Hey there - I am a 13 year rare non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma survivor and author of Cancer, Musical Theatre, & Other Chronic Illnesses as well as the founder of The Remission Film Festival. I'd love to share my story with you - and the insanely strong/impactful photos that come with it I have tied my survivorship into charity as a 2026 Visionary of the Year with Blood Cancer United to whom all proceeds from The Remission Film Festival will go to. I have a documentary on survivorship in post-production right now, and have speaking engagements being finalize for 2026 that centers around survivorship. Looking forward to chatting soon. edwardmiskie@gmail.com @edwardmiskie
Dear Mirror team, I am Dr. Martina Ambardjieva, a Urologist, teaching assistant of surgery, and also a medical expert for Invigor Medical. My primary interest is urological oncology. So, I have many patients with cancer in the urology track. What kind of story exactly do you want to hear? I will be happy if I can help. Martina
I'm a 6-time cancer survivor turned "cancer-prenuer". After six different cancers I know what it is like to be a working mom and patient, undergo painful surgeries and treatments, and receive so many well-meaning but useless gifts. (e.g. Kicking Cancer Totes, Breast Warrior t-shirts, dry lasagnas...) In 2020, I transitioned from corporate marketing executive to entrepreneur and launched TheBalmBox.com. We interviewed 500+ patients and caregivers to curate *functional* care packages for cancer patients. Since then, I've been featured on NBC, USA Today, Medium, Yahoo News and a long list of podcasts. A few of our products were picked up by CVS.com, Walmart Marketplace, and Bergen Marketplace and in 2024 we almost hit 7-figures. Though I've shared my story in different formats every story looks and feels different, depending on the media and journalist's angle. I have ample photos of myself during treatments, after treatments, and starting The Balm Box from my guest room, then garage, and finally to our move outside the home to a commercial space in early 2024. While I would never hope for multiple life-threatening episodes, I am actually grateful for my cancers. My marriage has been tested and withstood the pressure cooker of cancer treatment 6 times; My kids learned to do their own laundry, make pancakes for dinner, and most importantly that the world continues to turn even when the family is in crisis. And I learned how to ask for help and lean into self-care. I'd love to share my journey with you as part of your feature. Reach out any time at my connect info below. Best, Liz Benditt President, The Balm Box www.TheBalmBox.com +1.816.616.5323
I can help with amazing stories about type 2 diabetes. Please see www.drjspages.com/proof Happy holidays Dr Spages
Sharing a patient's story who successfully beat his stage 4 Prostate Cancer as well as reversed his Diabetes and Hypertension (he is off diabetes and blood pressure meds now and healthy) 'My story starts in August of 2014 when I had a heart attack and got a stent. I was informed that I was diabetic (HbA1c of 8+) and had hypertension and that these were lifelong conditions and the medications for these would continue for life besides the other prescribed medications related to my CVD. As I later found out, my fasting insulin was touching 50 since one of the blood test packages I opted for included the same. Of course, I was not aware of the significance of this critical parameter back then. There was no advice on changing my diet or lifestyle excepting that I should start walking as I had a sedentary lifestyle being an IT professional. I started walking about 5-7 km every day, but there was no other change in my diet or lifestyle. In June 2021, I was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer and it had already spread across my hips, spine and left ribs. It was my doctor, Dr Gagandeep Singh, who walked me through all the tests for my diagnosis. It was extremely fortunate for me that Dr Singh is a lifestyle specialist and under his guidance I transformed my lifestyle from day one. I started fasting 3 continuous days every week and started with a very low carb, OMAD (One Meal a Day). In one month of starting the treatment and the lifestyle change, I had lost 17 kg of weight and my PSA dropped to 1.6 from 95.2. The more interesting part was that my HbA1c dropped to a pre-diabetic range and my fasting insulin dropped to 17 from 47. If this was not enough, I was no longer hypertensive. Dr Singh asked me to stop all the earlier medications since he saw that I could follow the prescribed lifestyle. In the second month of my treatment and the drastic lifestyle change, my HbA1c dropped to the normal range of 5.5 and fasting insulin dropped to 6. I had reversed my diabetes and hypertension in just 2 months of a disciplined lifestyle under the guidance of Dr. Gagandeep Singh. Fast forward to February 2023. My PSMA PET scan did not detect any disease and considering that my PSA went undetectable about 6 months into treatment, I was officially in remission.' Before and after pictures and blood reports also available. This story has not been covered by any media outlet so far, he has only put few snippets and videos on social media.
