162: Bhavika Taunk cared for her son, diagnosed with leukemia | pediatric cancer
Release Date: 12/31/2025
186: Dominique Bieger survived breast cancer | letrozole | aromatase inhibitor | sentinel node | necrosis
Cancer Interviews
In 2024, Dominique Bieger knew something was wrong when she felt a tickling, biting sensation in her left breast. After a series of mammograms, an echogram, an ultrasound and a vacuum assisted biopsy, she learned she had invasive ductal carcinoma, or breast cancer. She would have to get a quadrant of the cancerous breast surgically removed. Dominique was happy to learn she could avoid chemotherapy, instead for hormonal treatment, featuring letrozole, an aromatase inhibitor. The letrozole left her hands, her feet and joints in severe pain. She went off the...
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185: David Peters survived prostate cancer | rezum procedure | sacrum | colonics | cachexia | metformin
Cancer Interviews
For David Peters, what began as medical attention to address an enlarged prostate in 2022 became a diagnosis of Stage 4B prostate cancer. Prior to his undergoing a Rezum procedure, a pre-op workup a PSA level of 19. However, nobody at the hospital bothered to check the PSA level before performing the procedure, which placed David at great risk. Not long after that came his diagnosis. David’s care team recommended lifelong androgen deprivation therapy. He checked out the side effects and didn’t want to go that route. David instead opted for a three-week...
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184: Tina Calderone-Roth survived ovarian cancer | bilateral oophorectomy | avastin | ascites | lynparza
Cancer Interviews
In May 2022, Tina Calderone-Roth felt terrible. She was experiencing fatigue, shortness of breath and nausea. She also gained close to 15 pounds in three days. Nurses she knew suggested she go to the emergency department. Two paracentesis procedures resulted in the removal of 6.5 liters of fluid. Doctors initially noticed a large abdominal mass, but further tests indicated ovarian masses of 7cm and 10cm. Tests also showed Tina had the BRCA-2 gene mutation. She opted to, all at once, undergo a hysterectomy and bilateral oophorectomy. A week after the...
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183: Bethany Smith has survived lymphoma and thyroid cancer | bleomycin | vinblastine | levothyroxine
Cancer Interviews
Bethany Smith is a fighter. Almost immediately after surviving Hodgkin lymphoma, she was diagnosed with metastatic follicular thyroid cancer. In addition to having her thyroid removed, she also underwent total hip replacement. All this while raising three small children. Treatment of her lymphoma included a chemotherapy regimen of adriamycin, bleomycin, vinblastine and dacarbzin. Her treatment for thyroid cancer featured radioactive iodine. Bethany credits oxygen therapy for helping her to become free of thyroid cancer and these maintains her health with...
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182: Thomas Goode survived multiple myeloma | doxil | plasmacytoma | engraftment | vorinostat | velcade
Cancer Interviews
It wasn’t easy, but Thomas Goode managed to survive Stage III multiple myeloma, a rare form of blood cancer that originates in bone marrow. When he first experienced pain in his left shoulder, it was misdiagnosed as bursitis. Then he underwent a stem cell transplant no less than three times, with his oldest brother donating the bone marrow for the final two procedures. Thomas has achieved Minimal Residual Disease status and says his physical health is roughly 70 percent of what it was, pre-diagnosis. In 2005, Thomas Goode was leading an active lifestyle. It...
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181: Keri Darling survived follicular non-Hodgkin lymphoma | bendamustine | rituximab | immunotherapy
Cancer Interviews
In March 2025, Keri Darling fell out of bed and hit her head. A trip to the doctor revealed a large mass on her pancreas. After a series of scans, Keri received a phone call at work from a nurse who told her she had cancer; not cancer of the pancreas, but a type of blood cancer, Stage IV follicular non-Hodgkin lymphoma. She was put on a regimen of chemotherapy, bendamustine, followed by immunotherapy, rituximab. Keri has achieved survivorship, but each day deals with severe fatigue, which she believes is tied to her chemo regimen. She still goes in for bimonthly...
