Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies

The search for a “cure” for cancer is the greatest epic in the history of science. It spans centuries and continents and is full of its share of heroes, villains, and sudden vertiginous twists. Sidney Farber defied conventional wisdom in the late 1940s, introducing the modern era of chemotherapy, eventually galvanizing a full-scale national “war on cancer.” Little Olivia Blair was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia at 14-months old, which spreads to her brain and spinal column.

In the wake of the declaration of a “war on cancer” by Richard Nixon in 1971, flush with optimism and awash with federal dollars, the cancer field plunges forward in search of a cure. In the lab, rapid progress is made in understanding the essential nature of the cancer cell, leading to the revolutionary discovery of the genetic basis of cancer. But at the bedside, where patients are treated, few new therapies become available, and a sense of disillusionment takes hold, leading some patients and doctors to take desperate measures. It is not until the late 1990s that the advances in research begin to translate into more precise targeted therapies with the breakthrough drugs Gleevec and Herceptin. Following the history during these fraught decades is the contemporary story of Dr. Lori Wilson, a surgical oncologist who is diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in both breasts in 2013.

Scientists believe they have cracked the essential mystery of the malignant cell and the first targeted therapies have been developed. But very quickly cancer reveals new layers of complexity and a formidable array of unforeseen defenses. In the disappointment that follows, many call for a new focus on prevention and early detection as the most promising fronts in the war on cancer. But other scientists are undeterred, and by the second decade of the 2000s their work pays off. Perhaps most exciting of all is the prospect of harnessing the human immune system to defeat cancer. Doug Rogers, a 60-year-old NASCAR mechanic with melanoma, and Emily Whitehead, a six-year-old child afflicted with leukemia are both pioneers in new immunotherapy treatments.