More than twenty-five years ago, Rebecca Bloom left her post as an employee benefits lawyer at one of the most well-known New York City law firms to pursue her passion for women's health advocacy. Drawing on her expertise in the complex rules that govern employers, insurers, and medical providers--as well as the dynamics between these stakeholders--Bloom has spent decades empowering women to confidently integrate the information and focus fully on recovery and wellness. In July, 2025, she published When Women Get Sick, which has been featured in People Health, Women's World and prominent podcasts in the US and the UK. When Women Get Sick Bloom offers much-needed insight to women and their supporters, diving into essential topics such as building support networks, taming the insurance beast, communicating with doctors, and staying mindful. She exposes the way the healthcare industrial complex disadvantages women and empowers them to find meaningful support. Using women's stories and Bloom's experience in the trenches, this book guides readers with examples, questions, checklists, useful information, and tips. There's enough stress and fear surrounding cancer and other serious illnesses. Bloom gives women tools to make the best decisions for them in all areas of their healthcare journey. On her book tour Bloom met many women on health journeys, facing anxiety about future coverage and funding of research and people who support them. This book is part of a movement to address the research gap, lag in diagnostics and prevalent dismissal of women's pain. For Bloom, this is as personal as it is professional, her mother and sisters are breast cancer survivors and she's been on a 25 year high risk journey.
I am a 58-year-old female Colon Cancer Survivor and now Skin Cancer "warrior" (kinda hate that term, but whatevs), and I believe strongly in something called Post-Traumatic Growth (PTG), which doesn't seem to be talked about a lot. After experiencing a near-stroke due to a Carotid Artery Dissection in 2019, then suffering Stage IIIB Colon Cancer and going through treatment in the middle of Covid (!!!), and then getting laid off from my job and struggling with my whole job situation, there was a period of feeling like absolute dog sh*t...until I took matters and my health into my own hands. I have changed a lot about how I take care of myself: weaned myself off alcohol and all red meats; I exercise daily - including walking, stretching, and some kind of meditation, etc. and I have experienced what people in the psychiatric world call Post-Traumatic Growth. I honestly feel like a new person in this healthier, happier body. Do I still experience ups and downs? Absolutely! But life feels so much better with this second chance. I want to experience it fully. I've written about it a lot in my anonymous online journal - I have many examples of what I've written. Let me know if you'd like to hear more.
Weight Loss Transformations Hiba Allah Ayadi, a 22-year-old Tunisian student, lost 52.45 kg in 11 months, entirely without access to a gym. The journey documents lifestyle changes, struggles, and the transformation; photos vividly capture the before and after phases. This story has been featured in Times of India's health section—so not fully exclusive, but the visuals are striking. Major cancer weight stories, including the personal challenge of weight gain during treatment, commonly appear in outlets like Maggie's, but exclusivity is rare and images often support case studies of daily struggles and recovery. Cancer Survivors with Impactful Imagery Neerja Malik, a two-time breast cancer survivor from India, offers dramatic photo documentation of her journey from diagnosis through treatment and eventual advocacy, counseling other families. While her story has been referenced in The Better India and similar portals, it remains influential with strong images illustrating both the physical toll and emotional recovery. Rare Medical Diagnoses and Incredible Recoveries Patient Scout's diagnosis as the fifth person worldwide with CFI deficiency—a rare genetic condition—was featured on BuzzFeed, including medical team photos and documentation of the diagnostic journey. This story is not exclusive but stands out for its rare condition and powerful photographic evidence. Sutter Health's "Phenomenal 15" includes extraordinary stories like Evan, the piano prodigy who lost—and regained—his ability to play after a rare viral illness, with striking recovery images. These stories are likely featured only on the organization's blog unless picked up by wider media. Charity and Community Health Efforts CancerCare.org publishes stories of charity-driven interventions, such as financial assistance and emotional support for patients struggling with cost and access, illustrated with strong testimonial portraits. These accounts are not exclusive, but they carry a sense of immediacy and humanity in the visuals and storytelling. Charity-driven patient navigators and peer mentors, found on several cancer advocacy sites, feature deeply personal images and have limited distribution beyond organizational blogs.
