When the Daughter of a Pediatric Oncologist Receives a Cancer Diagnosis

October 14, 2021
Jamie Cesanek
Jamie Cesanek

Jamie Cesanek, Assistant Web Editor for CURE®, joined the team in March 2021. She graduated from Indiana University Bloomington, where she studied journalism and minored in sociology and French. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, running, or enjoying time with friends and family. Email her at jcesanek@curetoday.com.

“We tried very hard, my daughter and I, to have a daughter-father relationship, not a daughter-doctor relationship,” said Dr. Michael Weiner on this episode of the “CURE® Talks Cancer” podcast, in which he discussed his career, his own cancer journey and his daughter’s diagnosis.

After many years of an extensive and fascinating career in pediatric oncology, cancer followed Dr. Michael Weiner to his own home: his daughter was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in her early 20s, and he himself received a diagnosis of follicular lymphoma.

In this episode of the “CURE® Talks Cancer” podcast, Weiner, who is the former chief of the division of pediatric oncology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York, discusses the details of his cancer journey, how he was able to support his daughter through hers, and more.

“We tried very hard, my daughter and I, to have a daughter-father relationship, not a daughter-doctor relationship,” Weiner said. “Fortunately, there are many excellent, superb physicians at Columbia, which is where I've worked for so many years. And I knew that she was going to get excellent care, but she only had one father. And I wanted to be that person and to be there for her.”

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