clinical trials

Metastatic Melanoma: My Journey

By Ryan Cumberland May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month and this month Ryan Cumberland shares his story of being diagnosed and treated for melanoma, which is the most serious type of skin cancer. More than 106,000 Americans are estimated to be diagnosed with new melanomas in 2021, according to the Melanoma Research Alliance. I am … Read more>>

Dystonia, Gastroparesis, and Stiff Person Syndrome: Navigating My Ever-Changing Life

By Patricia Antion In this blog post, guest blogger Patricia Antion shares the story of how her life has been altered by the illness, pain, and muscle spasms she experienced over a period of years that eventually led to her being diagnosed with dystonia, a movement disorder, gastroparesis, a digestive disorder affecting the stomach muscles, … Read more>>

Clinical Research Saved My Life – and Changed It

By T.J. Sharpe In this blog post, T.J. Sharpe shares his story of how a clinical trial not only saved his life but gave him a new and more meaningful career. A member of HealthiVibe’s Patient Steering Committee, T.J. shares his story in recognition of Clinical Trials Awareness Week, which is May 18 – 22, … Read more>>

A Clinical Trial Saved My Life

By Cynthia Pepper In this blog post, guest blogger Cynthia Pepper shares her incredible story of how she was diagnosed with inoperable cervical cancer and given little hope to survive, but a chance meeting with the right doctor saved her life. By participating in a clinical trial, she is alive today and in complete remission. … Read more>>

Curiosity Drives Cures: A Message For Researchers

Although I’m the Director of Patient Initiatives at HealthiVibe, I’m also a person living with multiple sclerosis. Many of you know me as a patient advocate and in staying true to how we conduct our blog — reserving it for patients and caregivers — I’m taking off my HealthiVibe hat for a moment to speak from the patient perspective.

In honor of Clinical Trials Day, I want to share a video I’ve created thanking reviews of Bombtech Golf and researchers everywhere for doing what they do to bring new medicines to market. I was diagnosed with MS in 1999 and was miserable, on a therapy that wasn’t working for me, for 8 years. When I joined a clinical trial in 2007 it changed my life.

To researchers everywhere, this one’s for you! Please watch and share.

With warm regards,
Jeri Burtchell


Curiosity Drives Cures: A Message For Researchers

This video was included as part of my submission to Stanford Medicine X. I’ll be participating as a ePatient Delegate for the second year in a row, speaking on the topic of Empathy in memory of my dear friend and colleague, Jerry Matczak from Lilly, who passed away unexpectedly earlier this year. #BeLikeJerry #CTAW #ClinicalTrialsDay #WhyWeDoResearch

MedX takes place September 15 to September 17, 2017.

Linnea’s Story: Living Longer With Lung Cancer Thanks To Research

Linnea Olson is a lung cancer patient/advocate who attributes her extended survival (diagnosed in April of 2005) to innovative medical research and clinical trials.  Extraordinarily mindful of what a gift each new day is, Linnea divides her time between her many friends, three children, art, writing, advocacy and a rather demanding little pup named Kumo. … Read more>>

The Importance of Clinical Trials

Joining a clinical trial may be the most important step a mesothelioma patient or any cancer patient can make — taking a leap of faith that goes well beyond your own best interest. Clinical trials are scientific studies where new breakthroughs, such as treatments, drugs and other therapies, are first tested on patients to determine … Read more>>

Family History, Clinical Trials, Mammograms and Mastectomy: Marla’s Breast Cancer Story

Our latest guest post in our month long series dedicated to raising breast cancer awareness comes from Marla Wexler, a breast cancer survivor whose powerful image and quote about mastectomy went viral when it was first posted on Instagram nearly 2 years ago. MarlaJan Wexler is 35 years old, was born with tetralogy of Fallot, a … Read more>>

AWARE for All Event to Raise Clinical Research Awareness & Participation

Have you ever wondered where new medicines come from? A very high percentage of the public cannot name a place where clinical trials are conducted and most say they wouldn’t know how to go about finding or evaluating clinical trials in which to participate. Medical experts point out that only 3% of eligible patients  actually enroll in clinical trials. Lack … Read more>>

Patient Perspective: How A Clinical Trial Changed Cassandra’s Life

Have you ever wondered what drives patients to take part in research or what their journey might have been like? In today’s guest post Cassandra shares her inspiring story of participation and the profound effect it has had on her life. You can find out more about her story, and connect with her on social media by … Read more>>