CURE Talks Cancer

In 1997, Katie Couric’s life changed forever when her husband was diagnosed with advanced colorectal cancer, and then just four years later, her sister with pancreatic cancer. Now, 20-plus years later, Couric is working with Merck’s Your Cancer Game Plan to offer her younger self advice.

A new program called “With Love, Me” features a series of heartfelt letters written by caregivers and cancer survivors to their newly diagnosed selves and other caregivers, touching upon what they wish they had known when they were diagnosed and/or first giving care.

Couric’s advice to herself? “You may feel alone, but you’re not alone.” 

For more information, visit withloveme.com.

A passion for running and helping her patients has led Angela Hammack, BSN, RN, OCN, to do great things. In 2017, Hammack, a charge nurse and clinical educator with Jackson Oncology Associates, ran a 100-mile race for cancer research and patient care. Her efforts continued after that, and to-date, she has raised over $100,000 for the cause.

For this month’s episode, we’ll hear from Hammack—who was also a finalist for CURE’s 2019 Extraordinary Healer Award—about what keeps her motivated.

Imagine overcoming a breast cancer diagnosis and its treatment, yet in choosing reconstructive surgery with textured implants, finding out you may be at risk for a rare type of lymphoma.

Renee Ridgeley found herself in that exact situation.

Following the recent controversy with a Food and Drug Administration panel not banning these implants that are to blame for causing breast implant-associated anaplastic large-cell lymphoma, many women are speaking out about the issue.

In this week’s CURE Talks Cancer podcast, we spoke with the patient advocate about her own experience and how women can learn more about their reconstruction options.

Read more about the FDA's panel in March at curetoday.com.

After receiving a testicular cancer diagnosis at just 26 years old, Jonny Imerman sought mentorship from someone else who had endured a similar situation but came up short.

In turn, he founded the cancer support community Imerman Angels, created to provide personalized connections to enable one-on-one support among cancer fighters, survivors and caregivers.

In this week’s episode, we spoke with Imerman about his cancer journey and how his organization helps individuals affected by cancer worldwide.

For more information, visit imermanangels.org.

The middle – an area many adolescent and young adults (AYAs) with cancer find themselves.

While their physical and emotional needs tend to be quite different, many institutions fail to focus on the specific needs of AYAs who don’t fall under either the pediatric or adult checklist.

In this week’s episode of CURE Talks Cancer, we spoke with a young adult who was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, as well as a child life specialist about a program at CHOC Children’s Hospital designed to address the specific needs of AYAs affected by cancer.