Cancer Patient Stories
November 7, 2025
UAMS Employee Overcomes Breast Cancer, Highlights Importance of Yearly Mammograms
Treneica McKnight’s breast cancer journey began in February 2024 with a nagging thought about the mammograms she had missed.
October 10, 2025
Patient Takes Steps to Prevent Breast Cancer
When she was in her 20s, Jennifer Freeman lost her beloved grandmother suddenly and vowed then to double down on her own health care. Unaware of any genetic risk factors, she asked about a mammogram and was told to wait until she was 40.
August 8, 2025
A Voice Recovered: Physician Fights Larynx Cancer with Proton Therapy
When longtime Harrison, Arkansas, family physician Mahlon Maris, M.D., began experiencing hoarseness in late 2023, he chalked it up to a bad bout of COVID-19 and the lingering inflammation that can sometimes follow. But months passed, and his voice still hadn’t returned. It was the first sign that something more serious was going on. “I…
June 13, 2025
Father’s Cancer Battle Inspires Son’s Research
When Don Tackett learned that he had prostate cancer, his first call was to his son, Alan. “It was difficult to hear,” said Alan Tackett, Ph.D., a leading UAMS cancer researcher whose life’s work collided with his father’s health that day. “I’m used to researching cancer, but not my father being a cancer patient,” said…
May 9, 2025
Uterine Cancer Patient Chooses Innovative Treatment that Preserved Her Fertility
Three years later, she is the mother of a miracle baby girl For 20 years, Mother’s Day was one of the hardest days of the year for Alicia Simpson. She loved celebrating the special day with her mother but did so believing she could never have a child of her own. Simpson has polycystic ovarian…
March 28, 2025
24-Year Myeloma Survivor Cites Positive Attitude as Key to Longevity
Jeff Williams maintains a basic approach to living with multiple myeloma. “Get as much exercise as possible,” he said. “I work about a mile from a YMCA. I stay in shape. It has to be a habit. If you go long enough, it will become a habit. Resistance training builds bone density.” Williams, 66, is…
March 14, 2025
Myeloma Warrior Offers Support to Others in Fight
Alan Stephenson has taken his myeloma diagnosis and turned it into a positive for himself and others in this situation. “One of the reasons I’m passionate about being an advocate is to let people know what to expect. The fear of the unknown is often a lot more than what you actually face,” he said….
Childhood Friends Ride to Support One of Their Own
Rob Guba, Burke Moran and Chris Seab grew up together in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. When Seab was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in May 2024, Guba and Moran decided to do something. That something is a project called Wheeling for Healing, a cross-country e-bike ride to raise money not only in support of their friend but…
December 20, 2024
Myeloma Survivor Rides to Raise Money, Inspire Others
More than 20 years after his initial myeloma diagnosis, David Sutton continues to express his gratitude for the care he’s received at the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and display an unwavering desire to help those in a similar situation. “I have greatly benefited from the…
November 22, 2024
Back on Top: Gary Evans Climbing Mountains After Lung Cancer
The view from the 1,011-foot summit of Pinnacle Mountain is spectacular, and Gary Evans does his best to get there as often as he can. But after a lung cancer diagnosis in January 2023, Evans wasn’t sure he would get to the top of his favorite mountain ever again.
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