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180: Alan Morton, Prostate Cancer Endurant - Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom
Cancer Interviews
Alan Morton experienced symptoms associated with prostate cancer, but it was some time before he sought medical attention. Dating back to his teens, he had had a subpar urine flow, but in his sixties, he began to see blood in his urine. He thought it might be a urinary tract infection, but when nothing had changed six months later, he contacted his doctor. After various scans, a digital rectal exam and a biopsy, Alan was told he had Stage 3B prostate cancer. It was later determined the cancer had metastasized to his pelvic and was re-diagnosed as Stage 4...
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179: Shannon Miller survived germ cell ovarian cancer | BEP chemotherapy | laparotomy | neuropathy
Cancer Interviews
Shannon Miller won seven Olympic medals as a gymnast in 1992 and 1996. She did so against topflight competition, but years later, she faced a more formidable foe: a diagnosis of ovarian cancer. Her tumor was successfully removed through a procedure called a Unilatera Salpingo-Oophorectomy, but two weeks after that, she learned it more malignant than originally thought. Aided by the mental toughness she exhibited as an elite athlete, Shannon went on a grueling, nine-week regimen of BEP chemotherapy and reached survivorship. In 2011, Shannon experienced bloating,...
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178: Dale Atkinson survived Stage IV esophageal cancer | palliative care | endoscopy | CAPOX | cold neuropathy
Cancer Interviews
Dale Atkinson Description In 2024, Dale Atkinson was diagnosed with Stage IV esophageal cancer. His diagnosis preceded by the death of his mother and was preceded by his partner being diagnosed with lung cancer. All this in the space of a few weeks. Dale was active in sports and consumed a healthy diet, but in 2019 began to suffer chronic acid reflux. His symptoms were repeatedly treated as acid reflux, but it wasn’t until 2024 that he underwent an endoscopy, which immediately revealed a tumor and a diagnosis of Stage IV esophageal cancer. ...
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177: Dr. Jessa Landmann provides care for cancer survivors in the post-treatment phase | naturopathy | complimentary therapies
Cancer Interviews
Early in Dr, Jessa Landmann’s medical training, she discovered a need for attention given to those after they had received treatment for cancer. The post-treatment phase can be difficult physically, mentally and emotionally. Nutrition, what survivors eat, how much they eat and when they eat is where she starts in dealing with those going through the multi-layered challenges of post-treatment. Dr. Landmann urges those in the post-treatment phase to be proactive and seek direction from healthcare professionals. Dr. Landmann is by trade a naturopathic...
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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 got well, things went from bad to worse for four-year-old Kabir. He complained of bone pain, first in his wrists, then his ankles, to the extent that he could not walk. Then he suffered from intermittent fevers and appetite loss.
Kabir was taken to a hospital, where after blood tests, Bhavika was told that a bad virus had settled into her son’s bone marrow and that he had been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. She called her husband with the awful, collapsed on the floor and cried. Bhavika said this was the most life-changing event of her life.
She went on to say the degree of helplessness accompanying such a diagnosis is overwhelming. Up until Kabir’s diagnosis, she thought she could fix anything in his life that presented a challenge. Bhavika says the biggest lesson with a child’s cancer diagnosis is the total lack of control and it is the worst imaginable feeling.
Bhavika says when caring for a child with cancer that words are very important. She stresses that she doesn’t believe in “hollow encouragement because it is very invalidating to the patient.” She says a parent cannot tell their cancer-stricken child that everything is going to be okay.
Kabir has been in remission since 2020, but still requires a great deal of attention and medical care.
Bhavika Taunk wants very much to come to the aid of parents of a child diagnosed with cancer. She advocates for parents of Facebook and Instagram, while strenuously calling for increased funding for pediatric cancer patients.
Additional Resources:
Bhavika on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bhavika.v.taunk
Bhavika on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/btaunk/
Bhavika’s small business supporting pediatric cancer: Birdsong Tea – Tea With A Purpose