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Patient Stories
Arnie and his wife Susan at their ranch in McMinnville, OR
Life Before and After Cancer
“When I received the call that said, you have cancer, my mind just kind of got cluttered with a lot of different questions. What's this cancer? And how severe is it? And what will it do to my life? And what doctors do I go to see?” –Arnie Hollander, lymphoma patient
On February 28th, 2023 I had the immense pleasure of talking with Arnie Hollander in a digital recording studio. Donning earbuds, settling into our quiet locations—myself on the Oregon coast, Arnie from nearby McMinnville, OR—we entered a Zoom-like space with Stanford Health Library staff to participate in the StoryCorps experience for the first time. Stanford Health Library launched the StoryCorps effort in 2017 to amplify the voices of the Stanford Health Care community. The stories recorded provide rich opportunities to connect and learn from the trials and triumphs of others. We all have a story to tell.
Diagnosed with two forms of rare lymphoma, Arnie’s healthcare experience is a rather unique one. He graciously agreed to share it with me on a unique and special day, Rare Disease Day—a global patient led effort that began in 2008 to raise awareness and promote advocacy for the 300 million people worldwide living with a rare disease, and to support the families and doctors and nurses who stand beside them.
Listen below as he shares a bit about his path to diagnosis, and life before and after cancer.
Fortunately, as Arnie reveals in the interview, “…when I met Dr. Kim, I had a fair amount of confidence already built up, that what she was going to tell me was going to be accurate.”
Under the leadership of Dr. Youn Kim, Stanford’s Multidisciplinary Cutaneous and T-cell Lymphoma Program (MCTLP) has advanced the standard of care—pioneering breakthrough therapies and providing hope and relief for patients worldwide. The MCTLP brings together dermatologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, and experts in blood stem cell transplantation. This team of physician-scientists have collaborated to identify key genetic alterations in patients’ diverse manifestations of the disease, and they are now working to ramp-up the power of patient’s own T-cells in fighting their unique cancer.
Lymphomas, especially cutaneous T-cell lymphomas, are distinct and collaboration is essential to making progress in rare orphan diseases. “We thank all our patients and the community for partnering with us in our work every day. You inspire us to keep going, and that together we can one day cure this disease.”
If you would like to learn more about ways to support cancer research, please contact Katharyn Israel at 541-961-7826 or via katharynisrael@stanford.edu. If you would be interested in sharing your personal story and experience with Stanford’s MCTLP care and research team, please fill out the interest form at this link and a staff member will be in contact with you.
To contact the MCTLP clinical team or explore opportunities related to clinical trials, please visit this link.
