- By Emily Huebsch
- Posted September 27, 2022
A Different Kind of Patient: Emily Huebsch Empowers Herself and Others Against Breast Cancer
Previvor: A person who has not been diagnosed with cancer, but has survived the predisposition, or higher risk, due to certain genetic mutations.* Breast cancer. Spoken in hushed tones, these scary words are often compounded by the aftermath of breast cancer deaths, creating a stigma around discussing breast cancer in regular conversations. With…
- By Noelle Carbognin
- Posted February 17, 2022
Thanks to Genetic Testing, I Now Know My Cancer Risk
“It’s one thing to be scared to hear something, it’s another to die from not hearing something at all.”—Rick, Colon & Kidney Cancer Survivor (American Cancer Society) When I was twelve years old, my cousin was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer. She was only 24. My mother knew my grandfather on…
- By Nanette Bentley
- Posted August 20, 2019
Unexpected Health Crisis Helps Family Learn Vital Health Information
On the evening of November 12, 2018, my husband and I received a call from our then 18-year-old daughter Oli’s school, informing us that she had been found outside her room with no pulse, in full cardiac arrest after a fire alarm went off in the dorm. The security officer started chest compressions and brought her back with one shock from the…
- By Dina Scaglione
- Posted June 15, 2018
A Lifelong Father's Day Gift
As far back as I can remember my dad was always into health and fitness. So when I joined the track team in junior high, my dad decided he would start running with me to help me improve my race times. Little did I know, or could I appreciate, this was actually an excuse to spend more time with me. Donned in white Dolphin shorts he would shuffle…
- By AJ Stuenkel
- Posted June 12, 2018
Real Men Go to the Doctor
Throughout the month of June many 5ks will be run, fundraisers and educational fairs will take place, and blue will be worn, all in the name of Men’s Health. In the U.S., June is designated as Men’s Health Month while June 11-18 is recognized internationally as Men’s Health Week, with goal of both to “heighten the awareness of preventable…
- By Jessica Profato, MS, CGC
- Posted June 8, 2018
I Survived Cancer, so Why do I Need Genetic Testing for it?
As a clinical genetic counselor, I saw many cancer survivors for genetic counseling. In some cases, it had been 30-40 years since they were diagnosed. Some of them were in their 60s-70s when I saw them, but they were young at the time of their cancer diagnosis. Years later, they were referred to me to talk about the possibility that their history…
- By Erin Danielle
- Posted June 4, 2018
Strength and Survivorship: Honoring National Cancer Survivor's Day
From the moment I was diagnosed with breast cancer I knew there was something bigger out there for me. I've always believed that. I trusted that my cancer journey would bring me just one step towards whatever that 'bigger' is in my life. I’m a 37 year-old single mom to an incredible, hockey-playing, boxing 10 year-old boy, and about three years…
- By Giana Stanigar
- Posted May 18, 2018
Why 37 is Just a Number: Thriving with Cystic Fibrosis
Editor’s Note: We continue our recognition of Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month by connecting two people with cystic fibrosis – one who is under the usual life expectancy age and another who has surpassed it by 26 years – to provide a reflection into their pasts and a look into their futures. Ambry arranged for a video conference…
- By Marla Rosenblum
- Posted March 21, 2018
A Mother's Letter to Her Daughter After Waiting 16 Years for a Diagnosis
Unedited. Untouched. Raw Emotion. Raw Love. Dear Aubree Bella, My Rare Girl: Ahhh sweet 16. And what a journey. You entered this world so very sick. Beating the odds and surviving. Looking into your eyes as I held you for the first time in the NICU, there was something about your eyes. My “mommy heart” knew they held the answers.…
- By Britt Ochoa
- Posted March 14, 2018
My 100th Round of Chemo and How it Touched my Soul
The news of a cancer diagnosis can demolish the reality in which you currently reside. My reality was spent at twenty-seven-years-old when I was diagnosed with Stage IV Colon Cancer. It was an upheaval to the life that I had so customarily taken advantage of. It was taking a health crisis to shake up the frozen patterns of my former ways. Of…