Health stories gain their strength from the moments when someone chooses to keep going, even after their body has given every reason to stop. Families at RGV Direct Care talk about this often during long visits, where a doctor has the time to sit, listen and walk through the rough details without rushing. A man once shared how he dropped more than seventy pounds after years of stalled attempts because he finally had a place where progress was measured in steady conversations and small corrections that felt doable. Another family explained how their mother's cancer treatment became less frightening once they had clear guidance and a familiar face checking on her between appointments. A young woman recovering from surgery found the courage to start a small charity drive for others in her situation because she felt supported through each setback. These stories illustrate how consistent, personal medical attention shapes the way people carry their hardest moments and how a steady presence can change the tone of an entire health journey.
Hi there, I'm Stephanie Zabriskie, founder of Humanculture. I have several potential stories that may fit your request for strong health and charity features. I've worked closely with Maasai women in Tanzania who faced water scarcity, anemia, malnutrition and limited access to essential health products. Through Humanculture we created a way to convert cultural skill into health resources and autonomy. What began with jewelry sales turned into water access, nutrition support and women's health education. I also have my own personal health journey. Before I founded my charity, i developed a severe immune disorder triggered by extreme air pollution levels in China and a rare fish toxin. My journey to recovery lasted nearly nine years and culminated with a visit to the Amazon jungle for two weeks of Ayahuascha ceremonies with the Shipibo people. The onset of my health issue spurred me to visit Africa for the first time, founding my charity to help Indigenous people there. The final chapter of my journey back to health concluded with Indigenous people helping and healing me. I have strong, high-quality images documenting our charity work, Tanzania and Peru, including water access, community health and women-centered advocacy. If exclusivity is preferred I am open to providing full story access with photos. Happy to share additional details, timelines and documentation if useful. Thank you for your cosideration, Stephanie Zabriskie Founder, Humanculture www.humanculture.org
When I'm asked about providing strong health stories—including weight loss, cancer, and charity work—I always think about how powerful it is when someone's personal struggle becomes someone else's source of hope. Over the years, I've seen patients transform their lives in ways that even they didn't believe were possible. One that stays with me is a woman who came to me after surviving late-stage colon cancer; she not only beat the disease, but eventually lost more than 80 pounds through consistent, small lifestyle changes. I remember her telling me that surviving cancer taught her she didn't have to be perfect—she just had to keep moving forward. That lesson is something I still share with people every week. I can provide stories like hers—exclusive if needed—along with strong photos and medical insight into why these transformations happen. My experience as a physician has shown me that the best stories aren't about quick fixes but about resilience, community support, and redefining what health looks like after major setbacks. If you're looking for weight-loss journeys supported by medical reasoning, cancer survivors who turned their diagnosis into advocacy, or charity efforts sparked by personal tragedy, I can offer narratives that are both medically grounded and emotionally compelling. And if a story has been shared elsewhere, I'll be upfront so you always know what's truly exclusive.
