When someone you know receives a cancer diagnosis, you want to help. But you may not know how.
Some people don't feel comfortable asking for help, or the list of things they need help with may seem too long and overwhelming. So, instead of asking what you can do to help, it’s usually better to find a concrete way to support your friend or loved one.
But what can you do that will actually be helpful? We asked some of...
If you’ve researched cancer treatment options, you’ve probably heard of immunotherapy, which trains the immune system to attack cancer, rather...
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) released a new draft colorectal cancer screening recommendation today, lowering the age for...
Courage. Hope. Love. Faith. Strength. Wisdom. These are a few of the gifts that our cancer survivors shared with us on Cancerwise this past year.
And though each of their stories is unique, every survivor shared his or her experience with us to give hope, light and help to others facing cancer.
Here are 11 of our survivors’ most-read blog posts from this past year. Whether you’re newly diagnosed, in the midst of cancer treatment...
Remaining hopeful during cancer treatment is as much an art as it is a skill. And, our cancer patients and their families demonstrate this...
How do you explain cancer — or the effects of cancer treatment — to a young child? How do manage everyday life when one of your own children...
A cancer diagnosis can provoke a range of emotions and prompt endless questions. So throughout the year, we shared dozens of insights from...
It hasn’t stopped being fun yet – and that applies both to their science and their marriage.
Nancy Jenkins, Ph.D., and Neal Copeland...
When the small spot first appeared on her nipple, Karrie Morgan didn’t think much of it. She was shocked nearly a year later when she learned...
The holiday season can be stressful. That’s often even more true for cancer patients and their loved ones, who may be struggling to get in...
I didn’t even know I had stage IV lung cancer until I went to my doctor in September 2016 for back pain. A CT scan revealed large tumors on...
In 2006, I didn’t have any of the typical signs of melanoma: just a small bump on the top of my head behind my hairline. After a biopsy determined...
For anyone looking to change careers, questions abound. Am I making the right decision? Will going back to school full-time pay off? What’...
Even though several of Kelly Andersen’s relatives had faced prostate cancer, his own diagnosis in September 2013 came unexpectedly. He’d never...
Some people think you can only get breast cancer from your mother’s side of the family. But that’s a myth. Breast cancer can come just as...
Six months after Emily Augenstein’s acute myeloid leukemia diagnosis, a doctor in Pittsburgh told her that her allogeneic stem cell transplant...
My life changed forever on the morning of Nov. 6, 2016. I’d felt some pain in my lower back, and decided to go to the emergency room at the...
Before I was diagnosed with stage III melanoma in August 2017, I used sunscreen the way I think a lot of people do: I applied it once whenever...
If you break your leg, you’re not going to go to a heart surgeon. So if you have cancer, why wouldn’t you go to a world-renowned cancer hospital...
I am thankful for MD Anderson for so many reasons. After I had anal cancer surgery in November 2017, I went to MD Anderson The Woodlands...
When I was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in November 2017, my first thought was that I had to get to MD Anderson. I’d long been aware of...
Michael Kupferman, M.D., first came to MD Anderson in 2004 as a young head and neck surgeon. Today, he continues to perform surgeries, while...
Seeking additional treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma presented a challenge for Emily Dumler in 2013.
At the time, she and her husband...
Seeing all the color leave my wife’s face when she was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer in 2011 is a hard memory to think about...
As an 18-year-old, Lauren Rodriguez never suspected her lingering cough would turn out to be a lung cancer symptom.
“I was in shock...
On Oct. 28, Mary Lindimore crossed the finish line of the IRONMAN Waco 70.3 triathlon. Alongside her was Cheryl Pfennig, the MD Anderson advanced...
Some people say that cancer changes them. But I don’t think that’s right. I believe it’s more accurate to say that cancer enhances who you...
As a gynecologic oncologist, I see women with every type of cancer related to the female reproductive system, except breast cancer. I treat...
When I was growing up, it always amazed me how my pediatrician could ask just five or six questions, and then magically know exactly what...
Abdominal radical hysterectomies (also called “open” hysterectomies) typically are thought of as more difficult for patients to recover from...
Over the last year and a half, Shams Peerbhai has tried just about everything to cope with peripheral neuropathy, a cancer treatment side...
My dad’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was in her 60s. But that was considered pretty normal at the time, so she didn’t...
Until I was diagnosed with stage I triple-negative breast cancer in December 2016, I didn’t know much about immunotherapy. But as an executive...
