CURE Talks Cancer

A strong support system can make a world of difference when someone is battling cancer. Just having the right people and volunteers in someone’s corner cheering them on can elevate their spirits and help them push through their grueling treatments.

In this week’s episode of the “CURE Talks Cancer” podcast, we spoke with Brandon Stevens, a testicular cancer survivor who chronicles his experience and how those around him helped him get through his grueling chemotherapy treatments.

Stevens, who was originally diagnosed not long following his high school graduation, is now a student within the professional pilot program at Kansas State University Polytechnic Campus training for his pilot’s license. 

After positive experiences with therapy dogs during his treatment, Stevens decided to use his training to become a pilot to give back to dogs in need and is volunteering for Pilots N Paws, a nonprofit organization that facilitates transportation for rescue animals and animals in need. Stevens also said he hopes to start a nonprofit of his own for children with cancer.

“I think it's just a natural psychological thing that happens and for me, I just think everyone has done so much for me and I see a lot of the good people who are going out of their way, not getting paid to help you, and they genuinely want to help and I think it's natural in us to want to do that and I can't think of better ways to give back to the community.” 

At the age of 45, Dr. Angela Nicholas’s husband was diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer. Just five years later, he passed from the disease. As an advocate, Nicholas works to raise awareness around earlier screening for the disease, as well as alternative options for screening. For example, findings from a new colorectal cancer screening study found consistently high adherence (71%) with an at-home, stool-based, multi-target DNA test among Medicare beneficiaries, an above-average adherence rate compared to other screening tools. In this episode of the “CURE Talks Cancer” podcast, she shared her journey as her husband’s caregiver, as well as information on screening for colorectal cancer.

In the midst of the current opioid epidemic, pain management is taking center stage in many healthcare settings, and oncology is no different. It is crucial that patients have their pain – both acute and chronic – managed, while avoiding the potential of drug misuse. Add in barriers to care and other roadblocks, and things become even trickier. The good news is that oncology nurses can help by educating patients on proper opioid use, and advocating that they seek physical and occupational therapy as well. Judith A. Paice, PhD, RN, director of the Cancer Pain Program at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, discusses all that and more in this month’s podcast. 

After Aki Smith’s father was diagnosed with advanced stage stomach cancer in December of 2013, limitations were being placed by her father's health insurance company and lack of research left the family questioning what to do.  At the time, Aki had decided to become her father’s full-time caregiver. Her father is now in remission and Aki and her husband have started the non-profit Hope for Stomach Cancer. The organization aims to “…find hope for all Stomach Cancers. Take a stand together. Take hope to a new level and make change happen.” In this episode of the “CURE Talks Cancer” podcast, we spoke with Aki about her father’s cancer journey, how she turned to resources as a caregiver and what she hopes other patients with stomach cancer and their loved ones can take away from the organization. For more information, visit stocan.org.

Each year, the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) hosts its Laugh for Life event, which aims to educate, empower and inspire individuals to raise awareness and funds for multiple myeloma research. Ahead of its even, CURE spoke with Tina Rettig, a caregiver for her husband,d who was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2010. Tina serves as a co-chair for the event, which will be held on May 6, help to fund groundbreaking research initiatives like the MMRF’s most recent Direct to Patient Registry, a cornerstone of its CureCloud. “One of the big takeaways from (Laugh for Life) is the information that we put out there…(It raises) money, and money leads to research, and research leads to testing new treatments that can be approved,” Rettig said. “And there's no one treatment that fits everybody. So it's important that we have different levels of treatment, and that you can (live with) this disease.” In addition, we spoke with Andrew Marcelle, and his father, Peter, who was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2016. Marcell will be receiving the “Spirit of Hope” award at this year’s event for his work in fundraising for the MMRF. “It's such a big organization and there's so many people involved with it…(receiving this award) is very humbling and I'm excited for the event,” Marcelle said. For more information, visit themmrf.org.

While the treatment landscape for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) continues to evolve, there is a heavy emphasis on discovering new targeted therapies for patients. Because of this, it is key for patients to have their tumors tested for biomarkers to determine if they have a mutation, like EGFR, ROS1, ALK, BRAF, that could determine what treatment they should undergo. For example, Tagrisso (osimertinib) is approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat patients with NSCLC with an EGFR mutation. In this episode, we spoke with Andrew Ciupek, manager of clinical research at the Go2 Foundation for Lung Cancer, to learn more about biomarker testing and the various treatment options available for patients with NSCLC.

For this month’s episode, we spoke with Katherine Crew, MD, an associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at the Columbia University Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center. Crew discusses her recent research on genetic testing in young women with breast cancer. While she was happy to see that the testing rates were not much different between ethnic groups, there were some differences when it came to the results. Crew also offers advice for nurses in discussing genetics with their patients, as well as easing the worry of not knowing what some genetic testing results may mean.

In this week’s episode of the “CURE Talks Cancer” podcast, we spoke with Lainie Jones, who has found her purpose in helping others after being diagnosed with five separate primary cancers before the age of 35 because of a rare genetic condition that predisposes her to develop the disease.

It all began when Jones was diagnosed with adrenal cancer as an infant. Since then, she has come face-to-face with five separate cancers before the age of 35: breast cancer at 24, melanoma at 25, thyroid cancer at 26, and most recently sarcoma. In her search for answers, Jones discovered she has Li-Fraumeni syndrome, which affects just 500 individuals in the United States. 

Now cancer-free, Jones has turned her experience into a positive by sharing her story and helping others.

At the age of 3, Bishoy Tadros received a diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia and immigrated to the United States with him family to receive treatment. After moving to Los Angeles and then to Long Island, New York, Tadros underwent varios aggressive surgeries and entered remission on his 13th birthday. However, it wasn’t until 2017 that he was inspired to share his story. He pushed away from his comfort zone, entering to run the New York City Marathon and raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society – all of which helped him to realize the power of his personal story. Tadros wrote a memoir, titled “Break Barriers,” to help individuals learn that setbacks are never instilled to define oneself, and that patience, perspective and purpose are key.

Although many have never heard of them, pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma are two types of rare cancers that are not news to Matthew Capogreco and his family. With a long list of relatives – nine to be exact – who were diagnosed with these two tumor types, Capogreco himself was 25 when he demanded his physician test him for the disease after feeling symptoms his father had already experienced before his own diagnosis. He was first diagnosed with bi-lateral carotid paragangliomas asymptomatic and has since had multiple bouts of pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma. With this, his motto has turned to “seven times down, eight times up.” “The person that preserveres is the one who gets up that one last time,” Capogreco. “That’s what we have to do. We have no choice. If we’re down at the end and we don’t back up, there’s no coming back from it.” Now cancer free, Capogreco serves as the president of the Board of Pheo Para Alliance, which aims to empower patients with pheochromocytoma or paraganglioma, their families and medical professionals through advocacy, education and a global community of support, while helping to advance research that accelerates treatments and cures. “The question is why should other people care about this rare disease that will never touch your life?” he said. “My response to that is this small disease has so many components we know about…if you could solve one small piece of the cancer puzzle it will have a great effect on all of the other puzzle pieces.” For more information, visit pheopara.org.