Laurie Page of Cheektowaga, NY, was diagnosed in the summer of 2016 with a rare carcinoid tumor in her abdomen. The prognosis wasn’t good. “They didn’t give me long to live,” she said. “I was down to 92 pounds.” Page was referred to Roswell Park and received treatment under the care of gastrointestinal surgical oncologist Dr. Moshim Kukar, whom she calls a “miracle worker.”

As a young adult cancer patient, I craved a sense of normality. Going to work every day helped me maintain my routine, and for 8 hours, I tricked myself into believing nothing was out of the ordinary.

With Father’s Day coming up this Sunday, it’s time to celebrate all the men in your life - fathers, grandfathers, husbands, brothers, sons, uncles and friends. Men are notoriously hard to shop for, especially if they don’t express their wants and needs, but it’s even harder if they are dealing with something as stressful as cancer.

Everyone has a story to tell. Whether on a first date, job interview or happy hour with a new friend, there’s always a select version of our story that we choose to share. It usually includes where we went to school and how we found ourselves where we are today.