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CURE’s sarcoma page features the latest cancer news and updates on sarcoma Through articles, videos, podcasts, and more, CURE brings readers the insights of experts, cancer survivors, patients, and advocates to ensure everyone is up to date in sarcoma.

For opera singer Kathleen Watt, a life-changing cancer journey began during an otherwise routine trip to her family dentist.

In January of 1997 when Watt was 43 years old, the examination of a bump in the gumline at the back of her upper jaw eventually led to Watt receiving a diagnosis of the bone cancer osteosarcoma, which would be followed by treatment that included chemotherapy and a decade-long process of facial reconstruction.

“A small corps of medical elites convened to excoriate my diseased bones with surgical wizardry and lethal toxins,” as Watt described on her website, “and stayed on to restore me to myself through a brutal alchemy of kindness and titanium screws.”

Watt had recently begun her third season in the chorus of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City when she received her diagnosis.

Approximately 1,000 new cases of osteosarcoma are diagnosed in the United States each year, and approximately only half of those cases are among adults, according to the American Cancer Society. Osteosarcomas account for approximately 2% of childhood cancers, “but they make up a much smaller percentage of adult cancers,” the American Cancer Society reported.

“I think it's common for people who are facing catastrophic illness or in a period of illness that you enter it thinking, ‘This is going to be a hiatus in my life, this is going to be something I'll get through and then I'll get back to my life,’” Watt told 

®. “If you have a short illness or short, dramatic catastrophe and get it taken care of and you're done with it, it's easy to consider that a hiatus and then you get back to everything.

“I think that the fact that my definitive reconstruction was so protracted over so many years, things kept going wrong, things kept not working, or they would work but not come to complete fruition, (it) was just never definitive, and kept me in a limbo for this long, long trajectory. And I had to think change my thinking from the fact that this was a hiatus or some kind of blank space that would (be) taken out of the flow of my life to a feeling that that this is part of life. Long or short, you're on a train that's taking you through your life, it's a view (that) is part of the landscape that you traveled through on the vehicle of your own energy that propels you (with) the propulsion of life along a track through a landscape which is going to change from catastrophe to joy to resolution to discovery, (it) is all one ride.”

Watt shares her story in her new memoir, “Rearranged: An Opera Singer’s Facial Cancer and Life Transposed,” which is set to be released on Oct. 10 by Heliotrope Books. That same day, she returns to the stage for a cross-country book tour launching at P&T Knitwear in New York City. (For a full list of tour dates and more information on “Rearranged,” visit kathleenwatt.com.)

“In the years since I was onstage all the time, I really did not notice how much I had retreated into my naturally shy disposition, content to express myself through my kids’ Halloween or Spirit Week costumes, etc., avoiding the camera myself,” Watt said. “Then, in the selfie-revolution, and during the pandemic when everyone in the world took to Zoom, I felt myself shrinking from being seen on screen, becoming hyper-aware of my facial difference, such as it is. The ramp-up to this book tour has forced me to get off the dime, get over myself and just show up. I’m reminded of the time-worn advice to young singers, that no one in the audience has come to watch you be frightened, nervous or apologetic. They show up because they want to buy what you’re selling. They don’t want to see you be nervous or apologetic; they expect to see you succeed. They show up and pay for a ticket because they intend to be moved by what you have to offer.

“This live book tour has required me to call up my performer chops and dust them off, because honestly, I think this cancer journey is actually a success story that people are going to want to hear, and I am privileged to be able to tell.”

’s “Cancer Horizons” podcast, Watt speaks about the importance of remaining present during treatment and how the notes she and her loved ones took during her cancer journey resulted in “Rearranged” decades later.

For more news on cancer updates, research and education, don’t forget to 

Kathleen Watt, whose treatment for osteosarcoma involved a decade-long process of facial reconstruction, shares her story in the memoir “Rearranged.”

Former Opera Singer Shares Bone Cancer Journey in New Book

After suffering an attack by a stranger one night that led to a broken ankle, Colin Jackson experienced severe nerve pain in his leg. Even after ankle surgery, he was still experiencing the pain. His doctors told him it was an overuse injury, due to the fact that he was an avid runner. However, a scan of his leg finally revealed the truth: Jackson had grade 3 chondrosarcoma, a rare bone cancer.

In this episode of the “CURE® Talks Cancer” podcast, Jackson opens up about coping with the surgical removal of part of his femur, hip and surrounding muscle, and how he went on to complete another marathon anyway.

“Losing your hip and your femur, being told you can't run again, hey but I was still going to have my leg, right?” said Jackson. “I was still going to have my life. Getting told you have cancer is one thing. It’s just the fear of the unknown that's the scary part.”

