Oncology Physical Therapy

03/17/2026

Registration just opened for our 20th year survivorship conference! Come join us!

Our 20th annual event is Saturday, June 6!

Registration is now open!

03/06/2026

Exercise to age well…and one could argue, eventually die well. Falls and fractures are painful, costly and a cause of early mortality and morbidity (other problems).

Weight training, functional activities like the ability to get on/off the floor, balance exercise and good walking speed and technique greatly reduce risks. Gift article below:

They can’t guarantee future health, but they can tell you the trajectory you’re on.

03/06/2026

We have fun APTA onco PT merchandise available until Sunday, just 3 more days left (!) to order something to show support for APTA Oncology.

Wear a shirt, hoodie or hat with pride and help get the word out about the critical role of PT’s and PTA’s in kids and adults treated for cancer. Each purchase helps our academy and our mission to help cancer survivors, thank you!

Clothing: https://www.customink.com/g/npv0-00d1-9d4n

Hat: https://www.customink.com/designs/d914585238/npv0-00d1-9ra4/retrieve

03/05/2026

Only 4 days left (!) to order something to show support for APTA Oncology. Wear a shirt, hoodie or hat with pride and help get the word out about the critical role PT's and PTA's in kids and adults treated for cancer. Each purchase helps our academy and our mission to help cancer survivors, thank you!

Clothing: https://www.customink.com/g/npv0-00d1-9d4n

Hat: https://www.customink.com/designs/d914585238/npv0-00d1-9ra4/retrieve

03/04/2026

People who have Medicare or will be on it someday.....please, please, please take a minute and reach out to your representative, do this...we need maximal support to change Medicare policy!

It makes absolutely no sense that Medicare has never covered nutrition counseling for the average person treated for cancer.

-from an oncology dietician colleague:
Please support nutrition coverage in cancer care!

As an oncology dietitian, one of the biggest gaps I see in cancer care is accessibility to medical nutrition therapy. This is because nutrition is not currently covered by Medicare.

Please consider reaching out to your representatives to support the Expanded Medicare Medical Nutrition Therapy Coverage.

Thank you!

Introduced in the Senate by Sens. Collins (ME) and Peters (MI) and U.S. House of Representatives by U.S. Reps. Robin Kelly (IL) and Jen Kiggans (VA), the Medical Nutrition Therapy Act (H.R.6199 and S. 3934) would expand coverage of medical nutrition...

03/03/2026

💜💜

This one right here… this is why the Finders Keepers program matters. 💜

Today at the Chinook Winds beach entrance in Lincoln City, something truly special happened.

Miss Leslie Lundquist, 68, from Sheridan, Oregon, made one last trip to the ocean before entering hospice care. Leslie is bravely facing terminal cancer, and her daughter, Ashley Brunner, brought her to the beach so she could soak in the salty air one more time.

And wouldn’t you know it… the ocean had a gift waiting for her.

Leslie came upon a beautiful Finders Keepers float, tucked along the shoreline like it was placed there just for her.
Out of all the miles of sand… out of all the days… this one found her.

If you’ve ever wondered whether these floats make a difference — they do. They bring joy. They create memories. They give families moments they will hold onto forever.

Today, the sea gave Miss Leslie a treasure.
But what she really found was a moment of magic. 💙🌊

Please help us send love to Miss Leslie and her family. And thank you to the incredible Finders Keepers program for continuing to spread light along our shores.

02/28/2026

Happy birthday indeed! We all owe you a huge debt of gratitude! 💕

Happy 80th birthday to Dr. Mary-Claire King, whose refusal to stop asking why breast cancer kept striking the same families, generation after generation, has saved countless lives!

When Dr. King began telling colleagues in the 1970s that breast cancer could be inherited -- that a single gene might be responsible -- most scientists dismissed her ideas. The prevailing theory was that cancer was caused by viruses. The idea that genetic patterns could be linked to a complex disease like breast cancer struck most researchers as a dead end.

For much of the 17 years she spent hunting for proof, King worked in near-total obscurity testing hundreds of genetic markers by hand, one at a time. "No one noticed me," she later said of those years. Being overlooked, it turned out, gave her the freedom to chase a question no one else believed was worth asking.

Born on this day in 1946, Mary-Claire King came to science through grief: at 15, she watched her best friend die of cancer. "I always hated cancer," she said. "It was a bad thing and I wanted to fix it."

She studied mathematics at Carleton College, then went to Berkeley for graduate school, where a single genetics course changed the trajectory of her life. During her doctoral work, she proved that humans and chimpanzees are 99% genetically identical -- a finding that reshaped evolutionary biology.

But it was cancer she kept coming back to. In 1990, after 17 years of painstaking research, King's team found a marker on chromosome 17 that was consistently co-inherited with breast cancer in severely affected families. She named the gene BRCA1 -- and in a single report, shattered the assumption that inherited genetics had nothing to do with complex diseases like cancer.

Women who carry harmful BRCA1 mutations face a lifetime breast cancer risk as high as 80%, compared to roughly 8% in the general population. For the first time, at-risk women could be identified before the disease developed. The discovery transformed cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment -- and the approach King pioneered has since been applied to heart disease, Alzheimer's, schizophrenia, and dozens of other conditions.

