{"id":220120,"date":"2023-02-13T15:48:23","date_gmt":"2023-02-13T20:48:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/?p=220120"},"modified":"2023-02-13T15:48:23","modified_gmt":"2023-02-13T20:48:23","slug":"professor-shares-cancer-remission-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/2023\/02\/13\/professor-shares-cancer-remission-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Professor Shares Cancer Remission Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every five years, to celebrate another milestone anniversary of being cancer-free, Chemistry and Biochemistry Associate Professor Mark Whitener gives a talk titled \u201cCancer Chemotherapy through the Eyes and Veins of a Chemist\u201d <\/a>at Montclair State University. This year marks his 35th year cancer free.<\/p>\n

Whitener, now in his 30th year at Montclair, recently shared his cancer journey in a classroom in Richardson Hall and via Zoom with an audience made up of chemistry and biology students, faculty and the public.<\/p>\n

Whitener\u2019s background as a chemist and cancer survivor gives him a unique perspective, one he\u2019s also documented in his online \u201cCancer Chronicles<\/a>,\u201d which he wrote 10 years ago to mark 25 years in remission and to serve a wider, non-academic audience.<\/p>\n

At the outset, Whitener\u2019s straight talk and humor, something that he, like many people faced with a serious diagnosis, adopted as a coping mechanism, are evident. Displaying a photo of himself as a young bald man, he says, \u201cMost of my hair is gone due to male pattern baldness but I was 27 years old when this happened\u2026because I had cancer chemotherapy.\u201d<\/p>\n

He explains that his presentation, which includes handwritten slides and cartoon-like drawings, is messy and not polished and that the 62-year-old will be turning 35 because he celebrates his \u201csecond birthday\u201d from the last day of his chemotherapy treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like it being messy because going through cancer is pretty messy,\u201d he says. \u201cCancer is bad but there are some good stories. I\u2019m an example of a successful, positive outcome from cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n

With that he launches into his introduction of how cancer cells grow and spread, chemotherapy treatment and his personal bout with non-Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma as a case study.<\/p>\n

Mark Whitener\u2019s cancer talk was attended by faculty and students, who listened attentively.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to say some scary things during this talk,\u201d he says before adding, \u201cEveryone in this room has a cancer cell in you right now\u2026but you also have an immune system.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also shares that \u201ccancer is not one disease; there\u2019s a hundred different cancers\u201d and American Cancer Society statistics on various types of cancers among Americans, as well as survival rates. \u201cYou have a risk of one in 2.5 \u2013 or two out of five people \u2013 of getting cancer,\u201d he says, telling the mostly college-age crowd, \u201cMost cancers are in older people.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was not Whitener\u2019s experience. While in graduate school at Harvard University, he noticed what he thought was a pimple on his right temple. He was healthy and had no family history of cancer, so that never entered his mind. But then the \u201cpimple\u201d grew to the size of an English pea and soon classmates were asking if he\u2019d bumped his head. He decided to get it checked. The doctor told him it was a cyst that could easily be removed. During the surgical procedure, however, he heard, “Oops.”<\/p>\n

\u201cOf all the words one would care to hear from a man with a knife to your head, that ranks pretty low,\u201d Whitener says, adding that the doctor became nervous and engaged him in small talk. Soon he learned why.<\/p>\n

Mark Whitener was 27 when he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma and lost his hair due to chemotherapy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Whitener\u2019s world went, as he put it, \u201cBOOM!\u201d As he explains in his Chronicles: \u201cBeing told you have cancer is like having a shotgun go off near your head. It is very disorienting, and one tends not to hear much for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n

While his doctor delivered the bad news about cancer, he said the good news was that Whitener was in Boston, home to the Dana Farber Comprehensive Cancer Center, which is where he sought treatment.<\/p>\n

Studying chemistry, he says he focused on the \u201cchemo\u201d part of chemotherapy, taking advantage of Harvard\u2019s medical library to learn all he could about his cancer and treatment, as well as medicine and psychological factors.\u00a0 He also learned about \u201cchemo-brain,\u201d a mental fog related to cancer-treatment that can cause cognitive impairment or dysfunction. He says it took about a year and a half before it lifted and he felt more himself.<\/p>\n