A story gains real strength when it shows how a person held on to something steady during a hard stretch, and in our work at AS Medical Solutions that steadiness often begins with reliable support. A patient with stage three cancer once described how the smallest change in her medication schedule cut her nausea in half, which gave her enough energy to walk ten extra minutes each day. Those ten minutes turned into thirty within a month and brought her blood pressure down by nearly fifteen points. A man working through a long weight loss journey shared how switching to a clearer medication routine helped him stay consistent, and that consistency led to a slow but steady drop of twenty seven pounds over eight months. A mother who had lost her job said the charity refill program kept her daughter's asthma under control during a tough season and that stability helped her avoid three ER visits that year. Stories like these remind us that progress often begins in small pockets of relief that give people room to fight, rest, and rebuild.
Hey, am Uttoran Sen, the CEO and co-founder of GuestCrew. Thank you for this opportunity for letting me share a personal weight loss and healthy living journey. Being the CEO of an internet company, working since 2003 from my school days to starting GuestCrew in 2014 - my lifestyle mostly included sitting in front of my laptop, working throughout the day and eating some snacks in the process. Most people would get overweight in this routine however, thanks to my amazing metabolism I had always maintained a constant weight of 64 KG which is ideal for a 5 feet 8 inches guy. Since 2022 I took up a farming challenge where I focused on healthy living and made plenty of changes to my lifestyle and brought down my weight to 56 KG, almost 8 KG less than what I had in the past. Most overweight people find it difficult to lose weight while I ate everything that I did in the past and more, and yet lost weight. This is what the process mostly included: 1. Waking up early. Earlier I used to work late into the night which made it impossible to wake up early. Since 2022, I made sure that everyday I will wake up at 4 AM. To make this possible, I used to get into bed by 9 PM. 2. My target was to reach my farm as early as possible, which is about 20 KMs away from my home - takes less than an hour to reach under normal traffic conditions. Once in the farm, I don't have to worry about morning walks etc. as farming activities allows enough physical movement. 3. For breakfast, other than some natural drinks which mostly included roasted chickpea flour, I consumed everything that we grew in our farm. From bananas to fresh vegetables like carrots, to other fruits like mulberries, everything was part of my morning snacks. 4. Being away from town restricted me to eat too much of unhealthy snacks because those fast food items are simply unavailable in the village and with fresh air and so much to do in the farm, one does not really have the need to munch on something unhealthy. After all, one does not need to eat pop corns and chips and watch TV in the farm. However yes, while back at home I used to eat everything that I could manage to find from fast food items like chow and chilies, to unhealthy snacks like potato snacks, visiting restaurants almost twice a week and everything else included and yet the amount of effort I was putting in the farm must have been able to burn these unhealthy fat somehow and resulted in my extreme weight loss.
Hi there — I can share a non-exclusive health story that has resonated strongly in other outlets focused on resilience and transformation. After losing a close family member to cancer, I rebuilt my daily routine from the ground up, which unexpectedly led to a 42-pound weight loss and a complete reset in how I approached health. What started as grief management became a structured wellness process: walking every day, eliminating processed foods, and using data-driven tracking to stay consistent. The emotional anchor wasn't "fitness" — it was creating a routine that gave structure back to life when everything felt unpredictable. The turning point came during a charity 5K for cancer research. I couldn't run it the first year, but I walked it. Training for the next year became my recovery project. By the second year, I ran the entire race, and that milestone became the moment I realized the transformation had become permanent. I also have strong photos documenting the progression, including the charity events. If this angle fits, I'm happy to provide the full story, timeline, and images directly. Albert Richer, Founder, WhatAreTheBest.com.