In this episode of the “CURE® Talks Cancer” podcast, Colin Jackson explains how he was able to complete a marathon even after cancer treatments that called for surgical removal of part of his femur, hip and surrounding muscle.

The Man Who Lost His Hip to Cancer and Crossed the Marathon Finish Line Anyway

After being diagnosed with bone cancer, Dana Vaughns refused to own his cancer, and instead triumphed over the disease.

Now a 10-year survivor, he recently joined 109 of his colleagues from Bristol-Myers Squibb in riding 225 miles each as part of the V Foundation’s Coast 2 Coast 4 Cancer ride.

“(Participating in events like this is) important because we ensure that we're staying in front of this thing called cancer,” Vaughns said. “…We have to find a way to be able to come up with solutions for cancer, whether they be cured, whether they be better treatments, we just have to ensure that we stay out there because the next person that may be diagnosed is going to rely on that…It is very important that we're not just doing this for now, but we're doing it for tomorrow.”

In this week’s episode, CURE spoke with Vaughns about his journey with cancer and his triumph over the disease — including his recent trek that he considers exhilarating.

Now a 10-year survivor of bone cancer, Dana Vaughns chose to triumph over his disease and joined Bristol-Myers Squibb on its Coast 2 Coast 4 Cancer ride.

Triumph Over Cancer: Riding 'Coast 2 Coast'

Scans for cancer are never easy, especially when waiting for the results, but I’ve found ways to help me through these intimidating moments. 

What I Do to Help With Scanxiety

From good news for a rock star to the deaths of stage and screen stars, here’s what’s happening in the cancer space this week.

Mike Peters of the Alarm in Remission, Broadway Star Gavin Creel Dies and More

Patients with soft tissue sarcomas showed improved functional results, quality of life and fewer side effects when treated with RT-therapy.

Hypofractionated Preoperative RT May Be Safe And Effective in Soft Tissue Sarcoma

Looking back at my experience with osteosarcoma, I realized that managing the mental game was half the battle, especially with so much negativity.  

A Lesson About Mindset I Learned Overcoming a Less than 10% Survival Rate

Tecentriq Hybreza, a subcutaneous delivery of the drug, was approved for certain types of sarcoma, in addition to lung, skin and liver cancers. 

FDA Approves Subcutaneous Tecentriq Formulation

In 2008, military veteran Brandi Benson noticed a lump on her leg while she was deployed in Iraq. The then 24-year-old traveled from country to country for CT scans and MRIs before officially receiving her diagnosis: Ewing sarcoma, a type of cancer that occurs in the bone and soft tissue.

In a recent interview with CURE®, Benson reflected on her experience and offered advice to other military veterans or active servicemembers who are experiencing health complications.

“Our health is so important,” she said. “There’s nothing worse than trying to tough it out.”

There was this new thing called the PACT Act that just got passed. … What this act does is, it's now linking individuals who have been deployed or the service connected with the military, and coming back sick with cancer, or some sort of maybe respiratory issues, or something's going on with them.

tell those veterans to definitely go get checked out

. They don't have to tough it out any longer. Our health is so important, there's nothing worse than trying to tough it out. And you could have done something about whatever the diagnosis is, or whatever these issues are. So getting checked out, asking for help speaking up with something's wrong doesn't feel right, you know, your body the best; if you're so exhausted for X amount of time, you need to get that checked out.

If you want to be there for your family, you want to … do these great things and contribute still to the military … the mission first is yourself. So you have to take care of yourself. So I just tell those individuals to keep an eye on their health.

 and it's associating being deployed with illnesses that are coming back from deployment. So if they're eligible, they need to go get checked. So that's definitely something I would tell them.

(It’s the) same thing for those in the military; I would just tell them, when they get a cancer diagnosed, or they're going through something traumatic events such as cancer or maybe a divorce or whatever it is, to not give up on themselves — anything is possible. You know, just it's all about how you respond to the situation. And then from there, you can kind of judge where it's going to be leading yourself to.

After being diagnosed with sarcoma while deployed overseas, military veteran Brandi Benson realized the importance of speaking up about health complications. 

Veteran Offers Advice to Other Military Personnel With Cancer: ‘There’s Nothing Worse Than Trying to Tough It Out’

Arianne Missimer is no stranger to obstacles. While she faced the biggest one of her life, stage 3 liposarcoma, she was also training to compete in the show “American Ninja Warrior.” The doctor of physical therapy, who is also a dietician and founder of The Movement Paradigm in Philadelphia, spent her time in treatment working through obstacle courses in the gym and eventually went on to be selected for the show in 2016.

