Category: Cancer support

Know what got the message to “never give up“? Cancer cells. Yes these tenacious buggers keep outwitting even the most lethal treatments. We hoped immunotherapy would be a panacea, and it does prolong life for many patients, but now we learn that eventually, cancer can mutate and return. Target cells so that radiation can attack them? Great idea yet they outsmart. Our own macrophages destroy cancer all the time but cancer cells are finding a way around our natural immunities. Just this month so many scientific breakthroughs and yet….cancer survives.

Tell us something we don’t know. Yes these demon cells have survival instincts, and we are only just learning how very clever and devious they are. But when you put a challenged body with a determined brain and a bold, loving, courageous heart, the cancer “patient” actually has the advantage.

“Doc, it seems impossible and I am trying, and I am up for anything.” That is why science will not give up on you. Our own will to live is so great that we again and again triumph against the odds. We all personally know cancer survivors, many in our own families. Look to what people will do to survive any life-threatening, devastating situation. In Nepal just this week they are pulling people out of tunnels, finding them under the muddy rubble, deep in buildings and at no point giving up. Recall the miraculous Thai cave rescue (Netflix) of the soccer team, remarkable will to live and to rescue.

The desire and the force for survival is fierce. You don’t have to be a mother who lifts a car. You can learn CPR ( because we are all living as seniors) and bring someone back. You can rescue a child who fell in a pool. You can drop everything to come to someone’s aid. While remarkable research keeps tackling, life keeps going on and giving us opportunities to keep surviving. It isn’t always the fittest, it often is the most vulnerable. So have faith that although cancer is tricky (an understatement) there are millions surviving now, even if not fully cured or cancer free, living their best life with and in spite of disease.

While so much effort is ongoing for cancer cures, perhaps we just need to look to this tenacious spirit of survival to understand that it isn’t the disease, it is the desire.

Accolades abound regarding the sparkling star. Her larger than life spirit and smile will definitely be missed. Her remarkable generosity, extending to children, from Dollyworld to the international Imagination Libraries, leave a lasting legacy. Today, however I want to focus on her final gift.

In Dolly’s unexpected passing this week, she has acutely reminded us the need and importance of self-care. Cancer patients lean heavily on their spouses and loved ones and too often when the battle is over, won or lost, they now need treatments- mental and physical. Just juggling medical appointments can be a nightmare. An “All hands on deck” mentality takes over. Again and again however, I’ve witnessed the caregivers’ neglect.

“Now you have to put up with me” Gene sheepishly shrugs his shoulders, as he presents for his own prostate cancer treatment. Marla’s battle had ended six months ago, and Gene wore the scars bravely. Mike held on with faith and hope while his beautiful daughter, Jennifer fought a G.I. cancer. From surgery, to chemo and radiation, having lost his wife years prior, he was her soul support. I witnessed him deteriorating during this time, encouraging him to seek attention. He deliberately avoided with large fearful eyes. He would just shake his head. Cynthia canceled her own appointments, as the senior citizen wheeled her son for treatments daily, managing a brain tumor, related to his burn pits exposure. Her own neglect emotionally and physically evident. These tragedies are easily recalled, but they are a small sample of my witness.

In her last days, Dolly admitted her lack of attention to her own needs over the past years caring for her husband. While Dolly was an avid philanthropist, making a mark on the world and mourned by many, it is her final message that resonates personally for us. Her gift that will keep giving will be to remind us that illness and injury cannot be given all power. Remember, how very strong you are. Remember that you have value and deserve attention. While you care for another with deep devotion, you benefit each other when you insert yourself in the caring process. You also have a future to unfold. Exercise, eating well even if you only have time to consume supplements, getting your own screenings, paying attention to your own symptoms and definitely recognizing the need to seek treatment for depression and sleeplessness. This is not suggesting neglect of another. This message is encouraging you, as you have helped them to live their best life, to live yours without regret.

Thank you Dolly Parton, for being honest and even in your passing, for reminding each of us of our value. You will continue to change lives.

