From day one, when I got hit with the devastating news, I knew the only way I would survive would be to advocate for myself and my survival. Not many people are taught how to do this nor do they do it.

It’s evident that there is a wide chasm, even disconnect, between cancer research and clinical oncology. Groundbreaking discoveries are made regularly, but most patients and even some oncologists are not aware of them. Moving slower than a turtle and sometimes at glacial speed, the progress from research bench to clinical application for certain tumors is barely discernible.

Each day in the United States, almost 1,600 adults and kids—enough to fill four jumbo jets—die of cancer. Why are these patients allowed to crash and die? We have put people on the moon. We have sent rovers to Mars. Why, in the 21st century, are we, society, throwing up our hands and saying, “There is nothing more we can do”?