Whitney Wynn had experienced strange symptoms for years, but her primary care physicians didn’t suspect cancer. Her recurrent yeast infections were dismissed as “just women’s problems” although they were later attributed to the high levels of cortisol being secreted by her tumor. 

It’s understandable that Alyson Looney doesn’t remember the worst time of her life. After all, she was just 8 months old when she was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). Twenty years later, her mother, Leanne Looney, still gets emotional thinking about what Alyson endured: months of chemotherapy followed by a bone marrow transplant at Seattle Children’s Hospital under the care of Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) physicians.

When John Nowoj was diagnosed with locally advanced pancreatic cancer in August 2019, he was told the cancer was inoperable. Nowoj, 57, began pursuing his only treatment option: chemotherapy to be followed by radiation, which could shrink but not eradicate the tumor. Then an unexpected development completely changed the outlook.