WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon

Mindy was diagnosed in 2012 with a gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), a type of sarcoma or soft issue cancer that grows in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Her initial diagnosis came just days before her youngest daughter’s first birthday. Her tumor initially responded well to treatment. However, when her treatment ended, Mindy's cancer returned. Mindy underwent two major surgeries after her
cancer had spread. She started researching additional treatment options and through a Facebook support group found a clinical trial at Dana-Farber. Mindy came to Dana-Farber and enrolled in the trial in April. She initially made the nearly 10-hour journey from Northern Wisconsin to Dana-Farber once a week but now comes to Boston once a month. The drug that she is on now as part of the clinical trial is designed to target certain mutations in her tumor. Mindy is feeling great. Mindy is a stay home mom and has three daughters – Chloe, Kylee, and Katie –ages 13,10 and 6. Mindy, her husband Aaron and their daughters live in the heart of Green Bay Packer country.

Dr. Merriam can talk about treating patients with sarcoma and clinical trials that are benefiting patients living with this disease.

In October 2016, John had just relocated to the Boston area from North Carolina and was experiencing fatigue. He also felt some palpable tumors under his skin. He was subsequently diagnosed with melanoma. His brother-in- law, a surgeon at a local hospital, encouraged John to go to Dana-Farber. He is glad that he did. When he came to Dana-Farber, John started on a new type of cancer treatment
called immunotherapy. Immunotherapy drugs help enable the body's own immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells, as the immune system would do with a virus or infection. Immunotherapy has helped patients to achieve dramatic remissions in cancers that were previously thought to be untreatable. John started on a new type of immunotherapy drug in April and is feeling great and not experiencing any side effects. When he's not working or getting cancer treatment, John enjoys, golf, exercising, and sports of all kinds. He has a wife and three children ages 15, 11, and 7.

Lisa started at the Jimmy Fund Clinic more than 25 years ago. Lisa’s father had been treated at Dana-Farber and passed away when she was 16. Lisa and her team are responsible for the day-to- day activities in the Jimmy Fund Clinic and events such as Teen Spring Training Trip, Girls Weekend, Summer Festival and Holiday Festival, to name a few. 

Maddy and Molly met on the 2016 Jimmy Fund Spring Training Trip in Florida. They sat next to each other on the plane ride, and immediately clicked. All of Maddy's friends from Clinic make her feel so understood and she is so grateful for the chance to grow close with so many fellow patients over the years. Many of the teens have come together as a group, talk every day, and plan little reunions whenever possible. Maddy was diagnosed in May 2015 with Hodgkin lymphoma 2B after a year of not feeling well, an x-ray showed a tumor the size of dinner plate in her chest. Her treatment included six cycles of chemotherapy and a month of radiation. She has been in remission since November 2015. She attends the University of New Hampshire and hopes to graduate in 2020. She would like to pursue a career where she can give back and help those that have been in similar situations as herself. Maddy's favorite thing about the Jimmy Fund Clinic: “I love the way that the staff at the Jimmy Fund Clinic can provide patients with so many exciting and happy moments even during the most traumatic thing they've ever dealt with. It's also really inspiring to me that a lot of the doctors, nurses, and specialists who treat us are survivors themselves, or have had some other touching experience with cancer.”

Around November 2015, Molly started having pain in her neck. Being an athlete, she assumed the pain was a pulled muscle or something (she got a lot of those with figure skating). But over a month passed and the pain hadn't gotten better, instead it was getting worse. An x-ray showed that something was wrong with her cervical spine, but her pediatrician couldn't tell what it was. An MRI showed there was some type of tumor, a biopsy showed it was Ewing sarcoma. She was 15 years old. Molly’s treatment has included chemotherapy and radiation. She completed treatment in September 2016. She will graduate from Lynnfield High School in 2018 and hopes to go into the fashion industry and to be a stylist for photo shoots and fashion shows. Her hobbies include figure skating, playing ukulele, fashion sketching and fashion photography. Family includes parents Nukhet (mom) and Tim Malone and siblings Emily, Audrey, and Patrick.

Chelsea passed away in January 2017 at the age of 26. She was treated for hepatoblastoma at 15 months and then at 24 for hepatocellular carcinoma due to a liver transplant. She was a patient with Dana-Farber for 24 years and appeared on last year’s Radio-Telethon. Chelsea had two older brothers, Griffin, 31 and Quinn, 28. Chelsea enjoyed spending time with her two nieces. Chelsea loved the beach – she would go there to relax and forget about her diagnosis. She enjoyed spending time with her family and friends. She also loved movies and shows. Last year Chelsea shared: “It's a very scary time in my life, never knowing what each day will bring. Life is precious to me and I am lucky to be here today. I am also struggling with why this is happening again. After a successful liver transplant, we had a lot of hope for a new beginning and living my life with the least of worries. I am grateful for the liver transplant. I think about my donor every day, especially knowing that if I didn't get one, my condition would be fatal. It's an emotional time. I'm happy that I'm here today with a healthy liver but at the same time I can't believe I have cancer again after such a successful surgery. I wasn't supposed to make it out of surgery. Dana-Farber is with us every step of the way and isn't giving up on my diagnosis considering treatment being limited. Everyday I thank god for the Jimmy Fund. Words can't express my gratitude to all the amazing doctors and nurses at this institution.”

