Bloodline with Blood Cancer United Podcast

Bishoy Tadros Listen in as Alicia and Lizette from The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society speak with Bishoy Tadros.  Bishoy was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) at three years old. As an Egyptian immigrant with many things for his family to consider such as, where the best treatment would be and how to go about relocating, Bishoy describes his journey as a cancer survivor. He ex...

Oya Gilbert Oya knew he was sick, but his inclinations were met with people telling him he was a hypochondriac.  Oya recounts the moment in his life when he decided to increase his health insurance after being told by doctors that he was fine for many years prior.  It was during the insurance company’s own testing that they told him something was wrong and instructed him to bring their r...

Chelsea Keeler, MSW, LSW When you think about a pediatric patient, they are not a child living in a vacuum. They are part of a very complex system that is suddenly impacted by a cancer diagnosis. Psychosocial care helps to address every piece of that complicated system to successfully get patients the treatment that they need. Join Alicia and Lizette from The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS),...

Pallawi Torka, MD One of the most important reasons to seek a second opinion is to protect yourself from misdiagnosis. Researchers have found that the rates of misdiagnosis and mistreatment are higher than you might suspect. Join Alicia and Lizette from The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), as they speak with Dr. Pallawi Torka,  Assistant Professor of Oncology  and  Co-Pro...

Tim Card They say hindsight is always 20/20. Looking back, Tim Card remembers how his body may have been sending signals that something was wrong, but how he often attributed them to his active and busy lifestyle. Tim received his shocking lymphoma diagnosis after logging onto his medical portal, while awaiting test results. Tim is Penn State Cancer Institute’s  first  chi...

Monica Bryant, Esq. Did you know that if somebody is eligible for Medicaid and also eligible for COBRA coverage, some states may actually pay their private COBRA premium? Learn about this and more as Alicia and Lizette chat with Monica Bryant and ask her questions that many of  you  have asked! Monica is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer for Triage Cancer, a national non-profit...

Gina DeLuca Eating a well-balanced diet is important, especially with a diagnosis of multiple myeloma. A proper diet during and after cancer treatment can help you feel better, maintain your strength, and positively impact recovery time. Listen in as Alicia and Lizette speak with Gina DeLuca. Gina is an Outpatient Oncology Dietitian for the Center for Cancer Care at NYU Winthrop Hospital. The...

Casey Biltz-Marsh Listen in as Alicia and Lizette speak with Casey Biltz Marsh. Casey is a high school mathematics teacher and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) survivor. With Spring Break approaching, Casey noticed her increasing fatigue however, attributed it to the demands of a high school teacher during that time. Casey realized something was  very  wrong when she attended a Garth Brooks...

Jason Khalipa Listen in as Alicia speaks with Jason Khalipa. Jason is a devoted father, world champion, and global businessman.  Jason is a force of nature in the fitness world whose life was turned upside down when his daughter, Ava, was diagnosed with leukemia in 2016 at the age of 4.  Jason and his wife, Ashley, dedicated themselves to the fight armed with a positive mindset and an em...

  Mirinda   David   Alejandro To kick off Caregiver Awareness Month, we invite you to join the conversation as we chat with three caregivers! Listen in as Alicia and Lizette speak with Mirinda, David and Alejandro about their varying caregiving roles. Mirinda, David and Alejandro will share how their loved ones’ acute myeloid leukemia (AML) diagnosis impacted their own lives. On this episode, they...

Alan Kraimer Listen in as Alicia and Lizette speak with Alan Kraimer. Alan is an acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) survivor who owns a small medical supply distribution company in Georgia. In 2014, what Alan and doctors believed to be strep throat soon proved to be otherwise. It was not until his third visit to Urgent Care that he was referred to a hematologist in which he received his leukemia d...

Stan Friedman Listen in as Alicia and Lizette speak with Stan Friedman. Stan is a trial lawyer and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) survivor from Savannah, Georgia. After receiving abnormal lab work and noticing swollen lymph nodes that his doctor pointed out, Stan was referred to a hematologist/oncologist for a bone marrow biopsy. Join them as Stan describes how he was diagnosed, the initial questions...

Chuck Colletti On this episode, Alicia and Lizette speak with Chuck Colletti, a two-time survivor of Stage 4 follicular lymphoma. Chuck was diagnosed in early 2016 when he underwent 7 months of chemotherapy which put his cancer into temporary remission. Unfortunately, 7 months later, it returned in a more aggressive form. With options dwindling, he was accepted into a CAR T-cell therapy clinical t...

