WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon

Two weeks before her birthday, Maggie was at a football game and touched the base of her neck where she noticed a bump. She initially thought it was a swollen lymph node, but after further testing, she learned that she had a mass in her chest and was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma. Her treatment included chemotherapy for several months and she finished her active treatment in March. Maggie just graduated from Notre Dame Academy and will attend Marquette University in the fall. After undergoing her treatment at Dana-Farber, she wants to become a Nurse Practitioner. She had not even applied to nursing schools, but after hearing her story, Marquette offered her a spot in their nursing program.Separately, Maggie was born with a leg deformity and spent a lot of time at Children's Hospital. She has volunteered at Children's Hospital as part of the high school program for the past 2 years. She played basketball growing up and loves to follow all sports. She also enjoys reading, the beach and spending time with her friends and family. Maggie has 2 siblings: Johnny, 22, and Geoffrey, 20.

Dominic was diagnosed with acute myloid leukemia in July 2016. After working six days in one week and playing a pick-up basketball game, Dominic had a few “black out” moments and sudden serious fatigue. He went to a local health clinic, where doctors believed he had acquired tick-borne illness. After further testing, it was then determined that Dominic had leukemia. He chose Dana-Farber because his grandfather had come here for lung cancer treatment and had a positive experience. Dominic received four rounds of chemotherapy and three types of a targeted gene therapy via a clinical trial. He then received a bone marrow transplant in December 2016 from an unknown donor from Germany. Dominic’s body responded well, and coupled with gene therapy, he has been in remission since November 2016. As Dominic continues to get stronger, he hopes to return to his career at Mass Maritime in the spring, play sports again, and he has recently taking up boxing to stay active.

Dr. Stone received his MD in 1981 from Harvard Medical School, his internal medicine residency training at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and his hematology-oncology fellowship at Dana-Farber. He has performed numerous laboratory and clinical studies on acute leukemia and related disorders, and frequently participates in grand rounds worldwide.  He is currently the Director of the Adult Acute Leukemia Program at Dana-Farber, serves on the Medical Oncology Board of the American Board of Internal Medicine, and is vice chair of the Leukemia Core Committee for the national cooperative trials group Cancer and Leukemia Group B.

The starting Boston Red Sox outfielders Mookie Betts, Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr. joins Glenn, Lou, and Christian on the first day of the 16th annual WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon. 

A competitive Irish dancer, Camille began to complain of severe leg pain, and her mom, Colleen, noticed a large bump on her tibia. Scans revealed that the bump on her leg was a cancerous tumor, and further scans revealed that the cancer had spread to her lungs. Camille was diagnosed with metastatic osteosarcoma, a bone cancer, that had spread to her lungs in January 2013. Camille began treatment immediately, which included surgery to remove the tumor, thoracotomies - surgeries to remove lung tumors - and chemotherapy. In the 4½ years since her initial diagnosis, Camille has twice demonstrated no evidence of disease (or declared cancer-free) but the cancer returned both times. Camille is actively undergoing immunotherapy, a type of treatment that activates the body's immune system to attack the cancer, and is still in treatment at Dana-Farber. Camille just graduated from middle school and will be a freshman at Melrose High this fall. While she can no longer dance, she is very involved in theater and the creative arts. Camille has two sisters, Anastasia, 19, and Electra, 29.

Tracy has been a pediatric nurse for 12 years and joined the Jimmy Fund Clinic 5 years ago. She has had a passion for oncology ever since she was in nursing school. Her favorite thing about working at the Jimmy Fund Clinic is the relationships she forms with patients and families. Tracy says that her pediatric patients are so resilient and strong, and caring for them makes her a better person. Tracy says that hardest part about her job, of course, is when a patient is not responding to treatment, but providing emotional support to her patients and families is something she finds very rewarding. Camille was one of Tracy's first patients when she began working in the Jimmy Fund Clinic – she says they bonded instantly. Tracy says that when she takes care of Camille, they spend 90% of the time laughing together. She feels like Camille is a part of her family.