Scientists will try everything. We’ve seen some really crazy stuff over the years in the name of cancer cure, but this is a fun first. The brilliant researchers at U Penn Dental School have found a way to reduce the cancer causing HPV virus by 93% in head and neck cancer. This is no small feat since it is a major, and globally increasing, cause of base of tongue, tonsil, oropharyngeal cancer. It will not mitigate the use of chemo and radiation, but can be used as an adjunct in head and neck treatments * (First to tackle this complex, transmissible virus was Merck when they developed a vaccine for pre-pubescent children, protecting them from this cancer-causing virus in their future. Now Merck is working toward individualized vaccines, further personalizing treatments).

Did you ever think your doc would give you a gum to reduce your cancer? No neither did I. Although it is still awaiting testing in humans. Think they are giving tiny chiclets to mice? I flash back to my time in college at Drexel University where, in the dark dank basement of the former American Oncologic Hospital, for nutrition science, we were charged with the vitamin A experiments. I was squeamish and dropped one little white mouse who scampered under the bench I could barely reach behind as he tucked himself against the wall. We were both scared. There was no leaving without recapturing him. I did not blame his wanting to escape. We both found the process creepy.

Over the years, I am now convinced science will try anything and everything. There are new pulsed tumor treating fields for GBM, directly attacking this terrible disease in the brain. The leaps and bounds just this past year for deadly pancreatic cancer have been miraculous. In animal models, adding drugs to reduce cancer resistance to treatments in deadly lung cancer. ** Even the most common cancer in men, prostate, has found a way into immunotherapy, for those no longer responding to hormones or even chemo for metastatic disease. Car-T therapy has now been used for 10 years on blood cancers but ineffective for solid tumors. Now scientists have found a way to use focused ultrasound to give the tumors a marker for the Car-T to attack ( the new therapy is called Shifters). Experiments always pushing limits, brilliant, exciting and clever. How about a bandaid patch that kills deadly melanoma skin cells when exposed to sunlight? Solar powered!

To circle back, I’m just confused as to how they came up with the concept of gum. Did they try a mouthwash, a gargle, a lollipop? I’m very interested to see where this goes, but I can’t get out of my head the concept of having little pieces of gum, inserted into the tiny mouths of mice and watching them chew. Actually, I believe they are just testing the antiviral in the Petri dish, but mice always find their way to be heros. Mice are not the only brave souls. People with cancer will try anything. They will undergo cutting edge surgeries, replace their bone marrow, climb on a table daily for radiation beams, plug into life altering, chemo stations, and even battle this disease for years. Just like the mice, they are fearless. Just like the researchers they are willing to try everything. We are moving into a newer, kinder, gentler way of management. Where a patch? Have a liquid biopsy? Receive a cancer treating vaccine? Or even chew gum! We are up for it all. Thank you pesky little mice for your contributions. Thanks to everyone, stepping into the unknown on clinical trials. You are changing lives for generations.

*Science Daily August4,2026.
** Science Advances, 2026, Baylor College Medicine

Have you already have enough excitement for one lifetime? Did you hope retirement would be simple, calm and relaxing? You have the spirit for a future still holding so much more. There are innumerable experiences to be had and some will even require a real reinvention. You’ve done it before, so fear not. It may be a career, a move, change in relationships, passing of a spouse, injury, or health issues but reinvention is a life requirement. There is no luxury being complacent in having a steady path. The unknown is what can both inspire and excite us, even as it can be terrifying. In the cancer center, the reinvention occurs not only for the patient, but significantly for family. The caregiving responsibilities present immediately when a loved one is ill. Plans for travel, work and even school are often put on hold. If you have gone through the cancer experience, you know all of this well. You dig deep and find the resilience needed for the journey, even as you gently guide your loved ones beside you.

When we were younger, this discussion of cancer was unusual. Unfortunately, now it presents often in even off handed comments. You meet many who also have developed amazing courage, fortitude, peace in the process, and shared wisdom that comes from this reinvention. Can the fact that others have managed cancer give you solace? Can they help you face your own fears? Yes. But each of us goes through life individually. We are in parallel with others, but we live our own experiences. As we do this, we lean, but we still have to stand. We have anxiety, but we still need to perform and succeed. We may be timid in this new process, but we must find the courage.

