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Today is the one-year anniversary of my initial proton therapy consultation visit at Penn Medicine. This time last year I was nearing the Thanksgiving holiday with a guarded hopefulness. After being diagnosed with prostate cancer earlier in May, it was time to get moving on a treatment...

In this guest post from her own personal blog, Jane reflects on her choice to get nipple and areola tattoos as part of breast reconstruction following a bilateral prophylactic mastectomy.For as long as I can remember, I've been a straight arrow. Growing up, I kept my room neat, did...

What does classical music have to do with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer?This fall at the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan, the fifth season of PREformances with Allison Charney begins, with funds raised benefiting The Basser Research Center for BRCA of Penn Medicine’s...

Jessica Bemis is a full-time, working mom of two who lost her husband to testicular cancer in November 2011. Since then, Jessica has been sharing her story on her blog, Hope for Young Widows and working to bring awareness and hope to women and men who have lost their spouses to...

When Frank McKee was diagnosed with prostate cancer, he wanted to find the best possible treatment to fight his disease. Frank did extensive research about prostate cancer treatments and learned about proton therapy for prostate cancer, the world’s most advanced form of radiation therapy."For me, I wanted to treat the cancer. I wanted to be done...

2012 was an exciting year for the Abramson Cancer Center. We are featuring blogs featured on the Focus On Cancer blog that highlight cancer treatment breakthroughs, coping tips and ideas, education and inspiration. Today, we are highlighting the Basser Research Center for BRCA.A...

Tracy Lautenbach, MSW, LCSW, OSW, is the social work team leader for radiation oncology at Penn. In this article, she reminds those with cancer, or who are cancer survivors, to stay connected to the ones they love this holiday season.Holidays are traditionally viewed as a time to...

Ursina Teitelbaum, MD, is a Penn Medicine assistant professor of medicine and medical oncologist specializing in gastrointestinal cancer, caring for older adults and symptomatic management of cancer patients.  In the second of two posts, Dr. Teitelbaum discusses Penn Medicine’s...

This cancer-fighting recipe for Rosemary-Lemon White Bean Dip is perfect to take to a summer picnic or party. And, it's healthy.Limonene, a compound shown to have anti-cancer properties in laboratory animals, is found in the rind of the lemon. Rosemary and garlic have a number of...

Christine Wilson, cancer survivor, shares her experiences from the Abramson Cancer Center’s 2012 Focus On Melanoma Conference In this blog, she recaps the conference. You can view the conference in its entirety, including presentations here.In 2010, Katie Schmitz, PhD, FACSM,...

The Abramson Cancer Center is pleased to present the Penn Women’s Cancer Conference, a day-long conference dedicated to topics on women’s cancer including prevention, diagnosis, treatment, genetics and living well after breast cancer and gynecologic cancer treatment. This conference...

This powerhouse recipe has kale, sweet potatoes and the sesame seed paste called tahini. An equally delicious substitution is with sunflower seed butter which also is a good protein, vitamin E and iron source.For the calorie conscious the olive oil can also be reduced to 2 1/2 tablespoons.Wilted...

Just one serving of this salad a day should be enough to keep the doctor away. Onions are rich in the phytochemical quercetin, which has also been shown to have beneficial effects against lung cancer that are totally worth the tears.Carrots and parsley belong to the Umbelliferae...

Christine Wilson, cancer survivor, shares her experiences from the Abramson Cancer Center’s 2015- Focus Melanoma and CAN Prevent Skin Cancer Conferences. In this blog, she discusses advances in melanoma treatment and research. Lynn Schuchter, MD, had to delay her presentation, ”10 Years, Reflections on the Journey,” while The Broad Street Line, a men’s...

Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center invites patients, family members and anyone interested in learning about melanoma risk, prevention, diagnosis and treatment to attend Focus On Melanoma. Focus On Melanoma is a free educational conference featuring a keynote address by Singer/Songwriter...

Last week’s op-ed piece by Angelina Jolie has brought to the forefront BRCA testing, and choices women make regarding their BRCA status and preventative measures against breast and ovarian cancer. It also raises the question: Is BRCA testing only for men and women who are of means?...

Today was a very weird day, wasn't at work as I was accompaning a friend as moral support to a meeting. I have to admit that I'm a creature of habit so this threw me right off but I think I still managed an ok day -Breakfast - oats, natural yoghurt, chopped apple and honeyDuring day - two minging vending machine coffees, a diet coke, 3 clemintines...

On the news this morning they were saying that today should be the warmest day of the year so far in the North East. Its a shame that the horrible wind had to go and steal the warmth away! I've spent most of the day in my fleecy hoody to keep me warm as our office is an old...

*word heavy post* – but I hope you’ll find it interesting :-) Last week I took ‘The Kind Diet’ out at the library. I’ve wanted to read it for a while so I was glad that the library had it in stock. ‘The Kind Diet’ is written by Alicia Silverstone (yes, her from Clueless!) Usually...

Well I wasn't very good after I posted last night, I had a major raid of the kitchen cupboards due to the hunger monster. I was just ravenous! I kind of binged, but not on anything unhealthy so I don't feel really bad about it, but I still feel I bit guilty. I started off with...

Can you believe it is now December? This has been such an unexpectedly awesome month! I certainly met my goal of having fun :-) I did completely fail with my aim of sorting out my bedroom and living room decor, never mind it does look ok as it is, and pretty festive right now: I...