November 2, 2017 Beth Caldwell died. *** “Since being diagnosed with terminal cancer, I have had one goal: to live long enough to see The Girl start kindergarten. She was 2 and a half when I got diagnosed back in March of 2014, and starting kindergarten in 2017 would fall past median survival for me. Thinking about her having to start school without...
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“For me, having lost my husband, it’s frustrating to hear publicly people saying to John McCain, ‘If anybody can beat this you can — you’re so tough.’ Not that it’s intentionally hurtful, but it does leave those of us who’ve lost a loved one thinking, ‘Was my loved one not tough enough? Did he not fight hard enough?'” ~Dannagal...
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A-B-C – the beginning of the alphabet, a song by the Jackson 5 or the acronym that anyone who took CPR (coronary pulmonary resuscitation) before 2010 learned means Airway, Breathing, Chest Compression. I just learned that this CPR acronym is out-of-date. Before 2010 I learned Airways – Tilt the victim’s head and lift his chin to open the...
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“I’m barely 27 and if it were not for immunotherapy and cancer research, I would not have seen 25.” So starts Stefanie Joho speech at a 2017 Congressional Hearing called “Progress in Immunotherapy: Delivering Hope and Clinical Benefit to Cancer Patients.” When Stefanie was 22, she was diagnosed with a very aggressive Stage II...
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You’re at a loss. You’ve just learned your friend or loved one is diagnosed with breast cancer. What do you do? How do you act? What do you say? As I look back at my own actions under these circumstances, I know that I came up short. I said the wrong things and made some basic mistakes. Partly I could blame youth. But mostly I...
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