Your Stories: Conquering Cancer

Writer , podcaster, and healthcare advocate Kristin Flanary—or Lady Glaucomflecken as she's known online—first introduced Your Stories host Dr. Mark Lewis to the concept of co-survivorship two years ago. As her husband Will went through two testicular cancer diagnoses and a sudden cardiac arrest, she later realized that she hadn't just supported him through those experiences and challenges—she had...

Professional snowboarder Kimmy Fasani was still breastfeeding her second child when she found a lump under her armpit. Just days later, she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer and found herself preparing for chemotherapy. Having lost both her parents to cancer, it was a terrifying moment for her, but she tried not to let her family history loom over her as she began treatment. I...

When Molly Hones was diagnosed with fibrolamellar cancer for the second time in less than two years, she made two critical decisions. First: She wouldn't focus on the unknowns of her condition and would focus on the positives instead.   Second, she would give back by participating in research. And so, in June 2023, Molly traveled to the Johns Hopkins Hospital, where oncologist and Conquer Cancer g...

As a young person starting over in a new country—one where she didn't even yet know the language—young Yelena faced no shortage of challenges. But she also found opportunity she believes might not have existed in her native country.   "As an Armenian individual growing up in Azerbaijan, going by my parents' and my family's experience, I don't think I would have had an opportunity to be a physician...

These days, there's no getting around it: In a society that practically lives on line , it's no surprise that two-thirds of people with cancer —and their caregivers—turn to social media to inform their treatment and care decisions.   Perhaps it was inevitable , then, that doctor s like thoracic medical oncologist Eric Singhi, MD, would eventually follow suit. After all, what better way to reach an...

With a rare exception here and there, most scientists will at least complete a college-level science class before making their first cancer research breakthrough. Heman Bekele, on the other hand, is just wrapping up his sophomore year of high school.   By the time he was named Time Magazine's Kid of the Year in 2024, Heman was already generating buzz in the scientific community. The year before, h...

It started—as these stories so often do—with fatigue. At first, Jace Yawnick simply chalked it up to a busy life and a job requiring frequent travel. But then he noticed something: There were times the fatigue kicked in when he hadn't just gotten off a plane or done anything else particularly strenuous. "Intuitively," Jace says, "something within me just knew something wasn't right."   T hen came...

 The first cancer diagnosis was scary enough. "I feel like Hollywood actually gets this moment pretty darn right," Emma says, recalling the day—not long before her 18th birthday—that she learned she had cancer. "The world around you kind of slows down, you get tunnel vision, maybe a little dizzy. The only thing you can really hear is your breathing and your heart rate."  Eventually—following multi...

Whether you find it on social media, via search engine, or on a popular news website, it often seems like medical misinformation is everywhere, including in the cancer space.    Maybe it's the claim that sugar causes cancer to spread faster. Maybe it's someone saying that people with dark skin don't get skin cancer. Or maybe it's the conspiracy theory that drug companies and government agencies ar...

While his teenage classmates were getting ready for school, then-13-year-old Sean Swarner was watching the water rise in the shower, his hair clogging the drain. His first cancer diagnosis—and the subsequent treatment regimen—took an immense toll on his self-image and well-being. That morning in the shower, he remembers, all of the fear and despair overcame him: Sean collapsed to his knees, tears...

For patients with cancer, the holiday season can be particularly difficult: How is an yone supposed to prioritize self-care and recovery at a time when much of the world is going on about the joys of giving ? As a breast cancer survivor and a career fashion and beauty publicist, Melissa Berry is all too familiar with that challenge , along with the massive toll cancer can have on a person's self-i...

Caitlin Murray has mastered turning life's setbacks into something that brings joy to the 1.5 million people around the world who follow her Instagram page . W hen her 3-year-old son, Calum, was diagnosed with leukemia in 2016, Caitlin and her family's lives were quickly filled with doctor visits, grueling treatments, and endless uncertainty. Soon after Calum's devastating diagnosis , Caitlin laun...

Every 14 seconds, someone is diagnosed with breast cancer, making it one of the most frequently diagnosed cancers in the world, second only to lung cancer, and the leading cause of cancer-related death among women globally. And, while a cancer diagnosis can be devastating for anyone of any age or gender, one group faces a particularly unique and complex set of challenges: young working mothers. It...

