Breast Cancer Awareness Month

An NCI press conference is rarely a tabloid affair—except on Sept. 30, 1974. The tone of what was anticipated to be a dry occasion shifted when Betty Ford, wife of President Gerald Ford, underwent a radical mastectomy Sept. 28. 

The Cancer Letter was there: “Breast Cancer Report To The Profession Suddenly Is a Report To The Nation; Treatment Progress Noted,” was the Oct. 7, 1974, issue’s lead story. 

Nathaniel Berlin, then director of NCI’s Division of Biology & Diagnosis and chairman of the Breast Cancer Task Force, had been concerned the breast cancer report would receive limited public attention. Instead, he got a media circus—leading to fears of publishing the findings prematurely.

For Nedra Bonds, a cancer diagnosis was never part of the plan. But then again, the Kansas City artist, educator and community activist is pretty good at improvising.

When she was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer – a less common and more aggressive form of breast cancer – her reaction of a simple “OK” left her physician speechless.

“I was uniquely calm. These twists and turns, they are all part of the journey,” Nedra says. “I could have cried and screamed and thrown myself on the floor, but it would not have changed anything, and I would have been behind in my planning.”

In 1997, with two young children and a demanding job, Subha Barry faced her biggest challenge: stage IIIB Hodgkin lymphoma. She endured a combination chemotherapy regimen and was in remission. But the cancer came back, and back again, and again, forcing her to battle with cancer a total of six times, including breast cancer. 

She was treated at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, formerly known as The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, by Roger Strair, MD, PhD, chief of blood disorders and medical oncologist at Rutgers Cancer Institute and Deborah Toppmeyer, MD, chief medical officer, director of the Stacy Goldstein Breast Cancer Center, director of the LIFE Center and chief of Medical Oncology at Rutgers Cancer Institute. 

Her personal experience with Rutgers Cancer Institute led her and her family to generously provide philanthropic support over many years, inspired her to provide emotional support to newly diagnosed cancer patients and advocate for work-life balance.

ASCO and the oncology community mourn the loss of Karen Durham, who passed away on March 26, 2018, in Tyler, Texas. Karen was a highly respected and beloved advocate for people living with cancer.

Karen was diagnosed with stage II invasive breast cancer in 1989 and began volunteering with Susan G. Komen soon after. Her advocacy with Komen began as a Race for the Cure volunteer but evolved to serving as a Komen Advocate in Science and a Komen Scholar. In the latter two roles, she participated in the peer review process for research programs, and as an ambassador for the importance of and need for cancer research.

Though once as close as sisters, time and distance came between childhood friends, Sherri and Brenda. But they reconnected on social media, where Sherri would learn Brenda had breast cancer.

Sherri had no idea how following Brenda’s journey would shape her own cancer experience 8 years later, when Brenda would become Sherri’s treatment mentor. This is a story about friendship and patient support that everyone who has been impacted by cancer needs to hear.

Every three minutes, someone in the United States is diagnosed with a blood cancer. These cancers, which include leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and many others, account for nearly 10% of all new cancer cases, according to the Leukemia Research Foundation. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society estimates that 1.3 million Americans are living with, or are in remission from, leukemia, lymphoma, or myeloma.

Luckily for patients in the Philadelphia area, Fox Chase Cancer Center has one of the leading programs in the country for the treatment of these conditions.

“Every week our staff sits down together and offers the best to our patients, whether it’s chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy, stem cell transplant, bone marrow transplant, cellular therapy, or a combination of all of them,” said Henry Chi Hang Fung, MD, FACP, FRCPE, chair of the Department of Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) and Cellular Therapies at Fox Chase. Fung has more than 30 years’ experience working with thousands of patients undergoing transplants. Among many other honors, he is consistently listed by Castle Connolly and Philadelphia magazine as a top doctor in hematology and cancer.

The department, which was recently formed from the Fox Chase-Temple University Hospital Bone Marrow Transplant Program, treats patients with different types of blood cancers. It also provides bone marrow and stem cell transplantation and cellular therapies to patients with blood disorders and other life-threatening diseases with the goal of improving their long-term outcomes. 

When Jose Russo began his career in cancer research at the National University of Cuyo in Mendoza, Argentina, he sparked more than just a career in medicine. While there, he met a woman whose passion for science matched his own. Irma Russo (then Alvarez) was also studying medicine when their paths crossed, and they began not only a life of love and companionship, but a decades-long journey in scientific discovery. Over 30 of those years were spent at Fox Chase Cancer Center.

Jose and Irma were married in 1971 and moved to the United States to pursue research as part of a fellowship for the Rockefeller Foundation, a research organization aimed at solving global challenges in medicine and public health. Shortly after, they moved on to the Michigan Cancer Foundation, now the Karmanos Cancer Institute, in Detroit.

The couple’s work at this center would become the basis of their lifelong mission of researching breast cancer, its causes, and potential means of prevention. As a team, they were pioneers in understanding how pregnancy mediates breast cancer prevention.

Their work with the pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotropin in preventing breast cancer led to a clinical trial that is now underway internationally. “I’m glad that the trials are moving along. That was something I know my dad really wanted to be able to see through, so it’s really great to see,” said Patricia Russo, Jose and Irma’s daughter, who also pursued a career in medicine.