In hindsight, my colon cancer diagnosis seems so obvious. My gastroenterologist asked me to repeat a routine blood test in December 2006. He asked if I was tired. I responded, “Of course, I am – I just tiled a bathroom, and my wife is pregnant with our third child.”
That’s when the bad news started to come. My doctor said that I’d already lost half of my red blood cells, likely related to the ulcerative colitis I’d been...
In December 2015, I walked across the stage of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s commencement ceremony with a Bachelor of Science in...
Acoustic neuroma is a benign tumor, which means it isn’t cancerous. It begins in the Schwann cells of the vestibular nerve, which is associated...
I am a thriver, a bone marrow transplant survivor. I can say this because of the support of my family, friends, doctors at MD Anderson and my bone marrow donor. The latter were total strangers to me until I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in January 2013.
At my Florida doctor’s recommendation, I traveled to MD Anderson with my oldest daughter, Shannon, and a dear friend. After a lot of testing, my doctors at MD...
Colorectal cancer doesn’t run in my family, so I never thought that it would be a battle I had to face at age 27. That changed when I noticed...
During my acute myeloid leukemia (AML) treatment, I sometimes had to wait for an appointment when I came to MD Anderson. Most of the time,...
When Erica Nowell tells her patients that she knows what they’re going through, she means it. Nowell first walked MD Anderson’s halls when...
When cancer returns for a second time, things get a lot more serious. Especially when the recurrence appears in your spine. I know because...
It all started with just a tiny lump on his wrist.
In the summer of 2014, Kobee Cohen, then 8 years old, noticed a tiny growth on the...
As an MD Anderson research nurse whose mother and sister have both received cancer treatment, I understand what my patients – and especially...
A few weeks shy of my 29th birthday, I discovered a pea-sized lump in my armpit. After an abnormal ultrasound and mammogram, I scheduled an...
I sat at work lacking any form of concentration, and the minutes felt like hours. Deep down I knew something was wrong, but I didn't want...
Cancer can feel very isolating. But it can help to connect with others who’ve been there.
We recently asked several patients and survivors...
As a cancer survivor, I hear this often: “My friend was just diagnosed with cancer. How can I show my support? I’m so afraid I’ll say or do...
Around April 2015, I started to experience mild headaches. They weren’t unmanageable, but they kept lingering. At the time, I didn’t think...
Ten months ago, doctors told my brother, Eric, that he had squamous cell carcinoma in his nasal cavity. My family and I were concerned, not...
Ben Gilmer chokes up when talking about walking his daughter down the aisle last May. He wasn’t sure he’d be alive to make that stroll after...