Desperate to Be Quarantined

When Cancer Treatment Made Me Radioactive, I Was Terrified I’d Expose Someone—But the Hospital Sent Me Home

I walked through a hospital door marked “Nuclear Medicine Department” knowing that when I left, I’d be radioactive.

It took just a few minutes for the doctor to administer a dose of 100 millicuries of radioactive iodine, or I-131. He wore a surgical mask, gloves, and a heavy lead apron. He removed the pill, with tongs, from a cylindrical canister and dropped it into a paper cup. Then he backed out of the room. “As soon you’re ready,” he said from the hall, “make your way out of the hospital.” …

by Becca MacLaren | November 6, 2014

When Cancer Put Me Under Suspicion

I Didn’t Realize Illness Would Threaten My Credibility. Running 26 Miles Helped.

by Claire Peeps | January 30, 2014

In late 2006, I underwent a clean, routine mammogram. Six weeks later, I found a small lump in my left breast. Two weeks and two surgeries after that, on January …

Black Women’s Health Advocate Eleanor Hinton Hoytt

A Little Tart, A Little Sweet—But Smooth

February 22, 2013

Eleanor Hinton Hoytt is president and CEO of the Black Women’s Health Imperative, where she works to advance the health and wellness of black women and girls. Before participating in …

The Mayo Clinic’s Mignonne Guy

You Don’t Want This Thorn in Your Side (And Don’t Chew Too Loudly in Her Presence, Either)

February 21, 2013

Mignonne Guy is a researcher at the Mayo Clinic Arizona. Before participating in a panel on closing the cancer mortality gap between blacks and whites, she explained in the Zócalo …

Biologist Leticia Márquez-Magaña

A Health Researcher with a Passion for General Hospital

February 20, 2013

Leticia Márquez-Magaña is a biologist at San Francisco State University’s Health Institute for Practice, Research, and Policy. Before participating in a panel on race and cancer, she confessed her longtime …

Should Jerry Brown Just Ignore His Cancer?

Governor’s Choice of Radiation Therapy Could Cause More Harm Than Doing Nothing at All

by Shannon Brownlee | January 2, 2013

As California’s oldest governor, Jerry Brown has gone out of his way to demonstrate his vigorous good health, jogging around the Capitol and even challenging reporters to pull-up contests—which he …

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