This week, a friendly chat reminded me of this resiliency. Marlene and I met a few years ago and sadly, her husband‘s cancer journey was swift and devastating. As a widow, she was unsure as to her new direction: stay in her current community? Move closer to children and family? She had just retired and was caregiver to her husband of 40 years. She seemed adrift then, but was still determined to carve a path. I had not seen her for some time but now she has an entirely new story. She was headed to the gym, determined to be as strong and as vibrant as she could. Her enthusiasm is infectious. Yet she detailed that six months ago, she went through her own cancer journey. Having surgery then chemo she proudly showed me her Porta cath site. She was not going to tolerate any words of empathy or surprise. She shrugged with a grin and said, “It’s a new life”.

We can look to others for examples like Marlene, but when the lab results, the biopsy, the scans have your name on them, the challenge just got very real and personal. It is OK. You are allowed to have fear; you are allowed to be angry. You are allowed to be confused. Please remember that you have reinvented yourself many many times in your years and this “new you” is well prepared. You will also experience kindness and compassion in new ways. All those life experiences, tough and joyful, have brought you to this point. Trust that with age has come increased boldness, and your amazing uniqueness will welcome another powerful reinvention.

Blessed Cardinal John Newman’s words: “ To live is to change, and to become perfect is to have changed often” .

Physicians across the country were disgusted when we realized that the leader of the free world, who should have the very best healthcare available, was mismanaged. We learned that Joe Biden had prostate cancer because Jill Biden was the one who said, “Joe you’re getting up seven times a night to pee. I am taking you to Jeff (Thomas Jefferson Hospital)) in Philly to find out what’s wrong“. This is such a perfect example, though unfortunate, to prove the disaster of directives by the government for your healthcare. The attention to screening was taken away when Dr. Zeke Emmanuel brought his own biases into the program and crafted Obamacare. Read his opinion in the Atlantic at his age of 55 and then again at 65 when he doubled down. He does not believe we should work or seek aggressive healthcare after the age of 75 because, well, you’re slowing down and it’s really not worth it. The American Geriatric association blasted him and now I wonder if he still would refuse all care “allowing nature to take its course after 75” since his father died at 92! Therefore, believe it or not, we in healthcare, even the incompetent doctor at the White House, were advised to stop screening by a doctor with personal arrogance that impacted us all even our past President! This is why no one tested Biden’s PSA after that age and how he was allowed to develop widely metastatic to bone prostate cancer instead of having treatment in an earlier stage. Colonoscopies are stretched out. They used to be yearly than every three years than every five years and you could see where this is going until finally companies caught on and developed the stick on or the stool tests so you could find it for yourself. Here’s the thing about that. Only a colonoscopy could remove a pre-cancerous polyp and avoid colon cancer altogether. Another screening, mammograms were recommended every other year, and not past 70 or after outcry, 80. Well many of my friends, family, patients with breast cancer know how much trouble you can get into within a year with an aggressive breast cancer. We started 5K runs and fundraisers in my town in Pennsylvania to fund free mammograms for patients without insurance. We stepped into the abyss when people who “had your interest at heart with better healthcare“ failed. I opened my clinics twice a year to free prostate exams with psa blood tests and the turnout was tremendous.


Again and again I have seen where we are going with this. They make it very clear that we cannot afford to give everyone everything all the time. Then tell you that oh you just don’t need it. I was in the pharmacy this week and a woman in her fifties was lamenting to the pharmacist that her pap tests are not covered or “ needed” who do you think we treated for years even into their 80’s? Now Kaiser Permananti has development a do it yourself swab at home (no exam ! But better than nothing ) Don’t tell me that these directives are to benefit us……not at all. They are to reduce costs …period.

