Judy Foreman Author & Journalist

Two and a half years ago, several months before she died, Abigail Burroughs, a 21-year old senior at the University of Virginia, sat with her father as chemotherapy dripped, once again, into her body. Together, they mapped out a plan they hoped would save Abigail’s life, and the lives of other desperately-ill people.Burroughs, who was…

Dean Gordanier is a tax lawyer, fitness buff, father of three and, at age 54, a veteran of the roller-coaster ride of hope and despair that is becoming a way of life for growing numbers of people with cancer, thanks to the promise, and the heartbreak, of a new generation of cancer drugs.Many of these…

There’s a revolution brewing in the diagnosis of cancer that could dramatically change how doctors figure out which tumors are truly life-threatening – and need chemotherapy — and which are not. In the Netherlands, the new tool – called by various names, including gene expression profiling – is expected to be available for some women…

Molecular biologists aren’t a particularly grumpy lot, but they are grumbling these days that corporate interests – particularly those of the California-based Geron Corp. – may be stifling development of a promising new class of anti-cancer drugs called telomerase inhibitors. Telomerase is a weird enzyme – part protein (called hTERT), part RNA (hTR). Its job…

Sadly enough, it often seems to take a celebrity patient to get the rest of us to sit up and take notice of certain diseases, especially diseases  in which the patient’s own behavior contributes to the risk. This time, the celebrity is an active, young mother, Kara Kennedy , 42, the daughter of Sen. Edward…

“We Cater to Cowards,” proclaims the cheery little sign at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, where countless cowards (including this one) go for what may well be everyone’s least favorite test: colon cancer screening.It’s no secret why people stay away in droves from such things. To detect cancer, or the small growths called polyps that…

Several years ago, Dr. Michael J. Glantz, a brain cancer specialist, was struck by what appeared to be an extraordinary number of divorces and separations among his patients, many of whom had primary brain tumors that were expected to kill them in 15 months.Not only did there seem to be lots of breakups, but most…