Patient Stories

After getting tested for genetic abnormalities, Brandi Bryant learned she had the ALK genetic mutation, which increases the risk for lung cancer. This information resulted in important changes in her treatment and led her to become an advocate for genetic testing, especially among minority communities.

Samantha Anderson refused to give up when her triple-negative breast cancer returned. Trusting her oncologist, she enrolled in the clinical trial with Tecentriq (atezolizumab) that led to the approval of the first immunotherapy for this type of breast cancer.

Enjoy Lillie Shockney’s sense of humor as you read her personal story of how working as a nurse and facing her own breast cancer diagnosis shaped her life and her lifelong work as a breast cancer educator and advocate.

When the emergency department (better known as ER) doctor and the clinical nurse specialist came in and asked, “Is there anyone with you?” I knew what was to follow wasn’t good. Like many other women, had made excuses for the discomfort, bloating, and weight gain I was experiencing in October 2016, thinking it was just something I had eaten, or maybe my metabolism, menopause, or inactivity.

Rebecca Blomgren felt betrayed and angry when the “bump” she had told her dentists about for years was dismissed as nothing but was finally diagnosed as advanced oral cancer. This experience has taught her to accept her fears and anxieties without apology.

As a psychologist dedicated to helping people cope with disasters, Jamie D. Aten knew the damage “survivor’s guilt” can do. As a stage IV colon cancer survivor, he says, “I wasn’t prepared for it to hit me personally.”