David Prince, now 76, recalls the wonderful road trips he took with his family when he was a child. “My father had a fascination with visiting cemeteries, and I remember being impressed by the lists of accomplishments that filled row after row of tombstones.”

2018 was an exciting year at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. We unveiled our new logo and mission statement and celebrated our 120th anniversary as a cancer center. 

Cancer is a scary diagnosis for anyone, and adolescents and young adults can have an especially hard time dealing with the news that a parent is sick. But you are far from alone. About 2.5 million teens live with a parent who is fighting or survived cancer.

I was diagnosed with an aggressive, stage IV breast cancer in 2013, after finding a lump. The cancer had already spread to five organs, including my brain. I was therefore immediately considered a terminal case.

On March 10, 2013, it was all over. “The next morning when I got up, my mouth tasted like a dumpster. I didn’t want to know anything about nicotine for the rest of my life, honest to God.”

When I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, my boyfriend Michael and I were still in the beginning stages of our relationship.

It was 2005, and 47-year-old Rick Crowley had a lump growing in his neck. The first biopsy indicated that it was benign, but his doctors in Olean, New York, were not convinced. A good thing, too: The second biopsy found cancer.

I tried to ignore the pain and the feeling of being “off.” But one day, after struggling through a few minutes of yet another bad run, I stopped in mid-stride, pulled out my phone, and called my doctor.