Cancer ABCs From Surviving To Thriving - How to Thrive with Cancer

Joel Nowak from Cancer ABCs interviews Michael Singer, a male breast cancer thriver. Michael, diagnosed at age 50, shares his journey and his advocacy as a man with breast cancer. 

Three years before learning that he had breast cancer his sister, with whom he lived, was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. She succumbed to the disease one year after receiving the diagnosis. So, when Michael learned about his diagnosis, he assumed that he too would live for only one year.

Like many other men, Michael did not know that men get breast cancer, so when his doctor told him that he had breast cancer, he thought that the doctor was mistakenly looking at his sister’s chart. 

Michael shares that it took two visits to his doctor’s office before he told the doctor that he had a lump under his nipple. When first diagnosed, he was too embarrassed to tell his friends or family that he had breast cancer, but instead told them that he had chest cancer. 

Michael also shares the frustrations and unhappiness he experienced in the breast cancer oncologist and surgeon’s offices and clinics where he was segregated and treated differently from the other breast cancer patients because he was a man. He talks about how “pink; pink balloons, pink ribbons, and pink medical forms” asking him if he was breastfeeding and when was his last menstrual cycle made him feel like a freak. 

Because of a television show he saw Michael shared how he finally came to grips with being a man with breast cancer and how he came to understand that he isn’t a freak because he has breast cancer. He realized that he could improve his life by connecting with many different advocacy organizations including the Male Breast Cancer Coalition

Michael is now THRIVING with cancer. He has developed systems and tricks, which he shares in the podcast, to deal with having to go to a breast cancer clinic and be the only man there for a mammogram (Mike refers to them as a menograms). He also shared information about the great work that both he as an individual and the Male Breast Cancer Coalition do to support men with breast cancer and advocate for the inclusion of men in breast cancer research and clinical trials. 

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Joel T Nowak interviews Dr. Maryanne Sadar, who has developed a novel drug target, an investigational treatment, that is a first in class hormone therapy operating on the N Terminal Domain of the androgen receptor. The investigational treatment, Epi-506, is being tested on men with advanced, metastatic prostate cancer. 

Dr. Sadar describes how the drug target was first identified then how it was tested in cell lines, then animals and now in humans. She also describes the process of having to form a new corporation, Essa, to raise the funds and the expertise to conduct the clinical trial. 

Epi-506 is currently in a first in humans, phase I, dose escalation trial is being conducted in both Canada and the United States. Dr. Sadar also discusses how a man with castrate resistant prostate cancer could join the trial. 

Dr. Sadar‘s career as a human cancer researcher began before there were many other women in cancer research. She shared some of her experiences being a female pioneer in medical and cancer research. She also shared her very personal reason in her decision-making process to become a cancer researcher. 

Dr. Sadar ends the podcast on a positive and very upbeat message to all Cancer Thrivers. 

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Joel Nowak talks with Dr. Corrie Painter. who is an eight-year Cancer Thriver with Angiosarcoma, a very rare and lethal cancer of the interior of the blood vessels. 

Dr. Painter is a researcher with the Broad Institute of MIT and Dana Farber. She is instrumental in designing and executing the Broad’s research project, The Angiosarcoma Project as well as their Metastatic Breast and Metastatic Prostate Cancer Projects. 

Dr. Painter shares her heart wrenching story of being diagnosed with Angiosarcoma, how she made her treatment decisions when there was no treatment available that had demonstrated any effectiveness in treating her cancer, and how she searched out others with the disease to find that many were no longer alive. 

Dr. Painter, who is an outlier, has been involved in the development of the Angiosarcoma Project that is a patient driven project that is defining the genetic map underlying Angiosarcoma and its potential treatments. 

The project is recruiting others with Angiosarcoma to participate by going to the website at www.ASCProject.org and clicking the “Count Me In” button. Cancer Thrivers who are counted in will be asked to contribute, from their home, blood, saliva and tissue samples for genetic sequencing as well as signing releases for the project to obtain their medical records. The project will map the genetics of Angiosarcoma and learn about how it relates to drug therapy and treatment efficacy. 

Cancer Thrivers who are “counted in” will receive regular updates on what is learned by the project.

To be counted in go to the site at www.ASCProject.org and clicking the “Count Me In” button. 

WARNING – Dr. Painters story is very informative, but will pull your heartstrings.

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Joel Nowak interviews Dr. Eli Van Allen, a medical oncologist specializing in prostate cancer, from the Broad Institute, an MIT and Dana Farber collaboration and the Dana Farber Hospital about the Metastatic Prostate Cancer Project. The project is a research project created jointly with patients that are reaching out to men with metastatic prostate cancer and asking them to allow the Broad to have access to samples of blood, saliva, tissue (if there is any) and their medical records.

The project will sequence the samples provided and define the genetic map of prostate cancer and evaluate the drugs taken in relation to the genetic discovers made.

The overall goal is to expand the understanding of the genetics of metastatic prostate cancer, develop new drug targets, define prostate cancer subtypes, understand drug resistance, and expand our knowledge of racial differences and prostate cancer genetics and responses.

Men who participate will receive regular communication about the findings of the project. For some men, the discoveries made by the project might be actionable.

You can participate from home; everything will be sent to you in a discreet package. To participate go to www.mpcProject.org and click “Count Me In.” Additional project information is available at https://mpcproject.org/more-details

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