Living

I can admit it.  A great athlete I am not.  And that is not just due to the fact that I am quite rapidly (and rather disturbingly) approaching fifty.  This...

As I celebrate my five years of remission from non-Hodgkin lymphoma, I thought about my initial diagnosis. I had just finished with the best summer of my life, enjoying the...

I’ve been saying a lot of four-letter words lately. I can’t help myself. I didn’t used to be like this. In fact, it didn’t really happen all that much until...

My mother and I were eating lunch at Taco Bell recently when a young lady approached us and said, "Hi, ladies. I need to buy some clothes for my great-aunt. ...

Nobody should say you’re lucky to get cancer, but luck is a matter of degree. For example, an acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patient like myself is lucky compared to one...

It would appear that since being on the new drug and feeling so much better that I’m really resisting chill time on the weekend. This is so stupid because I’m...

Join us in helping the International Myeloma Foundation (IMF) build a global Wall of Resilience this March during Myeloma Action Month. Share a photo and a short story on Facebook...

Those of us who have had the unbridled pleasure of going through chemo know that after the first session or two, you develop a routine. Just like making your favorite...

I haven’t always been a football fan. I only started appreciating the sport later in life for keeping me company as I spent every fall Sunday grading papers and writing...

A survey was done by the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS) to explore the experiences and needs of cancer survivor patients. The online survey of over thirteen hundred cancer...

Yesterday I just shut down. I was grumpy. No matter what happened around me, it all seemed gloomily annoying. Somehow I managed to keep my mouth shut and avoid snapping...

Editor's note: Susan Gonsalves interviewed her friend, Robin, after meeting at a CML support group. Robin shared photos of herself that are inserted within the article, including a photo while...

When my 25-year-old daughter, Crystal, went for her first doctor’s appointment, she was told her cancer had nothing to do with anything she did. The doctor also told her about...

While I enjoyed a terrific life before my blood cancer diagnosis, I have now realized that some additional positive things have become part of my daily life as a cancer...

Heading to my checkup the other day at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, I went up to the eighth floor, the one clearly marked for leukemia. So it might sound odd...

Well, I did it! Months ago. I went for 3, 2.2-mile runs that took approximately 18 minutes each in a week. And it took me 3 weeks to recover. And...

I have been feeling a little melancholy (no, not a combination of cantaloupe and cauliflower, but the other one) since the holidays, and having a difficult time figuring out why...

Now that my wife and I are empty nesters, we’re making grand plans for what to do with our time. Travel is a big part of our plans, and we...

I’ve been thinking about this recently as loads of people I know have had colds or the flu. One tried to take over, but I got rid of it by...

Seeing Larry Lucchino, chairman of The Jimmy Fund, at a recent conference on cancer survivorship, reminded me of the time I was a nervous wreck when I was on the...