159: Margo Wickersham survived bladder cancer | cystoscopy | radical cystectomy | plasmacytoid
Release Date: 12/04/2025
171: Hope Nightingale survived osteosarcoma | neoadjuvant chemotherapy | cisplatin | doxorubicin
Cancer Interviews
At age four, Hope Nightingale complained of severe pain in her legs. At first, her parents thought she was just being a hypochondriac. That changed when she fell off her scooter and broke the distal femur in her left leg. The following year, 2011, this led to a diagnosis of Stage II osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer. After a regimen of neoadjuvant chemotherapy featuring cisplatin and doxorubicin, Hope underwent a surgical procedure, a vascularized fibula transplant. Her left femur was removed, and her right fibula was inserted in its place. Confined to a...
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170: Jess survived myxopapillary ependymoma | pregabalin | duloxetine | spinal cord stimulator | lower lumbar
Cancer Interviews
When Jess began to feel pain in her right leg in 2020, she thought it was sciatica. When extreme pain radiated to her lower back, a physical therapist thought she had a bulging disc. However, her condition worsened, she went in for an MRI, and it revealed a tumor originally thought to be on her spinal cord. Further tests indicated the tumor was inside her spinal cord and a diagnosis of myxopapillary ependymoma, a rare cancer. The tumor was surgically removed, but her post-treatment life was very difficult. There were prolonged instances in which she could not move...
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169: Adam Deans survived osteosarcoma | bone cancer | distal femur | prosthetic leg
Cancer Interviews
Adam Deans was an athletic teenager and had aspirations of becoming a professional athlete. However, all that changed when he fell down a flight of stairs at school. At first, doctors thought Adam had dislocated his left knee, but upon getting further medical attention, tests showed he had cancer, known as osteosarcoma in his distal femur. Doctors recommended chemotherapy, but when that was ineffective, the leg was amputated in 2005. In 2008, a friend introduced Adam to wheelchair basketball. Still with his athletic prowess, he learned the sport quickly and became...
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168: Kevin Donaghy twice survived skin cancer | immunotherapy | pembroluzimab | metastatic melanoma
Cancer Interviews
What began as a harmless looking spot on Kevin Donaghy’s forearm turned into a pair of diagnoses of skin cancer. The first was Stage II in 2018, but 18 months later, it returned and was diagnosed Stage IV metastatic melanoma BRAF+. The urologist said Kevin, an IT specialist from Melrose, Scotland, may have six months to live unless he underwent a newly-approved immunotherapy known as pembroluzimab. That was in 2020, and Kevin is still with us. The immunotherapy triggered a bout of ulcerative colitis, which left him bedridden for six months, but Kevin says his health...
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167: Bob Schreiber survived bladder cancer | Cystoscopy | BCG | Ileal Conduit | Replacement Bladder | Neobladder
Cancer Interviews
Blood detected in Bob Schreiber’s urine led to a diagnosis of Stage IV bladder cancer. This came after a cystoscopy, in which a tube is inserted into his urethra, taking a picture of the bladder. Twice without success, Bob hoped BCG treatment would address the cancer by instilling a set of chemicals inside the bladder to strengthen the immune system. As a result, he had to get his bladder removed. It was replaced with a neobladder, which was made from his small intestine. His recovery took close to a year, he has to deal with incontinence at night, but would his...
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166: Beth Lehman survived liver cancer | cirrhosis | heptacellular carcinoma | y-90 | hepatic encephalopathy | ascites
Cancer Interviews
Beth Lehman went through a tumultuous year in 2020. Thanks to heavy drinking, she was diagnosed with cirrhosis, then basal cell carcinoma, a type of skin cancer, followed by hepatocellular carcinoma, a form of liver cancer. She underwent radioactive embolization in order to get a liver transplant. Beth said the two-hour operation wasn’t so tough, but the after-effects were difficult, including nausea and vomiting. Then she experienced a procedure to get rid of the skin cancer on her right temple. She says between her physical and emotional recovery, she...
