Your Stories: Conquering Cancer

In this episode of Your Stories, Dr. Applebaum shares the hopeful news about conquering childhood cancers with fellow oncologist Dr. Douglas Yee and gives doctors’ orders for how all patients with cancer and their families can face every phase of a diagnosis with childlike hopes.

International business leader Riccardo Braglia has experienced great loss from cancer. But the perspective he gained inspires what he gives to help patients everywhere. Riccardo shares his story with ASCO CEO Cliff Hudis, MD, FACP, FASCO.

Life doesn’t stop when devastating things happen. Six-time cancer survivor Brittany Sullivan and her husband, John, know this all too well. Brittany’s first diagnosis came at age 3 and her most recent when she was 15 weeks pregnant. How do a husband and wife keep going when cancer lies in the shadows of their most joyous moments?The Sullivans rest in their faith, the miracles uncovered by modern medicine, and the divine direction of a pink Post-It note to conquer the fears of cancer without losing the hope that sustains their family.

Life doesn't stop when devastating things happen. Six-time cancer survivor Brittany Sullivan and her husband John know this all too well. Brittany's first diagnosis came at age three and her most recent when she was 15 weeks pregnant.

How do a husband and wife keep going when cancer lies in the shadows of their most joyous moments? The Sullivans rest in their faith, the miracles uncovered by modern medicine, and the divine direction of a pink Post-It note to conquer the fears of cancer without losing the hope that sustains their family.

My first diagnosis was right before I turned three years old. I had a tumor on my tongue. I had it removed. Then had several other recurrences when I was 6 and 17, 21.

Yeah. And the one when you were 21 is special to me.

John and I had just started dating. And I had a very small tumor removed from my lung. And so he got to be a part of that recovery. And I saw in him his ability to be a caregiver, his compassion, and his tenderness. And man, that really meant a lot to me after the experiences that I had had in my life. And it spoke love to me in a way that I could understand it.

So let's go back to November of 2012. We found this tumor in my heart while I was 15 weeks pregnant.

Do you remember what we did the night after we came home from Dr. Davis' office? I say came home. We left there.

We didn't want to go home. We weren't ready to. Because we knew we would just go home and cry. And so we--

Which we would get to--

Yeah.

--eventually.

Yeah, we did eventually do that. But we went to a Japanese steak house. Because I was pregnant and I was craving fried rice. And we walked in. And I was crying.

And I went to the bathroom. And there was a Post-It note on the back of the stall that I chose. It was bright neon pink.

And it said the words, "Do not be afraid" appear in the Bible 365 times. And so I started crying some more. Because what a little gift and treasure!

So we made it far enough past when the baby would be viable. Our sweet girl had had time to grow and develop. So at 34 weeks we delivered Carly Jean.

And she was completely healthy. She was teeny, teeny, tiny. But she was great. And she's just been this, like, beam of joy and goodness. And so in a way, that pregnancy saved my life. Otherwise, we wouldn't have known about the tumor in my heart.

But the story really takes another weird twist.

Yes. Went in for an appointment, and Dr. Katie walked in kind of shaky. And she said, I do not have good news for you. It has spread. I want you to go to Miami. Like, it was one sentence.

Just like that.

There was a clinical trial in Miami.

Before we could get on the clinical trial, we needed to have a brain scan done.

And the scan revealed cancer in my brain, so--

Devastating.

Yes. I really did not want to have brain radiation. But when that's the only option, you do it. Life doesn't stop when devastating things happen.

I was teaching during that time every day. So I kept going. I think I was teaching the reproduction system during that time.

Talk about how it felt to see your tumors responding.

After nine months, after my chest, abdomen, and pelvis scans, there is only 5 millimeters of cancer left. And all of the cancer in my brain is either shrinking or gone. It's humbling. It's exciting.

I feel like every time I get good news I do this, like, enormous happy dance in my brain that doesn't always come out of my body, because I'm tired from cancer treatments. But man, it's so exciting.

We never felt alone. We had an amazing community surrounding us. We often felt scared.

Yeah.

But we never felt, like, hopeless. And that's how we've made it, is we've always had hope. And I feel like it is my job to share that.

The Conquer Cancer Foundation's mission is to conquer cancer worldwide by funding breakthrough research and sharing cutting edge knowledge. To learn more about the participants in this session and others like it, please visit Conquer.org/StoryCorps. Recorded and produced by StoryCorps, a national nonprofit whose mission is to preserve and share humanity's stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world. Learn more at StoryCorps.org.

