WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon

Hour 2: Keefe now believes the Bruins won’t make the playoffs and the team is falling apart this season. And youth football players potentially not going to be allowed to play tackle football until high school and Keefe thinks coaches know how to teach tackling better now to make it safer.

Seventeen years, $50 million raised. Listen to some of the best moments over the years since the WEEI NESN Jimmy Fund Radio Telethon began in 2002.  

Mut and Joe are joined by Dr. Matthew Davids the Associate Director for the Center for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

After obtaining an A.B. in Chemistry from Harvard College, Dr. Davids completed his M.D. at Yale University School of Medicine. He served as an intern, resident, and assistant chief resident in internal medicine at New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in NYC.

Once he completed his fellowship in hematology and oncology in Dana-Farber/ Partners CancerCare, and a Masters in Medical Science (MMSc) at Harvard Medical School he became the attending physician in the Lymphoma Program of the Division of Metalogic Malignancies and Dana-Farber, an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and is the Associate Director of the Dana-Farber CLL Center.

Stephen was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last April after experiencing abdominal discomfort following a trip to Florida.

He came to Dana-Farber for his treatment, which included a whipple surgery, in which part of his pancreas was removed, followed by 16 weeks of chemotherapy.

Stephen considers himself incredibly lucky that his disease was caught relatively early. The five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is only 7%. When pancreatic cancer is detected early, the survival percentages increase dramatically. 

Stephen also can’t say enough about his care team at Dana-Farber which included his surgeon, Dr. Clancy, his nurse, Kathleen Boyle, and his oncologist, Dr. Nadine McCleary.  

Sadly, this was not the first experience with cancer for Stephen and his family. He lost his daughter to leukemia in the 1970s. At that time, the survival rate for childhood leukemia was about 20%. Today it is over 80% thanks to advances in science and investments in research.

Stephen lives with his wife of 53 years in Marblehead. He is retired now and enjoys spending time with his children and grandchildren.