Your Stories: Conquering Cancer

When grief is an occupational hazard, it’s hard not to bring work home. Lidia Schapira teaches doctors how to help patients approach the end of their lives. What kind of lessons did her children learn from a parent who regularly cares for and loses seriously ill patients? Lauren Goldstein talks to Dr. Schapira, her mother, the current Editor in Chief of Cancer.Net, and a Conquer Cancer donor about growing up in the shadows of cancer. Lidia Schapira, an oncologist specializing in quality of life, talks candidly with her daughter, Lauren Goldstein, about how she managed work-life balance while caring for seriously ill patients and raising young children. We learn that she approaches the care of patients with the same dedication and attention she has for her family, and how at times, that was incredibly difficult. Ms. Goldstein is a doctoral student in psychology at UCLA. Dr. Schapira is the director of the Cancer Survivorship Program at Stanford, a generous donor to the Conquer Cancer Foundation, and acts as t

As a girl, Priscilla Brastianos’s mother told her stories of the grandmother she never knew: a medical student who diagnosed her own fatal breast cancer. The legend of her grandmother, who practiced medicine even in her final days, inspired Brastianos to become an oncologist and physician scientist. The death of Brastianos’s mother from the same disease – and the promise the young doctor made to her in her final days – drives her unwavering commitment to conquer it. The 2012 Conquer Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award (YIA) recipient talks to mentor Evanthia Galanis about the personal and professional journey that honors her family and patients at every turn. As a girl, Priscilla Brastianos' mother told her stories of the grandmother she never knew, a medical student who diagnosed her own fatal breast cancer. The legend of her grandmother, who practiced medicine even in her final days, inspired Brastianos to become an oncologist and physician scientist. The death of Brastianos' mother from the same dis