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Patient Profile: Peter Blaze Corcoran

June 12, 2018 in , , , /by

Patient Profile Peter Blaze Corcoran June is National Men’s Health Month. This month’s patient profile emphasizes the importance of continuing to explore options for maintaining optimum health after diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. Peter Blaze Corcoran concedes that there is never a good time to get a stage four cancer diagnosis, but he says his diagnosis […]

Spotlight On: National Cancer Research Month

May 23, 2018 in , /by

Cancer research. It has taught us about risk factors, environmental factors, health screenings, causes, treatment options, metastasis, recurrence, rates of survival, and even how healthy cells might be used to wipe out the cancerous cells. Cancer research is broad and reaches far beyond the study of the infected cells. The research helps us to understand […]

Patient and Advocate Profile: Hannah and Carrie Ostrea

May 21, 2018 in , , /by

Before she was a year old, Hannah Ostrea was diagnosed with a rare genetic metabolic disorder, Neuronopathic Gaucher’s Disease type 2 or type 3. Hannah’s mom, Carrie, says the doctors told her to take Hannah home and to love her, but that she wouldn’t make it past her first birthday. “We became parents on a […]

Spotlight on National Minority Health Month

April 20, 2018 in , /by

April is National Minority Health Month. Supported by Congress with a resolution in 2002, National Minority Health Month is meant to bring awareness to the disparities in health and healthcare among minorities. Led by the Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, efforts are made to understand the disparities and the reasons they occur. […]

Patient Advocate: Paul Ennis

April 11, 2018 in /by

Paul Ennis Patient Advocate In January 2012, Paul Ennis and his wife became caregivers to Paul’s parents, Mary and Thomas. Mary, who had severe osteoporosis, was showing increasing signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Caring for her was becoming too much for Thomas who had his own health problems, including rheumatoid arthritis and prostate cancer. Eventually, it […]

Notable News: March 2018

March 21, 2018 in , /by

Medicare-eligible cancer patients just got more access to genetic testing according to reuters.com. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will now pay for some genetic tests in order to help get patients the drugs most likely to benefit them. The coverage means that a patient’s test sample could be screened for all known gene […]

Patient Profile: Justin Salce

March 19, 2018 in , , , , /by

Justin Salce Acute Myeloid Leukemia When he was just 17 months old, Justin Salce was diagnosed with, and underwent treatment for, acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Justin is 17 years old now, and he doesn’t remember much about being sick. He says he remembers that the pizza at the hospital was good, but that’s about it. […]

Notable News: February 2018

February 20, 2018 in , , /by

Sometimes, even the most seemingly unrelated of symptoms can be a warning sign of cancer, says nytimes.com. While some might associate depression as a side effect of cancer, it can actually be a sign of cancer growth in the body. Some cancers actually trigger depressive symptoms. The phenomenon was first noted in 1931 with pancreatic cancer patients and […]

Patient Profile: Jennifer Maxfield

February 13, 2018 in , , /by

Patient Profile Jennifer Maxfield Cervical Cancer Jennifer Maxfield describes herself as a very private person. It’s hard for her to share her story. It’s emotional and it’s out of her comfort zone, but she’s starting to get a little more comfortable with it because she likes the idea of helping others. “That my story may […]

Notable News: January 2018

January 22, 2018 in , /by

The Food and Drug Administration has approved yet another new cancer treatment, reports npr.org. Known as Luxturna it is the first gene therapy to treat an inherited disease in adults and children. Luxturna, made by Spark Therapeutics, treats a rare condition that causes blindness called retinal dystrophy by using a modified virus to carry a healthy […]

Patient Profile: Kirk Beck

January 15, 2018 in , , , , , , , , , , , , /by

Patient Profile Kirk Beck Prostate and Head and Neck Cancer What is significant to Kirk Beck is not that he’s had cancer. He delivers his story with minimal detail about his diagnosis, his treatment, and the subsequent life-threatening complications he endured as casually as he might tell you what he had for breakfast. It’s not […]

Patient Profile: Cali Trepkowski

December 12, 2017 in , , /by

In March 2015, 8 year old Cali Trepkowski vomited on the way to school. She stayed home from school that day, but she seemed to be fine as the day progressed. A few weeks later she vomited again. This happened three more times so her mom Carrie called the pediatrician who determined it was allergies […]

Notable News

November 20, 2017 in , /by

All cancer, on a very basic level, is the same. It is the uncontrolled growth of cells. However, each type of cancer varies greatly and that is why early detection and individualized treatment is so important for patient health and survival. Fortunately, research breakthroughs come along every day that help pave the way to successful, […]

Caregiver Profile: Heather Cimino

November 10, 2017 in , , , /by

In recognition of National Family Caregivers Month, we are using this month’s Patient Profile to profile a caregiver. You can learn more information about National Family Caregivers Month here. Heather Cimino’s father died in 2008. He had mesothelioma and lived only six weeks after his diagnosis. So, when Heather’s mom was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in […]

Notable News

October 25, 2017 in , /by

Immunotherapy is back in the headlines this month with nytimes.com reporting another treatment being approved by the FDA. This second therapy is called Yescarta and is made by Kite Pharma and uses the patients own cells to create a “living drug” that is administered to the patient through a one-time injection. The patients altered cells then battle […]