I actually dropped from 245 to 190 pounds in just six months, and the surprising part is that my exercise routine didn't change at all, it was purely diet. For years I kept telling myself I just needed to train harder, but once I finally tightened up what I was eating, everything clicked. I focused on portion control, cut back on the mindless snacking, and swapped out a lot of the calorie-dense foods I was relying on. The momentum built fast once I started seeing real progress, and for the first time, eating with intention felt easier than forcing myself through extra workouts. What made a huge difference was the timing: I had just started working for a supplement company, and the environment there was incredibly supportive. Being surrounded by people who lived and breathed fitness and nutrition made it a lot harder to fall back into old habits. Coworkers were constantly encouraging me, offering advice, and even checking in on my progress. Having that kind of accountability, plus access to products and education I never really had before, honestly kept me going. It didn't feel like a lonely journey; it felt like a team effort, and that made staying consistent so much easier. Before & After https://ibb.co/CpTGQTBX https://ibb.co/xtrczQfX
Among the most impactful health stories that I have witnessed has been from someone I know well who turned back his life from a serious health issue. This man had been working each day of the years with no attention paid to any health signs until he ended up in the hospital with the first stages of cardiac illness. This wake-up call represented a complete do over. He has now gone on to reverse more than 60 pounds in the first year through walking each day, nutrition education, and stress reduction, but more importantly, he has gone from being burned out and in denial to mentoring others in healthy living. The interesting thing about this particular story is that there wasn't anything significant to get this path in motion other than the realization that he knew he wanted to be there for his family. Nothing more than the usual choices that led to a completely different life. If you are interested in acquiring this story in an exclusive capacity or wish to simply look at the sources in which this story has been placed, I can offer either option.
Wellness Coordinator at Broward Schools & Private Consulting
Answered 4 months ago
We featured an employee here at Broward County Schools in our company newsletter who lost 100 pounds naturally. I would love to forward the story to you for reprint. My e-mail address is tina.severance@browardschools.com
Over the past few years, my work in digital health has brought me close to families in Sri Lanka who struggle with late cancer diagnoses, unmanaged diabetes, and the financial shock that follows intensive treatment. One story that stands out is of a middle-aged father from a rural town who used our telehealth platform to finally access an oncologist after months of ignored symptoms; early intervention helped him return to work, and his case inspired a local charity initiative that now funds remote consultations and follow-up care for other low-income patients. This charity-driven program has since supported dozens of patients with obesity-related complications and suspected cancers by covering online consultations, travel for hospital visits, and post-treatment check-ins, which has a measurable impact on both weight management and treatment adherence. We are now working with community clinics to combine digital follow-ups, nutrition counseling, and peer-support groups into a structured pathway that helps patients lose weight safely, stay on track with medications, and avoid the silent slide into late-stage disease. If this angle is of interest, I can provide more detail on individual case studies (with identities protected), data on outcomes, and strong photos from clinics and patient support sessions showing how technology, local charities, and frontline clinicians are working together to change health stories that would otherwise end in tragedy.
I don't have a unique story of personal change to share, but I can give you access to real health stories from people I've professionally interviewed. These include stories of people who have lost a lot of weight, survived cancer, and families who have started community-driven charity efforts after medical crises. These people are willing to share their stories on record, and many have good photos because their journeys were already documented for fundraising, awareness campaigns, or local news. If you want something unique, I can put you in touch with people whose stories haven't been widely published yet. I can mark where each story has been published and what angles have not been told yet if non-exclusive is okay. Each story has medical proof, a timeline, and before-and-after pictures when they are relevant, so you have a solid base to work with for a powerful feature.
Stories that stay with me usually start in the quiet places where change first feels impossible. Someone from our Harlingen Church shared how a simple decision to walk the loop behind the fellowship hall every evening turned into a seventy pound weight loss over fourteen months. Nothing flashy. Just a worn pair of sneakers and a promise to keep going on the days that felt heavy. The shift showed up in small ways at first. He no longer needed to rest halfway through Sunday service, and his doctor cut his medication costs by nearly half. The photos from his journey tell the story better than any headline because you can see the steadiness in his face long before the scale caught up. Another family carries a different kind of testimony. Their child's cancer diagnosis pulled the entire congregation together in a way none of us expected. Meal trains filled their porch, gas cards eased the trips to San Antonio, and one fundraiser cleared nearly nineteen thousand dollars in a single weekend. The mother shared pictures from the final treatment day. Her child ringing a brass bell with both hands, cheeks flushed from relief and exhaustion. She wants that story told with care since it has been shared only within the church and a small prayer circle online.