In an interview with CURE®, Missimer describes how she took back control of her life and her body to train for the competition, despite how weak treatment made her feel.

“I was like, ‘Okay, you know what, I can do this – I'm not going to let this beat me and I don't want to just survive cancer, I want to thrive,’” Missimer remembered. “And once I made that decision, and that was truly through movement, then it was it was kind of like the ‘American Ninja Warrior’ just seemed a natural path.”

I think that while I was training, I felt just like every person that has a diagnosis of cancer, it's so overwhelming. And you lose complete control. And so for someone that's always been in such control of their health, I felt the same way. I felt like ‘How could this be? All I do is move.’ And so the first few weeks were really hard for me. And then I finally got to this point where I started working out with kettlebells. And I was like, ‘Okay, you know what, I can do this – I'm not going to let this beat me and I don't want to just survive cancer, I want to thrive. And once I made that decision, and that was truly through movement, then it was it was kind of like the ‘American Ninja Warrior’ just seemed a a natural path. So once I was doing training for that everything was an obstacle. So I’d literally go to the gym and work on obstacles. And it was just kind of an interesting dichotomy where I would think like, ‘Wow, I just overcame all these like little obstacles, meanwhile, I'm overcoming the biggest obstacle in my life.’ So it was actually really cool. And I think once I finished, and even though I felt like I truly was on my deathbed that last day of chemo, when I hit submit for that application, it was the best feeling in the world. I was like, ‘Yeah, I'm gonna beat this.’ And it didn't matter if I got on or not. It was just amazing to think that yeah, I trained for this the whole time I had chemo the whole time I had cancer. So it was really cool.

And then the day of the competition, I just remember standing there and trying to take it all in of I'm literally standing here with some of the best athletes in the entire country. So it was absolutely incredible. And it was – so the whole day, I mean, it's kind of an interesting thing that happens in the middle of the night. And I'm not sure that everyone knows that. So I got there probably in the morning and didn't compete until 2:30am. So the whole time you see the course but you're not practicing, you just watch a tester go through it. And during that time, I was just of course anxious, excited, all the above. But when I stood out there on the starting line, it was just the most amazing feeling ever.

Liposarcoma survivor Arianne Missimer discusses the training process for ‘American Ninja Warrior’ and how she felt the day of competition.

How a Cancer Survivor Trained for ‘American Ninja Warrior’ During Treatment

Woodrow “Woody” Brokenburr was diagnosed with osteosarcoma at age 9, for which he had to have his left leg amputated. His cancer treatment took place during the 1960s, and at that time he was placed into a segregated hospital ward.

In an interview with CURE®, Brokenburr explained how he managed to stay emotionally strong while facing health care inequities and losing his leg.

“I just found that my father always told me not to let what I couldn't do interfere with what I could do,” he said.

One of the ways that I survived during that period – my support system – there were two other little boys who were in the hospital with me at the same time. So we sort of became the little menaces on that floor… I guess we could have been annoying, but we were just kind of rolling up and down the hospital corridor. And because they had recently done a biopsy, I was in a wheelchair so the two little boys would just push me as fast as they could and we would just giggle, you know, during that time.

After getting out of the hospital, my support system was really with family. I think for perhaps a couple of months, they sort of doted me, because they didn't know if I was going to make it. So I was…treated with kid gloves. And you know, they were very loving and kind. And so I guess after a while they sort of determined I was going to be okay, so then I just got back to doing the regular chores, and sort of going on with my life. Prior to having the cancer, I was really athletic. So I did a lot of running and play football and basketball, and baseball as well. So, you know, I sort of got back to normal. I just found that my father always told me not to let what I couldn't do interfere with what I could do. So they bought me a bike. And I started riding the bike with one leg and, and then on Sundays, I had a crazy cousin, and we spent – I used to pick her up and she would pedal the left pedal, and I would pedal the right pedal, and we would just ride around town, just having a good time, you know, being kids.

A survivor of osteosarcoma who underwent treatment in the 1960s in a segregated hospital ward, shares how he was able to find strength during that time.

Coping With a Leg Amputation and Segregation During Cancer Treatment at Age 9

Michaela Mueller, event manager at the Sarcoma Foundation of America, discusses the importance of seeing a doctor who specializes in sarcoma.

For many patients, the time of their diagnosis may be the first time that they hear the word "sarcoma." Since this cancer type is so rare, it is important that patients seek out a doctor who has studied and specializes specifically in sarcoma.

Michaela Mueller, event manager at the Sarcoma Foundation of America, discusses the importance of seeing a doctor who specializes in sarcoma. 

Sarcoma

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