The reason I am on fire today is because, while I avoid discussing politics on this site, the concept of “universal healthcare” I have actually witnessed. There are countries who provide a baseline “healthcare” that, trust me, is very very basic. There are long, long years and months of waiting for any care, a joint replacement? Three years. Testing, chemo and radiation for cancer, up to a year. Do you think they’re going to send you for genetic testing and retest your biopsy for special genes that will allow you to get the most cutting edge therapy that’s now being developed? No. I have seen my entire career people come to the US for care with cash in hand. As a resident in a Philly University hospital, the owner of a soccer team came from Italy with his body guard and surgeon, pulled out a roll of money and asked the receptionist, “ how much?” They come from Canada, from England, Ireland, from Spain, even from Australia, places where I know well having worked for a company in those countries, people will get care here and quickly, but be on long waiting list for minimal care there. It is a two tier system no one is telling you that. You will pay out-of-pocket again and again for anything that you want if you are not permitted to have your own health insurance. There is a safety net in the US and it is called Medicaid. Universal “free” will bankrupt the system for Medicare patients and severely limit what you can get and when you can get it.

For years, I’ve encouraged people to get the very best insurance they can afford. Even these insurances have started to put in controls and authorizations which are going to become more difficult when they start using AI instead of speaking to a real person.

Bottom line, get your screenings, even if you have to pay for the test. I would tell patients to pay for the $60 mammogram. I said you pay for a dress why not something that could save your life ? Don’t let someone else with their fake, smug, we know best plan that sounds great but does not benefit you, replace your own involvement. Please pay attention, this is important and I am still a Doc who is devoted to getting the very best for you. Refuse to be duped. You are smart, savvy but “ experts” want power not care for you. Stay aware. My interest as a patient advocate, is to find your cancer early, make use of the valuable screenings, treat while treatable, find the most cutting edge options being actively rolled out and then to send you on your way to an amazing full, productive life you have yet to lead and certainly deserve.

The fantastic video of the young 16 year-old lifeguard savior, Ryder Williams, of a 10-year-old near unconscious boy in the Santa Cruz surf this week, truly captures our hearts. What a remarkable and miraculous event. He shrugged it off and said “This is my job and I love what I do”. He hopped back on the stand and apparently saved several more in that rough surf. But, he is 16 years old. Himself a child. He had so much determination in the moment and he was fearless. The commitment to rescue is fierce. I am more fascinated by the miraculous event since my husband was a young beach lifeguard and Olympic level swimmer as a teen, before he was sent to Vietnam. Today as a senior citizen, with two knee replacements, when someone calls for help in the surf, he is immediately aware, when no one else is. I’ve seen him pop up, drop everything and run in. He never asks someone else to join him, knowing full well the eminent danger that rescuers themselves face. He also shrugs. ”It’s what we do”.

I love the concept of rescuing. Whether you are at the kennel and rescuing a puppy, a senior dog or a kitten, or even more precious, you are adopting a child or fostering for a family in crisis, perhaps, as so many now, attending to your own super seniors with dementia, who test your patience and resolve, or you are caring for young children, parents and grandparents and finding deep inside the grace and fortitude you need to keep others safe, every single person has had opportunity to be that savior, and that rescuer either in the moment, as this young man did, or for several years.

When the young teenager. who just learned to drive comes into the clinic, wheeling their grandparent, holding their hand and helping them seek advice and counsel (when they say Grandmom or Pop pop it melts my heart), they have already learned what this young lifeguard has. The need and desire to be there for someone else is ingrained. It is a true gift. People rise to the occasion continuously. You never know when you will be tested, but you will be. There can be an injury. There can be a devastating accident. There can be cancer and there can be illness, but you will be there for someone in your life. Know that you are needed. It almost doesn’t matter your own concerns, issues, problems, or limitations. What matters is that you step up every-single -time. That you are fearless. That, even if you have cancer, you will be there to save another.

God bless this young man who, in only a few inches of water found that devastating, overwhelming, massive surf continually pound him and this child again and again and yet he not only had skill, but he had unparalleled courage and refused to give up. A real life hero at just 16. An inspiration. If he can do it, we can do it. Be there for someone. Be that rescuer and oh yes, allow someone to rescue you.