But King didn't stop at cancer. In 1984, a group of grandmothers in Argentina came to her for help. During the country's Dirty War, the military dictatorship had kidnapped up to 30,000 people -- many of them young parents whose infants were stolen and placed with families loyal to the regime.

The grandmothers, known as the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, had spent years traveling the world, asking any scientist who would listen whether there was a way to prove kinship when the parents were gone. They were met with shrugs -- until they found Mary-Claire King.

King developed a pioneering method using mitochondrial DNA, which passes unchanged from mother to child across generations, and created the Index of Grandpaternity -- a formula that could establish biological relationships with 99.99% certainty, even without the parents' DNA. It had never been done before. To date, her work has reunited 138 families.

Her forensic methods were later used to identify soldiers missing from Vietnam, Korea, and World War II, and to investigate human rights abuses in Bosnia, Rwanda, and Ethiopia. Her young colleagues from Argentina went on to form the United Nations Forensic Anthropology Team, which now carries out DNA identifications on six continents.

Of her approach to science and the years of doubt that preceded her breakthroughs, King once said: "Once your evidence is good, you really have to be very loyal to your own evidence. You have to be very, very critical of it. But once you're convinced you've got it, you can't cave."

She never caved. In 2014, she received the Lasker-Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science. In 2016, President Obama presented her with the National Medal of Science. And in 2025, the National Academy of Sciences awarded her its Public Welfare Medal -- the Academy's most prestigious honor -- for demonstrating the power of science to serve humanity.

Mary-Claire King turns 80 today. She is still publishing, still mentoring, and still pushing the boundaries of cancer genetics at the University of Washington. She showed the world that science is not just about discovery -- it is about what you do with it that matters.

----

For children's books about female scientists whose research led to important health discoveries, we recommend "Never Give Up: Dr. Kati Karikó and the Race for the Future of Vaccines" (https://www.amightygirl.com/never-give-up), "June Almeida, Virus Detective" (https://www.amightygirl.com/june-almeida-virus-detective), "The Doctor With An Eye For Eyes" (https://www.amightygirl.com/doctor-eye), all for ages 5 to 9

For older kids, we recommend "The Code Breaker Young Readers Edition" for ages 10 and up at https://www.amightygirl.com/code-breaker-young-readers

There is also an excellent book about 21 trailblazing women in medicine and medical research, “Bold Women of Medicine" for ages 12 and up at https://www.amightygirl.com/bold-women-of-medicine

To inspire children and teens with stories of more trailblazing women of science who have made important discoveries, visit our blog post, "Ignite Her Curiosity: Children's Books to Inspire Science-Loving Mighty Girls," at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=13914

And for two encouraging books about moms undergoing cancer treatment that were written to help kids understand what's happening during treatment, check out "Cancer Hates Kisses" for ages 3 to 7 (https://www.amightygirl.com/cancer-hates-kisses) and "Mama's Year with Cancer" for ages 4 to 8 (https://www.amightygirl.com/mama-s-year-with-cancer)

02/26/2026

This would be an incredible step forward. However it seems unlikely to be successful if there was prior radiation. Anyhow, scientists are trying to figure out new ways to treat and eliminate lymphedema.

Engineered Lymph Nodes Offer a Possible Cure for Lymphedema
https://scienceblog.com/engineered-lymph-nodes-offer-a-possible-for-lymphedema/

02/25/2026

Great advice!! Don’t miss this.

Dietary supplements are wildly popular, but large clinical trials and other research by Fred Hutch Cancer Center shows many common dietary supplements offer little proven benefit for cancer prevention, and in some cases may even increase cancer risk or interfere with cancer treatment.

02/23/2026

Positive Community Kitchen serves our Eugene-Springfield community. We’re so lucky to have this resource delivering free, organic meals to anyone diagnosed with a serious illness for 12 weeks. Trained volunteers include local high schoolers-they are probably learning many valuable lessons.

Healthy meals often delivered by cancer survivors spreads hope, kindness and encouragement. I’d love to see this type of nonprofit spread to other communities.

I’d love to see this type of nonprofit spread to other communities.

We know that young people are the seed of our future. PCK provides local teens with the opportunities and skills to develop an abiding trust in their own abilities to shape a healthier tomorrow.

02/21/2026

Please buy a cool hat or shirt to spread awareness about the critical role of physical therapy for cancer survivors and help support our academy. The store is only open until March 8th.

Thank you!

🎉 APTA Oncology Official Merchandise is HERE! 🎉

What an amazing CSM it was—so inspiring to connect, learn, and celebrate our oncology PT community together! 💙🧡 Let’s keep that energy going with our limited-time APTA Oncology merch drop.

🧢 Trucker Hat – $25
👕 Classic Tee – $20
🧥 Cozy Hoodie – $44

🗓️ Store is open from Feb 11 through midnight March 8 — don’t miss out!
📲 Scan the QR code or click the link to shop now.

Wear it proud. Represent our community. Support the mission of APTA Oncology.