“Cancer patients have to be warriors all the time, but I don’t consider myself one. I had a lot of help from everyone at Roswell — the positivity from everyone at the front desk, the nurses and everyone I met."

When Jim Croft was diagnosed with bladder cancer in June 2015, he didn’t know the journey on which he was about to embark. 

Angela Eschrich, 64, and her daughter, Ashley, 36, have a lot in common. They both have boundless energy, stunning blue eyes, incredible courage and optimism, and — unbeknownst to them until two years ago — a BRCA2 gene mutation that greatly increases their risk of getting cancer.

Christina has experienced side effects along the way, but thanks to the new Chemotherapy Education Pathway, she was better equipped ahead of treatment. Knowing what might happen and how to deal with it has made the experience easier.

In 1958, when Jill Waddington was just 15, she noticed an odd bump on her leg. It turned out to be a rare childhood cancer of the soft tissue.

Janice had passed a big milestone in her journey as a breast cancer survivor — the five-year mark — and figured going in for a six-year exam would be no big deal. She didn’t expect to be told the cancer had returned.

A second opinion at Roswell Park led to an immunotherapy clinical trial that gave ovarian cancer patient Julia Falleti more time with her family.

Dr. Clinton willingly traveled from Ohio to Buffalo every month, and sometimes more often, because the clinical trial “was the most advanced immunological treatment for my genetic type of cancer.

“Other than a shot once a month, I’m in no pain,“ Judi says. “Instead, I’ve already lived three years longer than I thought I would at the beginning of this diagnosis. I’m happy to be alive and feeling well, and one day, I hope to ring that Victory Bell at Roswell Park.”