Despina is an infusion and procedure nurse who works in the Jimmy Fund Clinic. She has worked at Dana-Farber for more than 5 years. She has been a pediatric nurse for over 30 years. Despina says that the care nurses give to families and patients is the very best. Nurses become such a huge part of the lives of the Jimmy Fund Clinic patients -- they are right there with the families through the good times and the difficult times, and sometimes it can be hard work. Despina first met Camille in the infusion clinic -- Camille made fun of Despina's southern accent! She says they have had a special bond ever since. Despina has watched Camille grow up, and has been her infusion nurse since she was first diagnosed. Despina says that she, Camille and Camille's mom, Colleen, share a unique relationship that she loves. They can share feelings and laughs in the Jimmy Fund clinic to help alleviate the stress of Camille's ongoing journey with cancer.

President of Baseball Operations, Dave Dombrowski joins Glenn, Lou, and Christian on the first day of the 16th annual WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon. 

In July 2015, Liam was diagnosed with a condition called hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, a life-threatening immunodeficiency which landed him in the hospital. While undergoing treatment, further testing revealed Liam also had hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma. Liam began treatment at Dana-Farber right away. Liam’s treatment has included chemotherapy and radiation. He also had a bone marrow transplant and is now in remission. Liam loves sports, especially Boston teams. He enjoys playing lacrosse, basketball and soccer.  Liam is close with Caitlin, who actually took care of him during the annual Red Sox Spring Training trip. He has a sister, Elizabeth, 27, and a brother, Connor 26. Liam has had a few health setbacks, but he is hoping to resume nursing school in the fall at Salem State.

Caitlin has worked in the Jimmy Fund Clinic at Dana-Farber for 6 years. She worked at Boston Children’s on the Bone Marrow Transplant unit for 8 years, then came to Dana-Farber after having her son. Caitlin met Liam before his bone marrow transplant and says they hit off right away. They found a common bond in talking about Fairfield University where he was a student and she is an alumnus. Caitlin has been caring for Liam ever since, including being his nurse on the annual Red Sox Spring Training trip.

Kiara was diagnosed after her parents took her to a neurologist because she was not walking or turning over after age 2. The only way to treat this type of tumor is with chemotherapy. She had her first
treatment when she was 2. She had a break for 1½ years but doctors noticed changes, so they started treatment again, switching medications. Her tumors have stopped growing. According to Gloria, “The Jimmy Fund Clinic is excellent! They are so good to us, helping us with Kiara's condition. They are our second family. I can write pages and pages of how good they are with us and Kiara.” She likes to draw, sing and dance and play with dolls. She loves the two Descendents movies. Kiara has a boyfriend at the Jimmy Fund Clinic, a volunteer named Brian – but she calls him Chat-Man. She is in first grade at Veteran Memorial Elementary school in Saugus. She is turning 8 this week!

Andy Wall is a 22-year veteran of the Monroe, CT police department. He was diagnosed with glioblastoma in September 2015. A few days prior to his diagnosis, he noticed that he was talking strangely out of the side of his mouth and thought that he was having a dental problem. His wife made him go to hospital and get checked out after work. He got out of work at 3 p.m. and was diagnosed by 9 p.m. with brain cancer. He was shocked, terrified and overwhelmed, especially when he googled “glioblastoma” to figure out what it was. His family immediately called Dana-Farber and got him in for a consultation. Andy says if he writes a book, he is going to entitle it “6 hours” because that is the amount of time it took for his entire life to be turned upside down.  Andy had his tumor removed and immediately began treatment with Dr. Reardon. He received chemotherapy, radiation, and the immunotherapy drug Opdivo via a clinical trial. Andy was tolerating the chemotherapy extremely well at first, but recently began vomiting blood because the chemotherapy had attacked his bone marrow and as a result, he began suffering major blood complications. He was in the hospital for 15 days, and does not remember some of it. He continues to receive the immunotherapy drug infusion every two weeks at Dana-Farber, and is in remission. He is the poster child for the potential impacts of immunotherapy and combination treatments. He says, “I simply can’t believe it, I’m amazed. It’s nothing short of a miracle.” Andy and his wife Lori have a 12-year- old son, AJ. Andy spends his time these days enjoying daily activities with his son, such as flying a drone, building small rockets, and watching AJ’s baseball games.

