>> When we got done with that, we went and we saw the doctor again
and got the CAT scan done the next day.
And that was on a Friday to Saturday.
And on Monday --
>> We got the phone call.
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>> I was in the hospital for five days.
And the last day I was in the hospital, the thoracic doctor
that did the lung surgery came in with his team.
And they all came in with solemn faces and I could tell something was wrong.
>> I'll never forget the day.
It was August 3rd, 2010.
The doctor came into the family waiting room.
You know, it was kind of like Charlie Brown the "wa,wa, wa, wa, wa."
You know, he said words -- this big long thing ending
in carcinoma and I had no idea what is was.
And he said, "Well, your brother has adrenal cancer."
>> Whenever there is cancer, frankly, it doesn't matter which organ it's arising from.
For me it's -- cancer is devastating to the patient,
devastating to the family and whoever it touches.
>> In the United States at any given time,
there's probably a thousand of us who have this disease.
And a lot of them are very, very sick.
>> These are real people who are affected.
And adrenal cancer affects those who least expect it.
>> It -- it, for me, it blew me away that my daughter had cancer.
Heather -- I don't think she actually grasped
at that time what cancer really was only being a 21-year-old.
>> What is hard and heartbreaking in this disease is that so many of my patients die,
that the balance between hope and reality sometimes feels slim.
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But I'm tired of seeing people die.
>> We really are on the cusp of greater understanding which will lead us
to more intelligent therapeutic decisions.
>>We are now ready to make big leaps forward in our understanding of adrenal cancer
and our ability to treat patients.
>> Whenever we're dealing with rare malignancies as adrenal cancer,
it's difficult to find one place that has expertise like Doctor Hammers,
Doctor Millers, Doctor Giordano, etc.
>> So we're sort of at this golden age of cancer genome science.
The last 20 years or so, we've -- we've really learned
that cancer is largely an acquired genetic disease.
>> We define a cancer by what organ it forms in.
Lung cancer begins in the lung, adrenal cancer begins in the adrenal.
>> The genetic change in our DNA at the most fundamental level is the root cause
of almost all cancers.
>> So without a doubt, what we learn about the rare adrenal cancer we have every reason
to believe will inform us about the defects in all cancers.
>> So it's an exciting time.
>> It is patients and families and private foundations
who are changing the landscape of this disease.
>> I think, quite frankly, that --
that I probably would not be here today if it were not for them.
>> Because it is these groups that are setting the agenda.
>> Truly, philanthropy and such gifts are the only way
that we're really going to make advances in this field.
>> So I think the future of adrenal cancer is quite bright because of a lot
of the work that's being here at the University of Michigan.
>> That giving back to other people
and impacting other people was just part of her being.
>> Adrenal cancer is so rare that there's virtually no center in the world that focuses
so exquisitely and exclusively on adrenal cancer
like the University of Michigan has been able to.
>> And that makes -- makes the University of Michigan a very exciting place to be.
To be at the forefront of where adrenal cancer is going.
>> The goal is to exploit the genetic fingerprint of the cancer in each affected boy,
in each affected girl, in each affected mom, in each affected dad to treat,
to care for, and to cure each and every one.
And that's what we're going to do.
So, imagine that.
Imagine that.
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