Rides and Activities
- Brigham And Women's Hospital, Boston, MA
- Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital, Jmaica Plain, MA
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brookline, MA
Blood Organ Donation
Information on donating blood from the American Red Cross Information on donating organs from WebMDSurvivor Stories
This is an incredible organization, thank you for supporting us! - Kate
The parade was amazing, such a great organization with the cause in mind - Scott
The support helped me and my family to overcome this difficult time. Thank you very much! - Aisha
What an great way to help us and energize and motivate, as soon as I'm recovered I'm joining the organization. - Tom
7 Steps Every Cancer Patient Should Take
- Decide how much you want to know
- Decide how you want to make your treatment decisions
- Have realistic expectations
- Keep the focus on you
- Accept help
- The financial costs of treatment
- Speak up when you don't understand
Key Terminology
- biopsy
- this is the removal of a small section of the tumour, the sample will be analysed by a histopathologist in order to establish a precise diagnosis. Surgical procedure. This may be a needle biopsy, where a very fine needle is used to take a tiny sample of the tumour. Occasionally a surgeon may remove the whole tumour prior to diagnosis; a resection biopsy.
- haematology
- is the branch of medicine that specialises in the study and treatment of blood and blood tissues (including bone marrow). A blood count is where the various types cells in the blood are measured. This may aid diagnosis and will be used during treatment to monitor toxicity. The Haematologist may also examine samples from a bone marrow aspiration (needle into the bone) and samples of spinal fluid from a lumbar puncture (needle between the vertebra of the spine).
- histopathology
- the study of cells relating to the disease. (Histology is the microscopic study of cells and tissues, Pathology is the study of the disease). The histopathologist will determine a precise diagnosis by laboratory tests and microscopic examination of the cells.
- differentiation
- is where normal cells go through physical changes in order to form the different specialised tissues of the body. Malignant cells may range from well-differentiated (closely resembling the tissue of origin) or undifferentiated or anaplastic (bearing little similarity to the tissue of origin). In general it is the undifferentiated or anaplastic histologies which are more aggressive.