Though grateful for the treatment he’d received, Don knew his condition required specialty care. He sought research centers where he could access what he described as the “leading-edge stuff.”
How is Cancer
Care Different?
At least two million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer this year. This is equivalent to nearly 240 new cancer cases every hour of every day. Thousands of these new cancer patients will be misdiagnosed or placed on treatment regimens that are inappropriate or ineffective for their condition.
patient stories
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Finding Your Own Way Through Cancer Care: Meet Don Naples
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Paying It Forward: Meet Laura Holmes Haddad
A doctor explained to Laura Holmes Haddad, then a 37-year-old mother of two young children, that the pain and irritation she was experiencing in 2012 was caused by breast-feeding.
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The Comeback: Meet Anthony and JoAnn Wright
The tumor at the base of Anthony Wright’s spine had caused him tremendous pain for 10 weeks before it was identified in November 2018. Thanksgiving with his wife, JoAnn, and their adult children — bedside in the hospital — brought a second blow. The cancer had actually started in his lung and spread to his back.
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On Target: Meet Tabitha Paccione
When Tabitha Paccione went from great health to coughing fits and severe fatigue in 2015, doctors couldn’t figure out why. For 10 months, she endured a series of misdiagnoses and treatments, with no success. Then, a scan turned up a two-inch tumor on Tabitha’s left lung. Worse news followed. The disease had spread to her bones, […]
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Will to Fight: Meet Chuck Fata
For Chuck Fata, it started in 2015, with back pain. At first, he and his doctor saw the problem as a symptom of a too-busy life. The pain got worse, though, and three months later, tumors showed up on a diagnostic test. Chuck’s battle with non-Hodgkin lymphoma was a tough one. Each time he thought […]
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A Clear Plan: Meet Josh Seigel
Josh Seigel visited the urgent care for help with groin pain in late 2019. The doctor there said it was the result of an infection and gave him antibiotics. When the ache returned in just a month, Josh found out what was really going on. He had testicular cancer. Consulting with a surgeon near his […]
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No Expiration Date: Meet Donna McNutt
A cluster of serious and extremely painful symptoms — including brittle bones and kidney problems — sent Donna McNutt to the hospital near her Orange County home in 2015. The diagnosis was a shock for her and her family: a rare blood cancer called multiple myeloma. A cancer doctor at that hospital offered a grim […]
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Never Too Young: Meet Kommah McDowell
At age 29, Kommah McDowell was seeing a lot of her primary care physician. A painful mass in her right breast had Kommah concerned. For seven months in 2005, the doctor reassured her that she was too young to have cancer. That doctor was wrong. Without proper diagnostic testing, Kommah had lost precious time in […]
