Surviving Cancer in Every Way

Sarah was scheduled for ongoing quarterly imaging scans at MGH. But she was experiencing side effects from the chemotherapy regimen and had multiple questions about how to manage them and what to expect down the line — questions which primary care doctors might not be able to answer and which required the expertise of physi­cians with knowledge of her cancer and recovery from chemotherapy. Then, last spring, the Mass General Cancer Center launched the Survivorship Program, which helps patients just like Sarah navigate the rocky waters of cancer survivorship. She enrolled as one of its first patients.

One Woman’s Journey for a Compassionate Physician Leads Her to Mass General

At 27 years old, Peggy Guthart Strauss was newly married and loved her job at a publishing house in New York City. Life should have been fun and easy. But often, she didn’t have enough energy to make it through the work day.

Rumors circulated at the office. Peggy’s boss thought she partied too much. The truth: Peggy was worn out. Her immune system seemed off. Six weeks before her wedding, Peggy had developed mononucleosis. The unusual aches and pains continued long after the wedding festivities had moved to photo albums.

For Melanoma, A New Day

Late-stage melanoma has almost always been a death sentence. Now, a defined genetic mutation, a drug that disables it and a corps of doctors with a fervent belief in personalized medicine have turned that around in a shining example of the promise of genetically targeted drugs for cancer.

For Young Patients in Pain, a New Center at Mass General Offers Long-Sought Relief

Sitting in class one day, seventh-grader Alison Ivkovic was struck by an electric shock-like pain in her neck and jaw. As the sensation spread upward, Alison’s eyes started twitching, her tongue began to burn, and the otherwise healthy 13-year-old was immobilized by the severity of her symptoms. The next 24 hours saw her yanked out of school, hospitalized and tested for everything from diabetes to Lyme disease, but throughout this search for the cause of her facial paralysis, Alison could only focus on the pain.

Deconstructing Autism

“In the short span of one week, all his vocabulary disappeared,” recalls his mother, Maura. “He became so frustrated when he had something to say, but all he could do was puff up his cheeks in a struggle to get the words out.”