While we work diligently toward a future world without cancer, each year, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center shares the stories of those who are in the middle of their cancer journey.
Every year, our doctors and researchers take steps, both small and large, toward new treatments and therapies that can help improve the quality of life for our patients, offering hope and the possibility of a brighter future.
We are honored to share the stories of our patients and our doctors and are pleased to once again share with you some of our favorite blogs from 2024. In 2025, we look forward to sharing more stories of hope, inspiration and determination as we work toward a cancer-free future.
1. Catching up with Chastity, the miracle baby
June 4, 2024
If you want to match a face to the future of cancer treatment, look no further than the beautiful smile of five-year-old Chasity Mayfield. In 2019, at five months old, Chasity was perhaps the youngest person ever to receive a CAR T-cell immunotherapy that allowed her to beat a rare, aggressive and often fatal form of infantile leukemia.
2. Delivering on the promise of 'living drugs'
October 9, 2024
What if a patient’s own immune system could cure cancer? The idea has captivated researchers for more than a century, but only recently have we begun to realize the power of “living drugs” — the very cells coursing through a patient’s body. With cutting-edge research and the expansion of its GMP Engineering & Cell Manufacturing Facility, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is making rapid advances toward the introduction of new cellular therapies for blood cancers and all types of solid tumors.
3. Lung and pancreatic cancer at 83: Nathaniel's story
November 20, 2024
Nathaniel Fountain knew something was wrong when he couldn’t stop hiccupping for months. “He had them for quite a while, from around the third week of July, and we knew it wasn’t normal,” says his wife, Gwen Fountain. In a roundabout way, those hiccups saved his life, she says.
4. Recovering from brain surgery — what to expect
May 14, 2024
When Jenny Bagen, a nurse practitioner in private practice, tested positive for COVID-19 in December 2021, she began to experience severe headaches. Eventually a CT scan revealed a frightening image: “I was told I had a big tumor on my brain,” she says. “My frontal lobe was starting to buckle. I was scared to death.”
5. Meet Jack, a two-time Hockey Fights Cancer puck dropper
October 25, 2024
When Jack Langdon was diagnosed with spindle cell sarcoma in August 2023, he took the news in stride.
At 26, it was his second cancer diagnosis: When he was 12, he was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma and was treated at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.
6. 5 reasons why Roswell Park's NCI designation matters to you
June 7, 2024
When you or someone you love is diagnosed with cancer, you need to find a cancer center that will offer you the best treatment options and best chance of surviving the disease.
In Western and Upstate New York, all roads lead to Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of the first three nationally designated comprehensive cancer centers — a recognition from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) that places Roswell Park among the very top cancer centers.
7. The 2024 Ride for Roswell Torch Lighter: Kelly's story
June 20, 2024
Cancer has carved its way into many areas of life for Kelly Englert Flak, MSN, RN, OCN. She is a cancer survivor, a grieving mother who lost her daughter to this disease and an employee at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center who has dedicated her nearly 20-year career to serving patients. Still, Kelly stands by this notion: “Cancer can’t win.”
8. Roswell Park-invented software speeds cancer research
July 10, 2024
You may imagine a cancer researcher as someone peering through the lens of a microscope or culturing cells in a Petri dish. But that person is just as likely to work from a computer, reviewing mind-boggling volumes of data in the search for clues about why cancer begins and how it can be prevented or cured.
9. The paw-er of therapy dogs
February 8, 2024
If there’s a group of people gathered together, speaking excitedly in the lobby of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, or near one of the clinics, it’s not because there’s a celebrity in town making an appearance.
It’s likely because one, or maybe two, of the dedicated team of therapy dogs who visit Roswell Park weekly are starting their very important rounds.
10. Stem cell transplant for multiple myeloma: Paul's story
August 5, 2024
On the morning of this year’s Ride for Roswell, Paul was making good time on his 30-mile route when he noticed another cyclist pulling up alongside him.
For the rest of the event, Paul and Dr. Hillengass rode side by side, discussing their families, Paul’s treatment and the enthusiasm myeloma doctors now have for CAR T-cell therapies — and finished the Ride together.
Editor’s Note: Cancer patient outcomes and experiences may vary, even for those with the same type of cancer. An individual patient’s story should not be used as a prediction of how another patient will respond to treatment. Roswell Park is transparent about the survival rates of our patients as compared to national standards, and provides this information, when available, within the cancer type sections of this website.
