CURE Talks Cancer

William S. Laird gives readers an enlightening, inspiring and unflinching look at his journey with appendiceal cancer in the memoir “Not Me, Cancer,” now available via Archway Publishing.


“I wrote this book when I was on chemo,” Laird tells CURE. “And I told my wife one day, I said, ‘I'm gonna write a book about this experience.’ And of course, I got a pump on my side, and she's looking at me like I'm a little bit crazy, because I'm not an author. And she was kind of like ‘Oh well,’ or not kind of believing it.


“But two weeks later, I started typing and I journaled my story, and not my whole story but I took it to a point where I felt I made my points. And I felt like God tapped me on the shoulder to write this book. He helped me write it. And I think there's good messaging in it.”


Laird first received a diagnosis of appendiceal cancer in 2015. In the nearly decade since, he has undergone 35 rounds of chemotherapy and counting as well as procedures including a surgical debulking via HIPEC (hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy) — or, as he puts it: “Basically you’re cut open, pelvis to sternum, and they take all your insides out, and if there's anything in there they don't like they take it out, and they kind of put you back together and run 107 degree chemo therapy through your abdomen for an hour and a half with nurses pushing on your abdomen to get it in every crack and crevice.”


In this episode of the “Cancer Horizons” podcast, Laird speaks with CURE about his decision to share his story, his cancer journey so far and the importance of perseverance.


“Now, it's a rare cancer, I don't know if it ever goes away, I'm gonna try to outfight it,” he said. “But I never look at the situation like this is the end of me. I don't. It's just (that) this is a bump in the road, it's supposed to be part of my life, and I deal with it.


“I'll get chemo, sometimes I'll be at work the next day. And people see I really push. And so I don't do things traditionally. And I even see it when people find out I've got cancer, they are ‘Oh, no,’ like, ‘Oh, that's the end,’ but to me, it isn't. It's just part of my life, and I'm a fighter.”


Early in “Not Me, Cancer,” Laird makes a clear case for sharing his story of survivorship, writing that “all of what we know and experience from others can have a personal impact on each of us if we are faced with the same cancer challenges.”


“I'm a human, I care about my fellow humans,” he tells CURE, “and if I can have an impact on this planet, and make a difference for people, which I believe I can, then I feel like I'm kind of gifted a little bit. … If by my example I can help others, to me, that's the most important thing that I can do in my lifetime.”

For more news on cancer updates, research and education, don’t forget to subscribe to CURE®’s newsletters here.

Mike Peters, the singer and guitarist of Welsh rockers The Alarm, gives fans an inside perspective of his cancer journey on “Forwards,” the band’s new album arriving via The Twenty First Century Recording Company on June 2. Peters wrote his band’s latest LP while hospitalized for leukemia — often using members of his care team as an unofficial sounding board for the new material.
Peters’ two-month hospital stay in 2022 was the latest chapter of his cancer journey. He received a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1995, then chronic lymphocyte leukemia in 2005, which relapsed in 2015. 
In this episode of the “Cancer Horizons” podcast, Peters tells CURE® about his cancer journey, the creation of “Forwards” and returning to the North Wales Cancer Centre, the hospital where he was treated, to film the music video for “Next.”
This episode features excerpts from the singles “Forwards,” “Next” and “Whatever” by The Alarm from the Twenty First Century Recording Company release “Forwards.”

There’s no stopping Dr. Dawn Mussallem.

Mussallem — a lifestyle medicine and integrative breast cancer specialist at the Robert and Monica Jacoby Center for Breast Health at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida — is a cancer survivor, a recipient of both bone marrow and heart transplants, a mother and a marathon runner.

Mussallem explained to CURE® how her own life experiences have helped her connect with patients on health journeys of their own.

“Going through what you go through, it really gives you the ability to connect with people,” she said. “It's such a gift, that ability to connect, and really kind of be able to have a good sense or intuition, if you may, of where they're at in their cancer journey, and just to be able to be there with them, and that time of vulnerability. And so, it's given me the ability to have a good pulse on exactly where I need to be with a patient.”

When she was 26 and in the early months of medical school, Mussallem began experiencing shortness of breath and fatigue. One doctor told her she had asthma, another concurred and a third said it was all in her head. A few days later, she collapsed on her way home from class — she was in cardiogenic shock, and her heart wasn’t pumping.

Doctors found a 16-centimeter mass in her chest wrapped around her heart that had collapsed her left lung. She was diagnosed with stage 4, large diffuse B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and was told she had three months to live if she didn’t start treatment immediately, she recounted.

Surgery, chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant followed. And life continued for her. She began her career in medicine, gave birth to a daughter who’s now 19 and, three weeks later, began experiencing heart failure.

