Hear candid conversations between people conquering cancer — patients, their family and friends, and doctors and researchers working to help us all.
The days that followed were filled by intense pain, long drives, and ever-evolving treatment plans. All of Auburn’s senior year plans—prom, graduation, college—would have to wait. To make matters worse, the first round of chemotherapy proved too harsh for her body, ultimately leading to an infection that left her hospitalized and in the ICU. Fortunately, when the time came for radiation, Dr. Raymond Mailhot stepped in.
Dr. Mailhot is a Conquer Cancer grant recipient whose research focuses on tailoring radiation treatment for pediatric patients. Through his Conquer Cancer–funded research, Dr. Mailhot learned to more effectively evaluate the unique contexts and needs of each patient to help make radiation treatments more tolerable.
In this episode of our Your Stories podcast, Auburn and Dr. Mailhot share a candid heart-to-heart between patient and provider. They reflect on Auburn’s experiences with accepting her cancer journey and embracing challenges one day at a time. Together, they talk about the life-changing impact of Dr. Mailhot’s Conquer Cancer-funded project and why it’s vital to support pediatric cancer research every month of the year.
One morning—not long after beginning chemotherapy—Auburn woke up with intense stomach pain and nausea.
She’d recently been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a blood cancer that often requires an extremely challenging regimen of chemotherapy. But now, with Auburn clinging to life and struggling with a dangerous infection, chemo would have to wait.
Auburn spent the next 17 days in the hospital, including the first six days in the ICU, where doctors connected her infection to a bad reaction to her first round of chemotherapy. Fortunately, her situation was about to take a significant turn for the better.
When the time came for radiation treatment, Auburn was referred to Dr. Raymond Mailhot, whose Conquer Cancer-funded research gave him unique insight into building safer, personalized, and more tolerable courses of care for younger patients. Ten months after that first visit to the emergency room, Auburn received the best news possible: She had reached remission. Now, three years cancer-free, Auburn is determined to pick up where she left off when cancer forced her to put her future on pause. In this Your Stories episode, Auburn and Dr. Mailhot talk about her journey from diagnosis through recovery, her plans for the future, and why continued cancer research is critical for young patients everywhere.
