Family Members
Breast CancerCONQUER CamFamily MembersPatient Stories
By Sara Olsher
Sara Olsher was diagnosed with breast cancer at 34 years old. Explaining her diagnosis to her 6-year-old daughter and parenting through her treatment proved to be difficult. To help families like hers, Sara founded Mighty + Bright, which provides resources for families going through hard times, and wrote and illustrated the children’s book, “Someone I Love Has Cancer.”
Bedside AdvocacyFamily Members
Kimberley Norris relates her experience as a bedside advocate for her husband, Rick, after his esophageal cancer diagnosis, introducing her discussion of the challenges of advocating for a hospitalized patient with cancer.
Family Members
Speech-language pathologist Stacey Brill, MS, CCC-SLP, shares her journey by her mom’s side as she battled cancer, and the subsequent care and services she had provided to many patients with cancer, in her mom’s memory.
Family Members
Sindhu Addepalli, who is starting her career as a doctor, tells the touching story of how her family dealt with her aunt’s cancer during the pandemic, and how this experience influences her practice of medicine.
Family MembersGynecologic Cancers
Mark Ryan, RN, emphasizes the importance of communication between doctors and patients, using as an example the stressful time his wife Anabel had because of miscommunication related to the results of a CT scan.
CaregiversFamily MembersIssue Introductions
Take time to acknowledge all the people who have been supporting you along your journey—there may be more than you think.
Patient StoriesFamily Members
Douglas Herman describes the touching moments at his mom’s bedside before she succumbed to bone cancer, and his subsequent journey from distressing thoughts to 40 years of endurance before he received a diagnosis of stage IV prostate cancer.
Family MembersHead & Neck Cancer
Joyce Karney writes poetically about the pain of losing her soul mate Glenn, and the struggle of adapting to a new life without him.
CaregiversFamily Members
When his 91-year-old mother-in-law needed full-time care after her colon cancer diagnosis, Mark Ryan made some adjustments in the family home to ensure her comfort and well-being.
Family Members
After dealing with cancer in his family, Mehrshad Fekri faced the implications of his family history, and decided to educate men about breast cancer and to refocus his graduate studies on cancer research.