Dr. David Reardon is a nationally recognized expert in brain cancer. His career objective has been to improve outcome for brain tumor patients. Initially (July 1995-Dec 1998), he ran a laboratory at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital dedicated to identifying genetic abnormalities in pediatric brain tumors and conducted clinical research. He then joined the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center (PRTBTC) at Duke University (Oct 2000-July 2011) as an adult neuro-oncologist where he led daily clinical/translational research operations as Associate Deputy Director. His department saw 800 brain tumor referrals and conducted 10-15 clinical trials annually. He came to the Center for Neuro-Oncology at Dana-Farber (July 2011) because the research opportunity offered unmatched potential for neuro-oncology. In 2013, Dr. Reardon was elected President of the Society for Neuro-Oncology, the major society in the field. He sees the evolution of neuro-oncology as cautiously optimistic and hopes that we can advance the successful treatment rate for brain cancer patients using immunotherapy advances.

Jordan was first diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2009 and initially received treatment in California. She responded well to treatment and then enrolled at Harvard Business School.
A week before her graduation from Harvard in 2016, she relapsed and sought treatment at Dana-Farber because “it was known to have the very best care.” While still receiving chemotherapy, she got married to Cey (KAY). Jordan is currently working as a management consultant. She was a scientist before she entered business school and she wants to build agricultural biotech innovation to help feed the world and cure global hunger. She is working on a research project called "mere strangers" because after having cancer twice, she has been blown away by reading amazing messages that she received. In many cases, she didn't know the authors of these messages, but the impact was nonetheless, enormous. She says that those who reach out to cancer patients with letters can't "undue what is terrible about cancer, but they can make it a tolerable experience by creating elements of beauty through absolute selflessness and kindness." Jordan is an avid follower of Dana-Farber's Young Adult Program and says that this program helped her navigate the unique challenges that young adults with cancer face. She likes to sing and spend time with her husband. Jordan is singing the National Anthem at tonight's Red Sox game!

Trevor was diagnosed with brain cancer just about 6 months after his mom's diagnosis. Trevor had no symptoms at all until he had a very small seizure at work and went to the Emergency Room. After he was released, Trevor had a large seizure 4 hours later in his kitchen. He had the surgery to remove the tumor four days later. His cancer has responded well to treatment, and the tumor is basically gone. He is finishing his chemotherapy and will begin bimonthly MRIs moving forward. He says that it is surreal to think what he has gone through over this journey, and coupled with his mom, it has been a really challenging two years.He attended high school Maryland and then attended Boston University where he majored in Marine Science. He is currently working at a family business in portable housing development. For fun, Trevor likes exploring the city, going to concerts and movies, and hanging out with his friends. His goals for the future include sustaining a cancer-free lifestyle and working for a nonprofit in a full-time capacity that works to improve the Boston Harbor.

Connie and her family were living in Maryland in the winter of 2015, and planning to move to Newburyport. They were on vacation in Maine and her loved ones noticed that Connie was suffering from what appeared to be a stroke or small seizure. She was rushed to a local hospital, where an MRI revealed the tumor. Connie is retired from Brigham and Women's Hospital so she knew that she
wanted to be cared for at Dana-Farber and that treatment where she would get the best shot at survival. She is still receiving treatment 18 months from her diagnosis and has with no intention to stop treatment. Connie is married to Ben. Her son, Trevor has a twin sister. She also has an older daughter, Marissa, 27. Connie loves to kayak and bike. Connie wants to continue to enjoy life and travel.