As a child and adolescent psychiatrist in Puerto Rico, I always tell my patients that in any situation, no matter how hard or difficult it...
Being admitted to the hospital for complications related to cancer or your treatment can be scary and stressful. But hospitalists will help...
As a pediatrician, I’m not sure if my familiarity with disease has made my fight against colorectal cancer easier or harder. What I can tell...
A decade ago, pancreatic cancer was treated with five to six weeks of radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Patients often experienced side...
Last updated Aug. 23, 2021
Because standard treatments have failed for so many patients, our goal at MD Anderson is to have a clinical...
As a high school soccer player, Alex Frankenfeld often heard his coach say, “Busca la forma,” which is Spanish for “Find a way.” Three years...
After graduating from Purdue University in December 2016, I had no idea what I wanted to do professionally. But the “real world” was fast...
I am a numbers person. So, when my wife, Emily, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in August 2013, I turned to the internet for some...
An immunotherapy clinical trial at MD Anderson helped me beat stage IV melanoma almost five years ago. But the side effects I experienced...
In April 2013, I was a 37-year-old pediatrician with a busy practice and a hectic family life. I didn’t have time to be sick. But when my...
Because I treat patients in MD Anderson’s Gastrointestinal Cancer Center and I have a special interest in pancreatic cancer, I often get asked...
When I was diagnosed with anal cancer in 2009, I didn’t know anyone who had ever had the disease. So I was frightened, confused and didn’t...
Frances Arnoult had a double mastectomy, but she never had to see what she would have looked like without breasts. That’s because her MD Anderson...
When I was in my 20s, people referred to cancer as the “Big C.” Back then, there weren’t many treatment options, and the prognosis wasn’t...
As a nurse navigator at MD Anderson in The Woodlands, I get to connect with breast cancer patients just as they’re contacting MD Anderson...
Working with breast cancer patients can be a challenge. Because while some are coming to us for the very first time for their treatment, others...
Before my liposarcoma diagnosis in November 2017, I was spending a lot of time at the gym. My focus was on improving my physical strength...
Most people don’t look back on their cancer experience with fondness.
But Jacqueline Wallace is not most people.
The 60-year-old...
When I heard that Farrah Fawcett had died of anal cancer in June 2009, I remember saying out loud to myself, “Anal cancer? There is such a...
When it comes to facing cancer, follicular lymphoma survivor Michael Baker says laughter is the best medicine.
Well, actually lenalidomide...
At MD Anderson, we don’t just practice medicine by the textbook — we are the ones writing those textbooks. That’s why it’s so important for...
As an 18-year cancer survivor who has been on three clinical trials, I am a big proponent of them – especially at MD Anderson. I joined the...
I don’t get sick very often. And no one in my family has ever had cancer, so when I was diagnosed with leukemia in January 2012, I didn’t...
I used to joke that I came to MD Anderson by mistake, because when I graduated from nursing school, I missed all the deadlines at the other...
Before scaling Mt. Kilimanjaro in June 2018, I’d never climbed a real mountain. I live in Beaumont, Texas, which is only around 30 feet above...
I often joke that parenting is more difficult than cancer treatment. Some days I feel that statement holds true, but fatherhood is a challenge...
I was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive granular cell cancer in May 2017. Because the disease is so unusual, I sought treatment at MD Anderson...
I was 12 when my 19-year-old brother, Brandon, was diagnosed with glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer. I remember...
The first time I went to the myCancerConnection Cancer Survivorship Conference after being diagnosed with breast cancer, I remember feeling...
Before I was diagnosed with testicular cancer at age 21 last year, I only did self-checks in the shower when I remembered to. That translated...
After being greeted by the breast cancer survivors who volunteer in MD Anderson’s Breast Center on my first day as a patient, I always knew...
For cancer patients who require surgery as part of their treatment, our doctors sometimes rely on robotic surgery to help remove hard to reach...
Sometimes our surgeons must perform life-altering surgeries to remove cancer. And, in many cases, cancer surgeries have the potential to dramatically...
In early 2009, Hilary McQuiston-Fall was enjoying an active lifestyle full of outdoor activities in San Francisco, California. But when the...
MD Anderson’s Moon Shots Program™ is designed to reduce the time it takes to move promising cancer discoveries into the clinic, where they...
When I was diagnosed with granular cell cancer in May 2017, my doctors at MD Anderson recommended surgery, followed by six weeks of proton...
