Editor's note: This story was updated on Sept. 24 after Landro's Sept. 19 public radio appearance.
Laura Landro, former Wall Street Journal health columnist and assistant managing editor, recounts her nearly three decade-long story of cancer treatment and survival in an article in WSJ's special report on health care:
"Every year at about this time, I head west to Seattle. Surrounded by mountains and water, with the backdrop of the majestic Mount Rainier, the city is ideal for a pleasure trip in late summer or early fall. But I’m there for another reason: my annual checkup at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
It has been 27 years since I chose the Hutch, as it is known, as the best place to have a bone-marrow transplant, after being diagnosed with the blood cancer chronic myelogenous leukemia. As cancer survivors, the chance that the cancer might come back is what we fear most, followed by the risk of secondary, or new, cancers that may have developed because of the toxicity of the original treatment."
— Read the full article on WSJ.com (Subscription required).
Landro is also the author of "Survivor: Taking Control of Your Fight Against Cancer," a book about her experience as a cancer patient.
Update: On Sept. 19, Landro was a guest on "On Point" on WBUR (Boston) public radio to speak about cancer survivorship. She spoke about how cancer treatment and survivorship care has changed since her diagnosis, and gave advice to other survivors:
“You find a way to jettison the things in your life that aren’t, as they say, bringing you joy. … You jettison those things and you focus on the support and the people that are there for you, the people that are always going to have your back. And I think that’s very important for cancer survivors to build that community. If you don’t already have it, maybe you can build it with other survivors.”
— Listen to "Life After Surviving Cancer: The Relief, Challenges and New Fears" on wbur.org.
