Patient Stories

As an ode to mothers everywhere, author Mindy Drayer pens new book titled 'Dear Mom'

As an ode to mothers everywhere, author Mindy Drayer pens new book titled 'Dear Mom'

About five years ago, she was diagnosed with cancer and it was sarcoma cancer. I never even heard of sarcoma before, but when we looked it up and researched what it was about, we understood that there's a good possibility that she could lose a limb because her sarcoma was in her arm. And right off the top of the gate, she said "I'm not losing my arm. I don't want to do that. If I was younger, I would maybe do that. I could learn how to live a little differently." But at 89 years old — when this was coming around to be a possible amputation — she didn't want to do it.

Graduate student’s cancer battle inspires research

Graduate student’s cancer battle inspires research

“One doctor just told us, ‘I don’t even know what to do’ — the next one said, ‘I’m sorry, you’re going to die in four months’ and I went, ‘Whelp. You’re not the one either,’” David said. “We went through all of that and we finally came to a couple of doctors that said ‘Look, I can’t promise you anything, but we’ll try’ and that’s what we went with.”

Sal Balbi Memorial Hockey Game aims to raise awareness of rare cancer

At first, Sal blamed ill-fitting work boots for pain in his left foot. Then he noticed a bump.

Initially, doctors thought the growth was a cyst. But after removing it in May 2017, they said, “‘That doesn’t look like a cyst. We’re sending it off for a biopsy,’” Alex recalled.

The pathology report was unexpected and devastating: synovial sarcoma, a rare malignancy that affects soft tissue and often is found in the extremities.

‘She can still save someone’s life’: Blood drive in Olympia Fields honors Kristin Oliver, who died last year at 31

While Kristin Arielle Oliver was in the hospital with cardiac sarcoma, she struggled to understand why she was stricken with the disease. The 29-year-old worked out regularly and tried to keep healthy, and yet she found herself hospitalized and facing a fatal illness while holding out hope for advances in research and treatment that would save her life.

“Your life is going to make a difference,” her mother, Pam Oliver, promised her daughter. “I told her that.”

One Tough Cookie: Resilient 8-Year-Old Who Overcame Ewing Sarcoma Sells More Than 32,000 Boxes of Girl Scout Cookies To Break Record

Eight-year-old Lilly Bumpus not only beat cancer, but she also has beaten the Girl Scout cookie sales record for most boxes sold in a single season.

Lilly was born with Ewing sarcoma, a rare type of bone cancer that is often found in children and young adults. Symptoms of Ewing sarcoma include bone pain, fevers with no known cause, unexplained tiredness, a bone that breaks for no known reason, or a lump in the arms, legs, chest or pelvis. This condition can be treated with chemotherapy and the removal of bones, both treatments Lilly underwent before her first birthday.