While his talk is heavy on science, delving into DNA, cell cycle and even a brief history of cancer treatments, his Cancer Chronicles are written in lay terms for non-scientists.<\/p>\n

His sense of humor is evident in both: \u201cMy appearance was pretty funny. You take eyebrows for granted until you don’t have any.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are many purposes of his chronicles, including \u201ccatharsis, education, information, celebration.\u201d He offers advice on how to support people battling the dreaded disease and also hopes to turn the chronicles into a book to help others affected by cancer.<\/p>\n

Michael Berger, 11, attended the talk with his mother Computer Science Associate Professor Katherine Herbert, and asked Whitener which cancer is the \u201cmost dangerous?\u201d<\/p>\n

Whitener responds: \u201cI\u2019m going to answer that in a very cheeky way: It’s the one you have.\u201d He pauses before adding that \u201cpancreatic cancer is a very dangerous one because it generally is not able to be detected early and often has a very poor prognosis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Herbert, whose family is friends with Whitener, has lost many family members to cancer, including her mother. \u201cWe have always been honest with our children about why my parents aren’t around and certain other people \u2013 overwhelmingly, it has been cancer,\u201d Herbert says. As a result, her son has shown an interest in cancer research, and has a lot of ideas about how cancer treatment can possibly be improved, Herbert says. \u201cHearing the talk from a scientist who had a personal stake in the outcome is a unique experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many in the audience were students in Chemistry and Biochemistry Professor David Rotella\u2019s Chemical Literature class, including\u00a0 juniors Abigail Chang and Perla Huerta.<\/p>\n

Afterward, Chang shared that family members in every generation have been diagnosed with or died of cancer. She said she found Whitener\u2019s talk informative about \u201cwhat cancer is and how we can treat it.\u201d The Biochemistry major says she\u2019s supporting her 45-year-old aunt who just completed chemotherapy and will start radiation treatment for Stage 4 uterine cancer by explaining information to her. \u201cThe best thing I can do is learn more about it,\u201d she says, adding that she wants to help her aunt \u201covercome her diagnosis due to all of the science I learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeffrey Yumbla, right, said Whitener\u2019s talk affirmed his desire to become a research-medical doctor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sophomore Molecular Biology major Jeffrey Yumbla attended Whitener\u2019s talk because he had a cancer scare and has pancreatitis. He liked that \u201cit was presented in a way that was understandable for all audiences and because it dealt with a field of study that I am passionate about,\u201d he says, adding that the talk has \u201creinvigorated my desire to become a medical- research doctor in order to contribute to the efforts against this disease.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
A professor and a chemist, Mark Whitener discusses cancer on a molecular level.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Asked by a colleague if his cancer journey has changed him, Whitener says he assumes the question is rhetorical before adding: \u201cIt did change my life, of course. Little things don’t bother me so much. When someone cuts me off in traffic, I just go, I’ve been through chemotherapy, that’s nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later, Whitener, who says he was \u201cpretty laid back\u201d before his diagnosis and treatment, adds he\u2019s been affected in other ways: \u201cI\u2019m more empathetic to people who have diseases. It\u2019s made me appreciate my health more, appreciate the body more. It\u2019s given me a greater appreciation for medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not surprising from a man who closes his talk with a sincere thank you and a toast he wrote and posted on Facebook on February 9, 2013, the 25th year of being cancer-free.<\/p>\n

Today, I will raise my glass:
\n<\/em>To 25 years free from cancer,
\n<\/em>To those who treat,
\n<\/em>To those who care,
\n<\/em>To those who pray,
\n<\/em>To those who hope,
\n<\/em>To those who love,
\n<\/em>To those who fear,
\n<\/em>To those who seek a cure,
\n<\/em>To those who survive,
\n<\/em>To those who fight,
\n<\/em>To those who lost,
\n<\/em>To those who have lost.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hold dear to every hour you live.<\/em><\/p>\n

Story by Staff Writer\u00a0Sylvia A. Martinez<\/a>. Photos by\u00a0John J. LaRosa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

View Whitener\u2019s talk.<\/a><\/p>\n