Every year, the number of cancer survivors grows. That’s why it’s becoming increasingly important for doctors to make sure cancer treatments...
Any time you’re told you have cancer, it’s not good news. Even if you catch it early and it’s only in the beginning stages, all you hear is...
Over the last two decades, I’ve learned a lot about MD Anderson as a caregiver, an employee, and most recently, a triple-negative breast cancer...
Over the years, my opinion on the biggest challenge I’ve faced as a result of my Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis has changed a few times.
<...
Looking back, I wish I’d asked more questions when I was first diagnosed with bladder cancer in July 2010.
I have plasmacytoid urothelial...
In May 2017, I was getting ready for the release of my first book, preparing to move into a new house, and looking forward to a 10-day road...
A nagging pain at the end of Sam Markota’s digestive tract suddenly became unbearable during a business trip to Thailand. The then-55-year-old...
Cancer wasn’t Adel Tawfik’s first medical crisis.
In the ‘80s and ‘90s, Adel had two open-heart surgeries. In 2015, he had a near-fatal...
During one of my first visits to MD Anderson, I went to The Learning Center and read about the type of skin cancer that’d been discovered...
As I learned when I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer earlier this year, there’s a lot of scary and unfamiliar territory to deal with when...
Giulio Draetta, M.D., Ph.D., is a true global citizen whose passion for discovery put his career on a winding path with universities and pharmaceutical...
We all experience sadness, stress and anxiety sometimes. A cancer diagnosis can amplify these feelings, with the stress and anxiety it adds...
I was preparing for heart surgery when I received a lung cancer diagnosis. The two health problems could have had dire results, but fortunately...
My stepson Roberto Saenz was heading to junior prom in 2009 when his brain tumor symptoms began. As he rode in the limo, he started to...
Some days, I look back at my rectal cancer treatment, and I honestly can’t believe how far I’ve come. The fact that I’m not only alive but...
It’s been more than a year since Jacquiela Dorsey, a stage IV pancreatic cancer patient, met Lady June Boholst, a clinical nurse who goes...
When I was diagnosed with my primary mediastinal large b-cell lymphoma diagnosis in November 2017, I was in the second trimester of my pregnancy...
I recently completed radiation therapy, but I’m still waiting to find out if it was successful in destroying a tumor that spread to my lung...
As a registered nurse, Asha Bhandari was familiar with cancer – even less common cancer types, like oral cancer. But she never believed...
I’ve never taken illegal drugs, and the only time I ever had a needle in my arm was when a doctor was on the other side of it. So my best...
Cancer can have a lasting effect on a patient.
That’s why rehabilitation is often so important after cancer treatment or...
One weekend in June 2017, I became incredibly ill. I’d faced digestive issues for three years, but this pain was different. By Monday, the...
Clinical trials enable us to discover new and better cancer treatments. They offer patients access to cutting-edge treatments years before...
During the first trimester of my pregnancy, I had a lingering cough that would not go away. I thought it was allergies, so I procrastinated...
Many cancer patients will receive chemotherapy infusions as a part of their cancer treatment.
Sometimes, chemotherapy is delivered...
Sharing my stage IV colorectal cancer story with others is a blessing, though I’ll admit: at the time of my diagnosis, I didn’t feel this...
One gene can tell you a lot about your risk for developing cancer and how well you’re likely to respond to cancer treatment. But there’s only...
As Father’s Day approaches, we asked our doctors to share their fathers’ words of wisdom that left an everlasting mark. Here’s what they said...
Each day nearly 200 pharmacists around MD Anderson dispense an average of 23,000 drug doses. That’s 8.4 million doses a year, one of the highest...
I’m a 58-year-old guy who never thought I would be talking about “the C word.” Nevertheless, here I am recollecting the past year contending...
After I was diagnosed with stage IV bladder cancer in September 2014, I experienced many of the stages of grief.
My doctor initially...
Before my acute myeloid leukemia diagnosis, I was in great shape. I was training 20-25 hours a week as a professional triathlete and had recently...
Cancer is not uncommon in my family, but I was still totally unprepared for my own diagnosis.
In June 2015, I was a healthy 43-year-old...
Did you know that a person is considered a cancer survivor from the day they’re diagnosed throughout his or her life? Here at MD Anderson,...
During my 50-plus years as a nurse, I’ve witnessed some pretty amazing advances in medicine, and I’m convinced that they are due to research...
After losing most of my right leg at age 14 in November 2010 due to osteosarcoma, it was really hard for me to give up gymnastics. It had...
