Living with brain cancer
This weekend I am honored to give the keynote speech to open the 16th Annual Young Adult Cancer Conference at Dana Farber. I have benefited immensely from this program, and cannot wait to join everyone tomorrow. My speech will be live-streamed at 9:15AM EST. You can follow via: DFCI webcast or going to the Young …
Continue reading "Follow Live-stream: 2019 Dana Farber Young Adult Cancer Conference Keynote"
Warning: This post is long! This is not the usual post where I dive into the emotional aspects of my experience. Rather, this is a pretty cut and dry description of my three weeks of meetings and calls to develop a treatment plan. During my 2014 recurrence, I wrote a similar (...yet less detailed) post about treatment decisions. I received a lot of messages from patients and family members of patients who found that post helpful. This is for that audience. My hope is that this very detailed explanation of my treatment meetings may shed some light on how much information is involved in informing a treatment plan. While I share a lot of detail, I want to note that this is my experience. Every individual's situation and decisions will be unique to them.
I know it has been a while since my last post, but I wanted to take a moment to honor and remember my friend Carolyn. Carolyn and I met when I first started my treatment at Dana Farber. I remember being incredibly nervous going into my first young adult support group session. I was still …
It was a day I will never forget! Yesterday, I had the amazing opportunity to participate in the Jimmy Fund's Radio-Telethon at Fenway to help raise money to strike out cancer at Dana Farber as well as raise awareness for the importance of supportive care services like Dana Farber's Young Adult Program. Over the two days, the …
Continue reading "An Amazing Day at Fenway: Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon"
Below is a promo video that was aired the other day on NESN Live for the annual WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon on August 18th and 19th. I'm honored to be participating in one of the largest fundraisers for the Jimmy Fund and Dana Farber. Tune in August 19th for the pre-game coverage on WEEI around 5pm as well as NESN …
Continue reading "WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon Promo"
My doctor has a tell when she has bad news. She will start telling stories to help calm down the mood, but in reality it elongates the anxiety. A couple weeks into my first visit back from Indonesia, I had my annual MRI appointment at Dana Farber. As my doctor was talking, my heart was pounding, and I could tell my mom was uneasy. A few minutes later my doctor told us the bad news: There has been significant tumor growth in the area of my brain where I had my previous tumor removed 11 years ago.