Mussallem spent 18 years in heart failure. During that time, she stayed as active as possible, worked with her patients and volunteered at the National Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer operated by the DONNA Foundation, an organization which financially assists and supports patients with breast cancer and funds breast cancer research.

“I remember working here in the Breast Center with my breast cancer patients and volunteering at the DONNA Marathon because I couldn't run — I couldn't walk it with the heart failure,” Mussallem said. “And I remember just thinking, ‘Oh, my gosh, I would give anything one day to be able to run this. If or when I get a transplant, I'll be good enough to do that.’”

The transplant happened in February of 2021, and exactly one year to the day later, Mussallem crossed the marathon’s finish line.

In this episode of the “Cancer Horizons” podcast, Mussallem talks with CURE® about her DONNA Marathon training experience her connection with her patients and the importance of physical activity for patients during their cancer journey.

“For 18 years, I wanted to do what I did … but I had to hold back because I knew I only had so much to give,” she said. “And now I can just give and give and give because I feel great. I gotta get rid of my energy.”

For more news on cancer updates, research and education, don’t forget to subscribe to CURE®’s newsletters here.

It took a 15-minute doctor’s appointment to change Shannon Miller’s life. 

Miller, a two-time Olympic gymnast who earned seven medals, was diagnosed with a rare form of ovarian cancer in January 2011. She first had surgery to have a baseball-sized tumor removed from her ovary before undergoing aggressive chemotherapy. 
 
Throughout this experience, she tapped into her competitive and hardworking nature as an athlete to get her through the experience. 
“There are so many lessons that I learned through sport that applied very directly to my cancer journey. I think goal setting was a big part of that,” Miller, who was also the keynote speaker at the 2023 Extraordinary Healer® award, said in an interview with CURE®. “They give you a sense of accomplishment along the way.” 

READ MORE: Abbey Kaler, M.S., APRN, FNP-C, CMSRN, Wins CURE®’s 2023 Extraordinary Healer® Award

However, when treatment ended, that did not mean the cancer experience was over, Miller explained. 

“(During) that next phase post-treatment … part of that journey of trying to figure out this new normal, and figuring out how to make sure not only I was mentally prepared for the next phase, but people around me around me were prepared for that as well,” Miller explained. “Because it's not like you finish treatment and the next day, you're 100% you have to give yourself some grace, give yourself some time to heal and try to figure out your next steps.”

In this episode of the Cancer Horizons podcast, Miller discussed her cancer diagnosis, how she took her athlete mindset to cancer and beyond and one oncology nurse who helped her through it all. 

 For more news on cancer updates, research and education, don’t forget to subscribe to CURE®’s newsletters here.

Before being diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer at the age of 34, Jennifer Broxterman was constantly told that she was young and healthy — but the registered dietitian knew that something was off. 

At the time of her cervical cancer diagnosis in 2015, Emily Lynn Paulson was involved in a multi-level marketing (MLM) company — a business where individuals sign up to sell products, and then are encouraged to recruit others to distribute under them. 


“When I got the diagnosis, I thought ‘OK, I’m going to have to step back and take a break from this,” Paulson said in an interview with CURE®. “I was really encouraged by the people in my upline (saying), ‘Use this to your advantage. You’re going through this thing. People love personal stories, people love vulnerability.’” 


After Paulson was diagnosed, others in the company encouraged her to use her diagnosis to sell more products; she said that this type of emotional manipulation was not an uncommon tactic to make more money. 

READ MORE: The Dark Side of Cancer and Social Media


Meanwhile, Paulson underwent a trachelectomy (cervix removal) and was working on getting sober after her bout with cancer. Two years later, she received a second diagnosis, which led to a hysterectomy, and more doubt about the company she was working for. Eventually, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she said she realized how predatory these sales tactics were and left the company to become a sobriety coach and author of the book, “Hey Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing.” 


“Being in an MLM, you really target people’s pain points… there’s a solution to every pain point; it’s just a very predatory design,” she said. 


In this episode of the “Cancer Horizons” podcast, Paulson discusses her cancer experience, life in the MLM, sobriety and more. 

For more news on cancer updates, research and education, don’t forget to subscribe to CURE®’s newsletters here.

Teri Griege completed an Ironman triathlon in 2009, and less than a month later received a stage 4 colorectal cancer diagnosis. In this episode of Cancer Horizons, she shared her story. 

In this episode of the “Cancer Horizons” podcast, “Rabbi G” discusses his global travels to teach breathwork to children with cancer, and gives an exercise listeners can use to decrease their pain and anxiety.