You may know that a pulmonologist specializes in treating diseases like pneumonia and asthma, but these specialized doctors also play a key...
Prior to being diagnosed with kidney cancer, I’d never heard of MD Anderson. But the more I researched my disease, the more I kept seeing&...
Cancer is a really big deal, but I never thought about it like that because no one in my family had ever had it before. Then my twin sister...
When Robert Alvarez was diagnosed with a low-grade insular brain tumor in 2013, he decided to hope for the best and postpone treatment.
I was raised believing that everything happens for a reason, and that’s exactly how I’ve chosen to approach my treatment for colorectal cancer...
One early Friday morning in August 2017, my wife Sandra and I showed up to MD Anderson in Katy for her very first day of breast cancer treatment...
A cancer support group is a safe place to share your experiences and connect with others facing the same challenges. It gives you the space...
Last year, Primus Moore was among seven referees selected to officiate Oklahoma’s all-state high school football games.
“It’s inspiring...
It was the real-life scenario physicians and pharmacists had feared.
A woman entered the ICU with a high fever and low white blood...
In May 2017, my 20-year-old daughter Brooke came home after her college finals with increasing headaches, vision problems and some strange...
Around 5,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with anal cancer each year, which is often treated using radiation therapy.
...
When our daughter, Aaliyah, was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma at age 9 in November 2016, my husband and I were singularly focused on her...
Imagine being able to talk to your doctors during brain tumor surgery without pain and give them immediate feedback while they operate...
When I was 6 years old, my mother died from cancer. She was only 35, and at the time, her death came as a shock to everyone in our family....
When my daughter Aaliyah was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma in November 2016 at age 9, I was shattered, vacillating hourly between two nearly...
There’s no one food that can cure cancer, but that doesn’t stop such myths from circulating. And while researchers are starting to find some...
I was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre disease in 2012 and chronic inflammatory demyelating polyneuropathy (CIDP) in 2013. But I learned that...
Many breast cancer patients undergo radiation therapy as part of their treatment. While radiation therapy often comes with side effects, such...
I don’t like change. But sometimes you have to be willing to make one in order to survive.
That’s what I did. I’m a small town girl...
I learned early on that my mom is more fragile than most people.
Radiation treatments she received as a teenager for stage III nasopharyngeal...
In November 2016, when I was 9 years old, I was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma. My parents took me to MD Anderson, where I had chemotherapy...
You see them walking the skybridge: some people wearing patient identification wristbands, some people wearing employee badges. But there...
Hepatitis C is one of the leading causes of liver cancer. It’s also linked to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, cancer in the bile ducts, and possibly...
As an executive at an oil and gas service company, Andy Moriarty often shares safety messages with his employees. Lately, these messages have...
There’s so much information surrounding cancer and diet that it can be hard to separate the myths from the facts. That’s especially true when...
Peter WT Pisters, M.D., MD Anderson’s fifth full-time president, began his role Dec. 1, with a renewed spirit of unity and excitement. Like...
When I received a phone call about an abnormality discovered during my mammogram in December 2016, I didn’t think much of it. I was prone...
When I was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndromes (a precursor of acute myeloid leukemia) in July 2015, I don’t know what shocked me more...
Before I enrolled in one of MD Anderson’s triple-negative breast cancer clinical trial in November 2016, I was in a dark place. I’d been re-diagnosed...
Opioids are medications that can help manage pain caused by cancer and its treatment by blocking pain signals from injured nerves to the brain...
In 2016, I found out that I had inherited a genetic mutation known as Lynch Syndrome from my mother, who’d died 26 years earlier from cancer...
Angelina was Shamsha Damani’s best friend for three years. A constant in the MD Anderson program director’s daily life, well-known to her...
Between 1995 and 2009, I was diagnosed with four different types of cancer. The first diagnosis didn’t really bother me. The second one hit...
I started finding blood in my stool in the fall of 2013, but at the time, it didn’t seem that strange to me. Constipation runs in my family...
We practice hand hygiene to help keep ourselves from getting sick from the bacteria all around us. But each of us already has a huge population...
In the last five years, I’ve competed in 10 professional outrigger canoeing competitions across North and South America. I’ve also had stereotactic...
A little over a year ago, Robbie Johnson was desperately searching for the right metastatic breast cancer treatment.
"I’d been...
I resisted getting a feeding tube for as long as I could. I knew I’d have to use one eventually, but I didn’t feel ready for a long time....
