Survivor Stories & Public Figures

How well-known people have publicly faced cancer — and what their experiences can teach all of us about the disease, screening, and hope. Each story links to plain-language education about the cancer involved.

Survivor Stories & Public Figures
Chadwick Boseman's Colon Cancer Story
Chadwick Boseman was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2016 and died in 2020, aged 43. What his story shows about colorectal cancer in younger adults.
11 min read · Beginner
Survivor Stories & Public Figures
Charlie Wilson's Prostate Cancer Story
Charlie Wilson's prostate cancer was found by a blood test at a routine physical in 2008 and treated with radiation implants. He said he felt fine.
5 min read · Beginner
Survivor Stories & Public Figures
Dave Coulier's Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Story
Dave Coulier's Stage 3 lymphoma started with a lump in his groin. A follow-up PET scan a year later found a second, unrelated tongue cancer.
7 min read · Beginner
Survivor Stories & Public Figures
Gilda Radner's Ovarian Cancer Story
Comedian Gilda Radner was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in October 1986, about eleven months after she first became ill, and died on May 20, 1989, at age 42.
7 min read · Beginner
Survivor Stories & Public Figures
Luciano Pavarotti's Pancreatic Cancer Story
Luciano Pavarotti was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in New York in July 2006, had surgery, and died at home in Italy in September 2007 at age 71.
4 min read · Beginner
Survivor Stories & Public Figures
Patrick Swayze's Pancreatic Cancer Story
Patrick Swayze's oncologist said he lived nearly two years with pancreatic cancer that had spread beyond the pancreas, and that he joined a trial at Stanford.
6 min read · Beginner
Survivor Stories & Public Figures
Robin Roberts's Breast Cancer Story
Robin Roberts found a lump herself in 2007. Her mammogram looked normal; an ultrasound and biopsy found triple-negative breast cancer.
5 min read · Beginner
Survivor Stories & Public Figures
Sally Ride's Pancreatic Cancer Story
Sally Ride died on July 23, 2012, at 61, seventeen months after a pancreatic cancer diagnosis, her company said. There is no screening test for most people.
6 min read · Beginner