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165: Athena Porter survived cervical cancer | radical hysterectomy | endocervical adenocarcinoma | HPV+
Cancer Interviews
After close to a decade of abnormal pap smears, a Cone Biopsy indicated Athena Porter had cervical cancer. To make sure her diagnosis of endocervical adenocarcinoma didn’t spread, she opted for a radical hysterectomy. With the procedure, her cervix was not the only vital organ removed. A wife and mother to two daughters, Athena feels blessed that she can return to work on her Iowa farm. In 2012, she went in for an annual wellness exam. A pap smear indicated she was HPV+. Her doctor told Athena a worst-case scenario was cancer, but the virus would...
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164: Joshua Silva survived clear cell renal cell carcinoma | partial nephrectomy | appendectomy | kidney cancer
Cancer Interviews
Joshua Silva did not take lower back pains and gastrointestinal issues seriously until they worsened, forcing him to visit an emergency room. A CT scan revealed inflammation of his appendix, necessitating an appendectomy. A urologist said the scan also showed a problem in his left kidney, later diagnosed as clear cell renal cell carcinoma, a type of kidney cancer. Joshua underwent a partial nephrectomy knowing before the procedure he may lose the kidney. When he regained consciousness after the procedure, a nurse told him the kidney was spared. Post-treatment...
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163: Tessa Parry-Wingfield survived Ocular Melanoma | Eye Enucleation | Uveal Melanoma | Monocular Vision
Cancer Interviews
While jogging in 2023, Tessa Parry-Wingfield felt an unusual sensation in her left eye. It wasn’t painful but merited medical attention. She was seen by three doctors before learning she had ocular melanoma, a form of eye cancer. Because of the particulars of her diagnosis, she had to undergo an enucleation, the removal of her cancerous eye. With an acrylic implant taking the place of the cancerous eye, Tessa had an enormous amount of learning ahead of her, most notably what is known as monocular vision. Amazingly, Tessa has adjusted to...
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162: Bhavika Taunk cared for her son, diagnosed with leukemia | pediatric cancer
Cancer Interviews
For Bhavika Taunk, life took a radical turn in 2017 when her four-year-old son, Kabir, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. After a bone marrow transplant, he went on an aggressive chemotherapy regimen for two years. Kabir relapsed twice, but has been in remission since 2020. Bhavika tells the story of how she cared for her son and how she reaches out to other parents of children diagnosed with cancer. Bhavika, her husband and two young sons returned from a Disney cruise in April 2017, and both sons felt sick. While her two-year-old son soon...
info_outlineIn November 2019, Margo Wickersham noticed blood in her urine. Three months later, she was diagnosed with two types of bladder cancer. After an aggressive chemotherapy regimen, she underwent a radical cystectomy and a hysterectomy in June 2020, resulting in the removal of her bladder, uterus and ovaries, all this during the quarantine phase of the COVID pandemic. Ever since, Margo has been cancer-free, but she had to get fitted with a stoma bag and had to learn how to manage it. The bag is an annoyance, but she considers it a small price to pay in order to stay alive.
When Margo first noticed blood in her urine, she sought medical attention, thinking she had a urinary tract infection. It turned out she didn’t have a UTI, but she still thought something was wrong. She underwent a cystoscopy, which captured a photo of a cauliflower-shaped tumor in her bladder. Next up was a biopsy, which indicated she had Stage One bladder cancer. Her urologist prescribed BCG immunotherapy.
Margo sought a second opinion and her doctor ruled out BCG, because further probing turned up a second type of bladder cancer, plasmacytoid, and said it could not be addressed with BCG. He called for an aggressive chemotherapy regimen. He also said in addition to a radical cystectomy, which would remove Margo’s bladder, he said a hysterectomy would be necessary, a procedure that would remove her uterus and ovaries.
Both were performed in June 2020. Because that was during the quarantine phase of the COVID pandemic, neither Margo’s husband nor members of her family could visit her.
After the procedures, Margo was cancer-free. However, her life would never be the same after she had to wear a stoma bag into which her urine would go. Sometimes the bag leaks when filled beyond its capacity. She accepts this as her new normal and says she can deal with it, but has to think ahead in terms of access to a bathroom.
By way of advice, Margo says one’s primary emotion should be that of hope and not stress.
Additional Resources:
Support Group:
Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network https://www.bcan.org
Margo’s Book, available on Amazon and Kindle: Gratitude in the Storm – When Not Dying Is Enough to Keep Fighting
Margo’s merchandise line: www.ThriverSurvivor.shop, with a portion of the revenue going to the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network, to fund bladder cancer research