Kristine Ferrone has survived Mars – or a simulation of the Red Planet, anyway.
During the summer of 2009, Kristine Ferrone and five...
My late husband, Josh, was diagnosed with stage IV synovial sarcoma — a rare type of soft tissue cancer — in November 2014. He fought the...
Before I started breast cancer treatment at age 35, I had all sorts of ideas about how difficult my life was about to get. In a way, I was...
Sometimes knowledge is not all it’s cracked up to be. So, when I was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer in July 2016, I told Dr. Robert...
When you first hear the word, “cancer,” you think it’s the end of the world. So, when my dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer a few years...
It had been two years since Billa Woollam’s last mammogram, and she knew she was long overdue for one. But it was a strange sensation in her...
Jerry McLeary can recall the exact moment he just knew that his journey with a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma would end happily.
CAR T-cell therapy is a new type of cancer treatment offered at MD Anderson through clinical trials and FDA-approved standard of care cell...
When the headache started, Tabatha Conway recognized it immediately. Although it had been 20 years since she first felt that headache, she...
I’ve been struggling to make myself understood ever since I was a senior in high school. In April 1985, I was diagnosed with stage III nasopharyngeal...
My late husband and I had only known each other for a couple of months when he was diagnosed with stage IV synovial sarcoma — a...
As a cancer caregiver, you’ve probably been told it’s important to take care of your own physical and mental health, too. But sometimes that...
Nothing could have shocked me more than being diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer in July 2016. The year I turned 54, I thought my biggest...
During one of breast cancer survivor Margaret Looper’s early visits to MD Anderson some 15 years ago, a volunteer who escorted her to her...
When my father-in-law was in his 30s, he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer as a result of familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP), a genetic...
Jan de Chambrier had always envisioned herself as a mother to several children. In 1990, she and her husband were on their way to fulfilling...
After being treated for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (a rare type of throat cancer) in 1985 and salivary gland cancer in 2016, speaking has become...
In high school, I didn’t have much of a social life. I had trouble with insomnia, anxiety, paranoia, depression and apathy. As time went on...
Because its symptoms are often vague, ovarian cancer can be hard to diagnose. And a definitive diagnosis requires a biopsy, which is best...
As a cancer survivor, you know that exercise is one of the key factors in lowering your risk of cancer recurrence. But how do you know if...
Two summers ago, my daughter Claire was about to start her freshman year at the University of Alabama. So, I thought being a 54-year-old empty-nester...
Dana MacFarlane may have been the one who received a leukemia diagnosis, but she’s certain every one of her family members suffered just as...
Two-time widower Paul Nielsen was in excellent health at age 67. So the former marathon runner knew something was wrong when he started feeling...
My late wife, Melissa, was diagnosed with stage IV synovial sarcoma — a rare type of soft tissue cancer — in January 2016. She died from complications...
In the early 2000s, Virginia Plett watched her mother and aunt successfully undergo breast cancer treatment at MD Anderson. So when the Kansas...
When he was 15, my husband Jesse underwent a colectomy, a procedure that removed his colon. Jesse opted to do this after learning that he...
Dana MacFarlane is still in awe of her sudden onset of acute myeloid leukemia in July 2017.
“I take blood tests on a routine basis...
Whether you’ve just been diagnosed with cancer or have completed one treatment and are preparing yourself for the next, the thought of radiation...
When it comes to contagious diseases like the flu, cancer patients are among those most vulnerable to infection. So, it’s important for cancer...
Everyone is dealt a card or two in life that will pose their greatest challenges. For me, that card was being diagnosed with stage III lung...
Suzanne Phillips enjoyed 26 years working for Dow Chemical Co., much of that time as a researcher in product development. It was a thrill...
Before I was on a clinical trial, I felt sorry for patients participating in them. I considered clinical trials a last-ditch effort, and felt...
My dad has been a patient at MD Anderson since July 2015, receiving treatment for stage IV renal cell carcinoma, a type of kidney cancer....
When I was diagnosed with stage III breast cancer in January 2017, my biggest fear was how my kids would be affected.
My husband and...
As a registered nurse and a cancer survivor, I have a somewhat unique perspective: I can see things from the point of view of both the patient...
Ten years ago, I completed my first shift as an inpatient volunteer at MD Anderson’s Texas Medical Center Campus. For the past six years I...
Anesthesia is used to make you emotionally and physically comfortable during surgery. It can relieve anxiety, block pain and, in some cases...