When Chelsea was diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma in the explanted liver, Dr. O’Neill became her doctor. She had the honor to treat Chelsea over the course of many months, trialing
many experimental therapeutics, and managing her pain and symptoms towards the end of her life.  Dr. O’Neill and others visited her at home, got to know her parents and siblings, and celebrated her life at a tremendous event after her passing. Her family organized a fun-run to honor her memory a year after her passing and raised over $14,000 for Dr. O’Neill’s liver tumor research.  Dr. O’Neill ran the race too. Dr. O’Neill, “Chelsea was loved by so many members of the hospital in so many different departments.   On her last discharge home, the number of people who visited her and relayed their love for the family was astounding.  They continue to ask about Linda and Deane on a regular basis as they too touched the lives of so many.” Dr. O'Neill completed her fellowship in 2011. Dr. O’Neill is a clinician and scientist who spends 50% of her time treating patients with solid tumors, with a special focus on treating patients with liver tumors, and 50% of her time performing clinical and preclinical research. Her research focuses on targeting tumor cell surface proteins to enhance diagnostics and therapeutics.

Jen appeared on the Radio-Telethon in 2013. Jen was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma at 19 in June 2011. In July 2011, she began chemotherapy, followed by radiation. In October 2011, Jen finished
treatment, and post treatment scans showed no cancer. In December 2012, scans suggested possible relapse, and a biopsy revealed that her cancer had returned, so she began chemotherapy again. In March 2013, Jen had an autologous stem cell transplant. She was in isolation for 100 days. Jen is cancer-free today and is a student at George Washington University. She is expected to graduate in spring 2018. She recently worked as a congressional communications intern on Capitol Hill. Jen’s mother, Kate is currently being treated at Dana-Farber for breast cancer. Jen’s dad’s name is Neal. In her free time, Jen enjoys yoga, photography, baking, and she is on a mission to explore every Smithsonian museum in D.C. Her goal is to become communications director for a member of Congress or
work in health care policy. She would like to stay in public service for the foreseeable future.

Marc has been a volunteer at the Jimmy Fund Clinic for 2 years. His daughter, Lauren, was treated at the Clinic for many years - she was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. She passed away before her 19th birthday. Marc gives back to Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund Clinic for a number of reasons. He says the love, kindness, empathy and care provided by the Child Life Specialists, the nurses and the doctors helped them to navigate the worst period of their lives. Marc says Lisa Scherber and her team provide a safe zone for the children and their families. The services they provide, the outings, the ball games, the teen weekends, the holiday parties and summer festivals are amazing. Marc says the Jimmy Fund Clinic is a very, very special place and he is so proud to be a part of it.

Dr. Crompton works with children with blood cancers and solid tumors at Dana-Farber's Jimmy Fund Clinic. He can speak about the importance of raising funds to support research leading to better treatments and cures for different types of cancers. He has a translational research laboratory that focuses on finding new and better ways to treat pediatric solid tumors. Dr. Crompton and his team use cancer models to test new drugs that we hope will develop into new treatments for patients with refractory pediatric cancer. They are also developing new non-invasive blood tests that can detect circulating traces of cancer cells. These “liquid biopsies” may allow d to use a simple blood sample to diagnose cancer, measure response to therapy, and detect relapse. This year Dr. Crompton will participate in both the PMC and Jimmy Fund Walk. He often chaperones the Jimmy Fund Clinic teen trips to see the Red Sox in spring training.

Greg was diagnosed in April 2015. He had several months of nerve pain in his legs and knew something wasn't right. He was first diagnosed with pneumonia and when there was no improvement he went to see the doctors again. Initially the nurses in the ER did not think Greg had cancer, but Greg’s mom urged them to look into it more considering his father had leukemia. Greg’s father, Dan, had passed away in May 1992 from AML. Doctors first thought it was acute promyelocytic leukemia and not genetic. But after more testing, doctors determined it was AML caused by a defective chromosome that his father also had and the only way to cure would be a bone marrow transplant. After the bone marrow transplant and a long hospital stay, Greg is doing well. His only treatment (other than a couple of drugs taken as a preventive measure and for minor chronic GVHD) was in July/August 2015. He currently works in investor services at Brown Brothers Harriman and is also working towards his CFA designation.

Tom Brady joins Kirk, Gerry, and Mut at the top of the Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon as he details how cancer has affected his family and how his mother is now on the road to recovery from her own battle.