Here is the thing: if you’re from Philly, you are used to rooting for the underdog. Frankly, from birth it is in our DNA. We love proving doubters wrong. The World Cup final introduces us to the two top soccer franchises in the world, on our soil. As excitement builds, many like me, have become new and captivated fans of the sport. I am rooting for Argentina, as star Messi is adopted as part of our Florida family in Miami and it’s hard to believe that Argentina is considered the underdog.

I bring this up because there is a time in every cancer patient’s journey, as the diagnosis settles on them, that they may feel that they are the underdog. Too strong a word? I doubt it. I’ve witnessed this change in personal perception. People take on the moniker as if they have been knighted into an unwelcome position. Unfortunately, the diagnosis of cancer will cause you to be dismayed, troubled, thoughtful, reflective, and may even extend to anxious, grieving and overwhelmed. So there is a big “underdog” association. What is fantastic about challenges, is that they also provide us with the opportunity to be brave, driven, determined, and frankly, amazing.

Today, as many of us cheer on an “underdog”, I have a personal devotion to those who are exceptional, fearless, blessed and powerful. Yes, we have detailed here there are so many advances in cancer care. There are ways that we are going to highlight cancer with a special light and then focus on it and target it with radiation. There are ways that we are going to change your genes and apply microscopic nano bots that are going to kill cancer. But, you know what really matters? It is your belief in your personal power. We cannot do anything in cancer treatment unless you step up and say, “ I am ready. I am prepared. I will not back down, and I will succeed.”

So, I say to anyone who sees themselves as the underdog, those who have advanced, metastatic, or highly aggressive cancer: be prepared you will achieve the goal that you are meant in life to achieve. Even if it is not curing your current cancer. It is that you have impacted people in your life in a way that you will live on forever. Know that you are valuable. Know that people love you. Know that you are a winner. Always.

Ps: Thank you World Cup athletes and fans for bringing your fantastic exuberance to the US and reminding us how really exceptional our wonderful country is.

Fun, food, frivolity, flags, fanfare, fireworks provide fantastic ways to celebrate freedom. The exuberance of foreign visitors to the USA for the World Cup quickly remind us how fortunate we are to live here. Personally, I was blessed because my grandparents as young adults, chose to leave the hardships of Poland and Italy during World War I to immigrate to Ellis Island, and ultimately settle in Philadelphia. The cities‘s name means “brotherly love”, and I took for granted my entire childhood visiting the birthplace of freedom: Independence Hall, the Betsy Ross House, Carpenters and Constitution Halls, the famous Liberty Bell, old taverns, and streets that the founders occupied. We may travel and marvel at ancient cities elsewhere in the world, that helps us to recognize that the US is so young. But it makes the accomplishments of the short time even more spectacular.

My unique opportunities enhance my perspective. I have been blessed to work with, hire and train doctors from many countries. I have managed patients from elite leaders to people from the street. That is what a presence in Philadelphia brought to me as one of the premier cancer centers in the world during my residency. Recently, I have been blessed to care for people in Florida navigating their way to our centers for state-of-the-art therapy unavailable in their countries.
Our own US medical societies are now evaluating and accrediting centers around the world to help raise their standards and make them also centers of excellence, most recently Dubai and Saudi Arabia. We work diligently with research abroad and trials that incorporate a wide range of nationalities. Cancer care requires continued search for innovation and researchers across the globe are eager to share knowledge and experience and make their work available to this precious country. One of the greatest forces in the US is that we are never complacent and we are always striving for excellence. We push the limits. We do not wait for permission. Across every specialty in medicine and every innovation and industry, we continue to pioneer.

This freedom 250 celebration is a way to remind us that we are fortunate, we are blessed, we are fearless, and we know no bounds. We are, each one of us, an amazing powerful part of this American Experiment. Cherishing our homeland and each other is the best way to celebrate and continue our expectation that everything is possible. May freedom continue to ring today and always as we continue to protect, defend, cherish and love. God Bless America.

