1. Share Your Story: Greg Ciola Cancer U 43:14

In November 2019, Greg Ciola was diagnosed with stage 3 unresectable malignant metastatic melanoma. It spread to his brain as an egg-sized hemorrhaging stage 4 tumor that almost killed him. Going from feeling perfectly healthy to being in a battle for his life, Greg felt a spiritual call to start a support group to help people battling cancer.

  • 02:37: I knew nothing about melanoma. 
  • 04:43: You have metastatic melanoma.
  • 06:12: How often do you have to have the infusion? 
  • 08:45: I had to do constant blood draws to see what was going on.  
  • 10:03: All the scans were clear up until October of 2020. 
  • 12:19: We see something in your brain.  
  • 14:41: It can show up anywhere.  
  • 16:40: Was your wife allowed to be with you in the beginning?  
  • 19:07: Did you only have to do the procedure one time?  
  • 22:55: If anything’s off, they won’t give you the immunotherapy.  
  • 25:31: Prior to cancer, you were into fitness wellness working out supplements.  
  • 27:05: Do you think this was harder for you to go through it as a patient or as a Caregiver?  
  • 29:01: What has been your worst moment? 
  • 30:54: What about your best moment? 
  • 33:14: What’s one thing you wish you had known at the very beginning?  
  • 33:50: If you could only do one thing to improve health care in the U.S., what would it be and why? 
  • 36:15: Thriver Rapid Fire Questions.  
  • 38:23: Aside from Cancer U, what’s one resource you would recommend for cancer patients and caregivers? 

Resources

Andrea Wilson Woods is a writer who loves to tell stories, and a patient advocate who founded the nonprofit Blue Faery: The Adrienne Wilson Liver Cancer Association. Andrea is the CEO and co-founder of Cancer University, a for-profit, social-benefit, digital health company. With Cancer U, Andrea synergizes her talents of coaching, writing, teaching, and advocacy. For over ten years, Andrea worked in the education field as a teacher and professor for public and private schools as well as universities. Andrea obtained her master’s degree in professional writing from the University of Southern California; her nonfiction writing has won national awards. Her new book, a medical memoir titled Better Off Bald: A Life in 147 Days, is a #1 Bestseller on Amazon in multiple categories.