Micheline Toussaint, LCSW, RYT, SEP Survivor’s guilt is not an unusual reaction among those who have experienced a traumatic event, especially those impacted by cancer. Join in as Shona sits down with Micheline Toussaint onsite at CancerCon 2019. CancerCon is an annual conference held every year by Stupid Cancer, an organization that provides support to young adult cancer survivors. Micheline is a...

Rayne H. Rouce, MD On this episode, Alicia and Lizette speak with Dr. Rayne H. Rouce. Dr. Rouce is a pediatric hematologist and oncologist at Texas Children’s Cancer Center where she is a member of the Leukemia and Bone Marrow Transplant programs. She works as part of The Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at Baylor College of Medicine, focused on translating targeted T-cell therapies, and has been...

Elissa Baldwin Join in as Shona sits down with Elissa Baldwin onsite at CancerCon 2019. CancerCon is an annual conference held every year by Stupid Cancer, an organization that provides support to young adult cancer survivors. Elissa is a young adult acute myeloid leukemia (AML) survivor. After a bone marrow biopsy two weeks earlier, she went on a solo trip to Europe and was diagnosed by email whi...

Rayne H. Rouce, MD Join Alicia and Lizette as they speak with Dr. Rayne H. Rouce. Dr. Rouce is a pediatric hematologist and oncologist at Texas Children’s Cancer Center where she is a member of the Leukemia and Bone Marrow Transplant programs. Specifically, she works as part of a research program called The Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at Baylor College of Medicine, focused on translating targ...

Ellen Polamero, LCSW, OSW-C, ACHP-SW Join in as Shona sits down with Ellen Polamero onsite at CancerCon 2019. Ellen is a clinical social worker at City of Hope in Duarte, California. CancerCon is an annual conference held year by Stupid Cancer, an organization that provides support to young adult cancer survivors. This is the fourth year that Ellen has hosted a ‘Couples Coping with Cancer’ session...

Jonathon B. Cohen, MD Like any therapy that is administered in oncology, there is great promise but also, unfortunately, several toxicities and side effects that must be understood and monitored. Join Alicia and Lizette as they speak with Dr. Jonathon B. Cohen, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. On...

Mohammad Maher Abdul-Hay, MD Join Alicia and Lizette as they speak with Dr. Mohammad Maher Abdul-Hay, a hematologist and bone marrow transplant physician in New York, New York who is affiliated with multiple hospitals including NYC Health and Hospitals, Bellevue, and NYU Langone Hospitals. On this episode, Dr. Abdul-Hay explains how ALL is treated and addresses pre-treatment considerations. He als...

Martha L. Arellano, MD There have been few advances in treatment for AML in 40 years. Why is acute myeloid leukemia (AML) so difficult to treat? What is the current treatment for AML? How is The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) striving to change that? How are targeted therapies being used for patients? Is immediate treatment for patients necessary for all AML patients? How does a patien...

Brent, Dawn and Logan As a junior in college and an intramural volleyball player who attributed the increasing pain in her right arm to the sport, Dawn Scott was forced to take notice when she woke up one day and realized that her arm was so swollen that she could not bend it. Although blood clots run in her family, there was a small voice that told her that it was something else. During her three...

Stephen and Rebecca Join Alicia as she speaks with young adult leukemia survivor, Stephen and his wife, Rebecca. This episode was recorded onsite at the filming of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s young adult reunion video, which you can access here . As Stephen prepared when he would introduce Rebecca to his parents, he realized that he was experiencing shortness of breath which prompted an...

Martha L. Arellano, MD Join Alicia and Lizette as they speak with Dr. Martha Arellano, Associate Professor of Hematology and Oncology and Program Director of the Hematology and Medical Oncology Fellowship Program at the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. On this episode, Dr. Arellano defines acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and how it is diagnosed. She addresses question...

Mohammad Maher Abdul-Hay, MD Join Alicia and Lizette as they speak with Dr. Mohammad Maher Abdul-Hay, a hematologist and bone marrow transplant physician in New York, New York who is affiliated with multiple hospitals including NYC Health and Hospitals, Bellevue, and NYU Langone Hospitals. On this episode, Dr. Abdul-Hay defines and explains how acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is diagnosed and t...