On October 5, 2015, my OBGYN called and told me I had cervical cancer. Surreal is the best way to describe that moment. I detached from reality and remember thinking that at 30 years old, this was the end of the road for me. Sharing the news with husband, family, and friends were the worst…
“Eat cupcakes and cure cancer.” That’s the motto of 15-year-old Molly Butts. Throughout 2020, this young entrepreneur has been raising money to support cancer research and care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund in a tasty way: baking and selling cupcakes for a cause she believes in. Since September, Molly has baked over…
Kat Howell never considered herself part of the one percent. But when the 29-year-old was diagnosed with tongue cancer in 2019, she became just that. A rare disease accounting for only one percent of all cancer cases in the United States on an annual basis, tongue cancer is even less common among young people like…
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is committed to reducing the burden of cancer in medically underserved communities. Our Blum Family Resource Center Van is a centerpiece of this commitment—bringing Dana-Farber expertise and services, free of charge, directly to people in the communities and neighborhoods where they live and work. The Blum Van focuses its efforts in two…
Toward the end of 2019, Lucía, a mom of two, began experiencing significant stomach pain. She couldn’t eat. When she did eat, she would throw up. She lost weight and generally felt awful. Eventually, the day after Christmas, she ended up in the emergency room, where, after some tests, she and her husband, José Vicente,…
Since a young age, golf has been a constant companion in Cathy Burgess’ life. The Andover, Mass., native played competitively with her mother, even winning a Massachusetts mother-daughter tournament, before going on to captain the women’s golf team at Boston College. It was a core part of her life until 2012, when abdominal pain and…
By Marie Allen-Hadge I don’t think the day you are diagnosed with a terminal disease is ever erased from memory. I remember going to the emergency room on May 31, 2019, with severe abdominal, shoulder, and back pain. After an ultrasound, lots of whispering nurses and doctors, and hours of waiting for results, I was…
As any mother would, Linda Darbyshire always thought the world of her incredible daughter, Amy. Linda and her husband, Jack, adopted Amy from China when she was just 6 months old. Only a few short weeks after arriving in China to meet their newborn, Linda and Jack lost their Cape Cod home in a fire….
September is blood cancer awareness month. It is a month to bring awareness and understanding to this specific set of cancers. This is important to me–I had a blood cancer, and I want to make sure more people are able to use the past tense when referring to their cancer. I was diagnosed with stage…
“What should I bring with me to chemo?” It’s a common question. For many cancer patients, the answer is books, puzzles, or a good movie. For Monica Wright, it was her “chemobuddies.” Wright, 44, was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2015, and quickly found how comforting a friend’s presence can be during a scary…