Category: Survivors in the News
The Poster Survivor of Childhood Cancer and Heart Transplant
I had the great pleasure of meeting Terri Dome after her first photoshoot as the 2011 poster patient of the Texas Heart Institute. In telling her story, Terri hit on several topics that I thought were particularly insightful – but first a little background on Terri. Terri was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma at age 13….
A Flower from Jewel to Breast Cancer Survivors
For her entire career, singer-songwriter Jewel has been empowering broken women through tough times — a lyrical energy pushing up sunflowers through parched earth. Her playlist offers plenty of songs about life, love, heartbreak and loss. And she’s just added a new one dedicated to breast cancer survivors. With her latest song, ‘Flower,’ Jewel hopes…
Healthcare Leader Dan Wolterman: More Than Skin Deep
The view from Dan Wolterman’s office in the new Memorial Hermann tower at Memorial City shows both downtown Houston in the distance and Uptown Houston closer in. This is where Dan Wolterman works as CEO of the sprawling Memorial Hermann Healthcare System that has in recent months taken the world’s center stage as rehabilitation specialist…
The Ultimate Survivor Looking Forward
In October, 2004, Elizabeth Edwards was traveling the United States supporting her husband, John Edwards, the former senator and Democratic vice presidential nominee. While on the campaign trail in Wisconsin, she detected a lump the size of a slice of plum on the side of her breast. Having a harmless breast cyst before, she thought…
The Road Less Taken
Television and film star — and breast cancer survivor — Maura Tierney chooses a very public path to aid others stricken with the disease For anyone, a cancer diagnosis is undoubtedly a life-altering event. From that moment on, the path ahead can be an arduous one, fraught with shock, denial, despair and uncertainty. But for…
Ted Kennedy Jr., A Commentary on Disability and Determination
Editor’s update: This interview was conducted in November, 2013 in conjunction with Ted Kennedy Jr.’s keynote address in Houston, Texas to cancer survivors and cancer caregivers. It was the 40th anniversary of the date he lost his leg to cancer at age 12. On April 8, 2014, Kennedy, 52, announced his candidacy for a seat…
A Journey With Cancer & The Discovery of Spiritual Peace
They say every cloud has a silver lining, but cancer usually looks more like a dark, forbidding thunderstorm than like puffy cumulus clouds drifting across a blue summer sky. After being diagnosed with breast cancer and going through the treatments that followed, Michael Dale discovered a power in the combined peace of mind, body and…
Racing for Life
On the racetrack as in the cancer annals, “Fast Jack” Beckman has beaten the odds. Not too many of us would argue that piloting a three-million-dollar-per-year, ultra-supercharged automobile at speeds exceeding 320 miles per hour over a short, quarter-mile track requires nerves of steel. Nor is anyone likely to quibble that doing so while undergoing…
Passing it On: Life Does Return to Normal After Cancer
In her book, Passing it On, Susan G. Baker describes in the afterword how a routine check-up turned into a summer of suffering and soul-searching as she faced one of the greatest challenges of her life: ovarian cancer. I interviewed Susan as the wife of former Secretary of State James A. Baker III prepared to…
More Than Good Enough: The Rene Syler Story
Rene Syler is a cancer advocate and survivor, a best-selling author, a long-time broadcast journalist, a former morning TV network anchor, and, most of all, a good enough mother. That last title might not sound like a ringing endorsement, but from Syler’s point of view, it certainly is. Her first book, “Good Enough Mother: The…