In 1996 I was 21, a college senior studying to be a concert pianist, when brain cancer ripped my life apart. At my one-year checkup at NYU, I stumbled into an American Brain Tumor Association conference with my dad. I had no idea what the ABTA was, but that moment planted a seed.
By 1998 they invited me back to speak and play piano. That was my first time on stage in front of a cancer audience. It set me on the road I’ve walked for three decades. From building Stupid Cancer into the national voice for young adults, to creating Out of Patients, to producing The Cancer Mavericks, to writing my book We The Patients, the through-line has always been that first encounter with the ABTA.
Fast-forward to 2024. The ABTA invited me to keynote their National Conference. That talk reached tens of thousands of people. Later that fall I attended their BT5K in New York. David Navarro emceed. I stood in Central Park surrounded by thousands of patients, families, and caregivers, and felt the fire that first conference had lit in me almost thirty years earlier.
This fall I return as the emcee of the 2025 New York BT5K. From a 21-year-old patient to a 30-year survivor, that’s full circle. I’m honored, fired up, and ready to stand on stage with the community that raised me.
Mark your calendar. Start a team. Join us. Every step, every dollar, every presence matters.
JOIN ME ➡️ Event info: https://give.abta.org/event/2025-bt5k-new-york/e647658