As a girl, Priscilla Brastianos’s mother told her stories of the grandmother she never knew: a medical student who diagnosed her own fatal breast cancer. The legend of her grandmother, who practiced medicine even in her final days, inspired Brastianos to become an oncologist and physician scientist. The death of Brastianos’s mother from the same disease – and the promise the young doctor made to her in her final days – drives her unwavering commitment to conquer it. The 2012 Conquer Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award (YIA) recipient talks to mentor Evanthia Galanis about the personal and professional journey that honors her family and patients at every turn.

As a girl, Priscilla Brastianos' mother told her stories of the grandmother she never knew, a medical student who diagnosed her own fatal breast cancer. The legend of her grandmother, who practiced medicine even in her final days, inspired Brastianos to become an oncologist and physician scientist. The death of Brastianos' mother from the same disease and the promise the young doctor made to her in her final days drives her unwavering commitment to conquer it. The 2012 Conquer Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award recipient talks to mentor Evanthia Galanis about the personal and professional journey that honors her family and patients at every turn.

So Priscilla, tell me about how you got into this line of work.

When I was very young, my mom told us about my grandmother in Greece. When she was 23 years old-- she was in medical school at the time-- they were learning how to palpate breasts on exam. And she palpated a breast mass and had just diagnosed herself with breast cancer. So she went on to graduate from medical school and then, even with metastatic breast cancer, practice medicine.

Years later, my mother had spoken to people from that region. And they all remembered my grandmother, even 20 years later, about the impact that she had on people's lives. So I grew up hearing my grandmother's story and being inspired by her story as a physician, as a mother, and wanting to be like her, wanting to emulate my grandmother. And so that's what got me interested in medicine and also in cancer.

And when I was a third-year medical student, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. And there we began the journey of her chemotherapy, her surgeries, her radiation. And I knew that I wanted to change the course of oncology because of the suffering that came with cancer. So that's what got me into cancer and oncology. It was my grandmother's experience and my mother's experience. And ultimately, my mother passed away of metastatic breast cancer recently. And her death is a reminder everyday that we need to do better for cancer. And so that's what drives me and motivates me every day.

So your work is both a personal and professional journey. What do you like most about what you do every day?

Being able to help a patient on any given day is the most rewarding part of what we do. Patients are incredibly selfless and generous. Often, they'll participate in studies that may not necessarily benefit them personally, but they know that they're helping the greater good. The patient's the strongest person in the room when we're seeing patients and their families, and they're stronger than all of us combined. Many patients are heroic in their resilience, in what they teach us. Their strength inspires me.

I would think that the legacy of your mother helps you to push just a little bit further--

Yes.

--That otherwise you would normally have.

One thing that I hadn't appreciated before was-- we had transitioned my mom to hospice. And hospice was actually one of the most beautiful times of our life. And so we had some meaningful moments that I carry with me every day.

The day before she passed away, we were laying next to her in her hospice bed. And she said that those few days in hospice were among the happiest in her life, with us, being surrounded by family. And at that point, she said that she had felt so much love from her family in that setting that she was no longer afraid of death, and that she knew that the love of her family was going to accompany her always in her next journey.

In oncology, talking about end of life, we often feel like we're giving up. But I have a new appreciation for end-of-life care now, that we're not giving up. We're transitioning to a different stage of care. It's made me a better oncologist.

What advice would you give to either young oncologists or medical students who are interested in oncology or interested in the path of combining research with clinical care?

So I always go back to advice that my mom gave, which is don't be afraid to be bold, and don't be afraid to pursue big ideas, and don't be afraid to follow your dreams and passions. So if there's an idea that you'd like to pursue in research or in me...

Decades ago, when Deb Mayer began her career as an oncology nurse, a cancer diagnosis was discussed in a whisper. Few treatments existed to extend a patient’s life, and survivors were not a patient population the oncology community considered. Fast forward 40 years. The hard conversations about life and death no longer elude us. Mayer learned first-hand what it feels like for a patient with cancer to consider the worst – she too is a survivor. As the only nurse appointed to former Vice President Joe Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative, Mayer shares with friend and colleague, Kathy Knafl, why she lends her voice to the ever-growing group of conquerors in need of information and guidance on life after cancer.