The gym goers glance in awe as the personal trainer starts his own work out. He easily swings the large 45# rings onto the bar, then leg presses 450. A blend of intimidation and inspiration. He has a soft spoken guidance with clients, but his own efforts are fearless. What I love about the display is the pure physical reminder that we can all aspire for more.

Dr. Howard Luks is an orthopedic surgeon who described in the NY Post this week a phenomenon called the “narrowing” as we age. We have all witnessed this in family, friends, acquaintances, and patients. People are too willing to use age, illness and cancer as an excuse for a smaller life. Walking less steps. Calling fewer people. Engaging less. Learning less. Giving into aches and pains and allowing them to dictate what we are willing to try or do. No longer stretching in dynamic ways that can make a better life.

The issue with cancer is that logarithmically it can increase the shrinkage. Days are filled with appointments, treatments, rest and symptom management. Doing anything else is overwhelming. Let’s bring this concept to our attention so that perhaps we can consciously avoid the phenomenon.

“Beware the narrowing, it can steal your strength as you age. BUT it is not inevitable” he says and you have a lot more control than you think. Make better choices since disuse turns an active 60 year old into a frail 70 year old. This concept of narrowing is a brilliant way to describe the loss that feels like aging. Penn State study found just 4 min of strength training quadruples fitness in older adults. Ohio State recommends to keep moving, eat well, get sleep and commune with others to combat frailty.

You have a choice. Only a small fraction is inevitable as we adjust to the changes and that is a slippery slope. So make a decision to not “narrow”. Decide that cancer took enough, guard yourself against giving in. There will be between 65 and 82 million seniors. With cancer developing in 1 to 2–3, you will be among many who have battled and succeeded. Patients often ask for a timeline and it is easy for them to look it up and see what survival rates are for their stage of disease. However, I have always advised patients that we cannot buy that time, hence every day …. One day at a time, is here for us. Don’t miss the point of your own dramatic cancer battle. Everyone thinks it’s to buy more time, and yes it allows for that. But what cancer does that enriches us now is to give perspective to today.
The changes in treatments are coming so fast and furiously that these survival numbers will also change rapidly. However! There is no guarantee. Why choose a smaller life and give into the narrowing as we age and have health limitations? You deserve so much more. You didn’t do the work to accept less from yourself. You don’t need to bench press 300#, run a marathon, organize a big event, fly around the world for work. We should, however, expand to get the most from ourselves and our time. Remember there are no limitations on you. So brush off the ones that are starting to creep in and everyday aspire, in your own way, to go big.

The heightened exuberance this week has gifted us with the power of winning. The proudly parading New York Knicks ( thank you Nova team)) and the spectacular soccer win by USA over Australia, sending them into the “knockout” round, have been wonderful distractions, lifting hopes and spirits.

When Charlie rang the bell at the end of treatment on Friday, you would think that he personally won the World Cup. His face was alight, his eyes bright. The man who had entered the center, dejected and scared at 80 years of age, was completely gone, and the champion had risen.

A brief note today to remind us all that every single day there is an opportunity to accomplish, to be our best, to rise above, to have faith and always hope and trust that within each of us there is strength. We will all face challenges. But they will never be more than you can bear. I have witnessed firsthand, tremendous courage again and again. You will inspire others. Friends and family will lift you and carry you across the abyss. But it will be your own internal fortitude that achieves success.

They say as you age, to protect your brain, you should learn something new or do something that you’re not good at. The need for treatments with aging comes the opportunity to work that magic to protect our beautiful brains as we are now required to learn more about medicine and healthcare than we ever wanted to. You don’t need to header a ball, you don’t need to dribble with your feet. You don’t need to make the basket. You just need to have the assurance that you have the wit, wisdom and skills to be a winner in this new and sometimes exciting wellness space.

Today, there is even more cause for cheering winning strength. Just one day to celebrate Dads, because they never ask for much. And so, to our wonderful fathers, family, friends, and patients, Happy Father’s Day. Know that your leadership and guidance are necessary, not only for your children and grandchildren to find their own unique successes, but for you, in turn, to have a meaningful life and legacy. God Bless.