The Shape of a Modern Cancer Journey

And the future of our AI chums

When my wife received a cancer diagnosis recently, I did what any well-connected journalist+husband would do. I called in every favor possible to try and use my contacts’ status and resources to my advantage. (It was ethically dodgy but not Crime and Punishment levels of dodgy or at least that’s how I rationalized the situation.)

My first call – naturally – went to Bryan Johnson. Not because I thought olive oil would come to the rescue but because Johnson had been through this before and helped someone deal with a serious cancer diagnosis and treat it. He also must know more doctors and scientists than anyone really should. And he’s obsessive about things, and I wanted obsessive.

Johnson urged me to hire a researcher or two or three from Kolabtree. That research service helps connect you with scientists and doctors who will head into medical journals and other resources to find studies related to your quest and then synthesize the information. The better you sculpt your query, the better the results, or so I found.

In my wife’s case, the cancer in question was adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) of the breast. It’s very, very rare, and this was a problem. There are plenty of studies about ACC of the breast, but the number of patients being analyzed runs thin. The data you’re getting back on treatment options and outcomes blows.