Prom. Graduation. College . These are just a few rites of passage that high school seniors everywhere look forward to. But for Auburn, a devastating turn of events tilted her entire world off its axis and put all her senior year plans on hold . At just 18 years old, she was diagnosed with Hodg kin lymphoma, a type of blood cancer. Instead of graduating with her classmates and going to senior prom,...

Gabriele "Gabe" Grunewald was a professional distance runner and a relentless optimist. She competed in Big Ten Championship races, became an NCAA track and field All-American athlete, and finished 4th in the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials. Such accomplishments become even more impressive when you learn that—even as she racked up accolades and wins — Gabe also faced cancer numerous times. In 2009, Gabe...

W hether you're relaxing on the beach, taking a hike in nature, or hitting your favorite water park, we've heard it time and time again : Excess sun exposure increases the risk of skin cancer , so protect your skin and apply your sunscreen . Of course, w hile some skin cancer risk factors are unavoidable, we all know there are proactive, preventive steps we can take—like applying sunscreen and lim...

For Dr. Kekoa Taparra , cancer is deeply personal. Growing up in a remote area of Oahu, Hawaii, Dr. Taparra witness ed his younger cousin's struggles with neuroblastoma . He watched his mother lift and carry his aunt , too we a k to walk because of breast cancer. He hear d the sharp cries of another aunt suffering with endometrial cancer. These early experiences drove Dr. Taparra to not only dedic...

Not only does c ancer predate t he practice of medicine , but it may also predate the human species entirely. In 2016, archeologists in South Africa unearthed a large 1.7 million years-old bone fragment, ultimately revealed to be the toe bone of an ancient but unknown species of human dating back millennia. On that piece of bone, they discovered something else: a malignant tumor. It's a stark remi...

What do esophageal cancer, testicular cancer, lung cancer, cervical cancer, and colon cancer have in common? Each carries some type of stigma or taboo—whether because they're linked to behavioral causes or because they affect portions of the anatomy traditionally deemed private. The impact of these stigmas can be detrimental: In some cases, stigmatized cancers receive less research funding, result...

Imagine receiving a cancer diagnosis, only to immediately learn that not only has it spread to other parts of your body, but it's also incredibly rare for it do so—so rare, in fact, that little to no research exists to inform your treatment. Katie Coleman doesn't need to imagine this: She's lived it. In December 2020, at just 29 years old, Katie was diagnosed with metastatic oncocytoma, a type of...

H enrietta Lacks: H er name is forever intertwined with Black history and medicine. Her cells are the source of the world's first immortalized human cell line. Without her consent, her biological material was used to make groundbreaking advancements in research in a wide range of conditions and diseases, including AIDS and polio to radiation treatment and cancer care. More than 70 years have gone...

Long before he was a world-renowned neurosurgeon, Dr. Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa was a 5-year-old boy selling food at gas stations in his native Mexico. But he wanted to dream bigger: At 19, he left his native Mexico in hopes of a better future . Despite speaking little English and having no money, he felt it was his chance at better supporting his loved ones. He was right. After two years of worki...

Athlete, professional climber, reality show participant, competitor, physician, and cancer survivor: Favia Dubyk embodies the definition of conqueror. But facing advanced-stage lymphoma during her second year of medical school caused a major setback in Favia's athletic life . Surgical treatment and chemotherapy had devastating effects on her identity as an expert rock climber : She had gone from a...

By the time internet-comedy power-couple Kristin ("Lady Glaucomflecken ") and Will Flanary ("Dr. Glaucomflecken ") were 35, Will had survived cancer twice, along with a sudden cardiac arrest. Throughout these traumatic experiences, Kristin took on the role of caregiver. In at least one case, she was also his lifeline. Between her experience marrying into medicine, caring for a partner with a life-...

You've seen them: the pink ribbons pinned to your senator's suit jacket. Runners dressed in head-to-toe pink athletic gear, racing for a cure. Football players streaking down the field in pink cleats. It wasn't always like this. Long before people began thinking pink, breast cancer remained fairly stigmatized, a taboo subject only discussed behind the closed doors of a doctor's office. Today, thou...