Melinda Townsend-Breslin holds a photo showing her and her mother standing in the parking lot of a favorite thrift store in 2013. William DeShazer for NPR hide caption
Living Cancer When cancer strikes, a person's life is often turned upside down. Now, a huge number of us are "living cancer" thanks to more earlier diagnosis and a wider range of treatments.
Special Series
Living Cancer
MaryAnn Anselmo has started to sing again after recovering from brain surgery and having successful treatment with a drug that targeted a mutation in her tumor cells. Dave Gershgorn/WNYC hide caption
The Josephson family in 2001, after Dixie (third from left) was told she had cancer. Courtesy of the Josephsons hide caption
Both James Eversull (left) and Pat Patchell were treated with experimental chemotherapy and radiation for leukemia as children in the 1960s. Together, they're now some of the country's oldest leukemia survivors.. Courtesy of James Eversull; Courtesy of Pat Patchell hide caption
Time to take a closer look at cancer figures. Matthias Kulka/Corbis hide caption
Bernice Singleton (left), one of the original mothers in the research project, is seen with her daughter Jenny and granddaughter Gretta. Paige Cowett/WNYC hide caption
Mary Harris was relieved when Stella was born with a mop of thick black hair, as if she had been protected from the chemo somehow. Courtesy of Howard Harris hide caption
Kathy Liu and her son Joey Xu talk to friends back home in Gainesville, Fla., from his hospital room in Cincinnati. Amanda Aronczyk/WNYC hide caption
Marder says immunotherapy has side effects but is less tiring than chemotherapy. Claire Eggers/NPR hide caption