Aug 14, 2020
Judith and Alan Kaur know more than most of us about the science of long-lasting love. And they use their unique experiences in the cancer community to advance research.
In this episode of Your Stories, the Kaurs reveal their non-traditional approach to marriage and medicine.
Judith, the first doctor to receive a Conquer Cancer grant more than 35 year ago and Alan, who encouraged his wife to go to med school in the 1970s after they’d started their family, teach us that relationships aren’t unlike clinical trials: If the participants are willing to do the work – to closely study their subjects, accept new information, and course correct when prompted by the heart and the mind - the discoveries can change lives.
Judith and Alan Kauer know more than most about the science of long-lasting love, and each use their unique experiences in the cancer community to advance research. In this episode of Your Stories, the Kauers reveal their non-traditional approach to marriage and medicine.
Judith, the first doctor to receive a Conquer Cancer grant more
than 35 years ago, and Alan, who encouraged his wife to go to med
school in the 1970s after they'd started their family, teach us
that relationships aren't unlike clinical trials. If researchers
are willing to do the work, to closely study their subjects, accept
new information, and course correct when prompted by the heart and
the mind, the discoveries can change lives.
You and I have never had a straightforward 52 years together. I met
you when I was still a teenager and I was in college. And we got
married after I finished graduate school. You were working as an
actuary in downtown Chicago, and we thought, OK, I'm a teacher.
You're an actuary. That's our life.
But we changed along the way. I supported you in going into that
other profession, even though it meant that we were separated for a
period of time. You had to go to New York for training. I was
teaching school. And so that was the first time that we were sort
of a non-traditional pair.
And then everything went along for a couple of years, and we had
our daughter, and then I was a stay-at-home mom. And you were very
supportive of my thinking about going back to school. But at the
time, I had no money. Nobody in my family was a doctor. But you
sort of challenged me to think about doing that. Do you remember a
little bit about that time?
I was going into work every day, naturally. And when I came home,
she always had a scientific book in front of her that she was
reading. It was just going on all the time. And one night, I still
remember, we sat down in the kitchen and we each had our food in
front of us. And I just looked at her, and I said, do you want to
be a doctor? And she said yes. And so that settled the discussion.
I remember that clear as a bell.
And I said, then fine. If you want to be a medical doctor, why
don't you take tomorrow off, drive down to Northwestern University,
where you got your master's degree, and talk to the counselors down
there and find out what it would take for you to get into medical
school.
Back then, you know, in 1975, when I went to Northwestern, they
said I was too old to go to medical school, that women, number one,
were not being accepted, and many were told women aren't accepted.
Number two, it was better if you go straight from college into
medical school.
So over the years, seeing today that it's all different-- actually,
probably slightly more women go to medical school than men, and
many people do make career changes and pick oncology as an exciting
field that has not only patient care, but research and
education.
She kept applying, and finally she did get accepted into medical
school at the University of North Dakota. And then I took care of
our daughter, Christa. You finally got out of your training. At the
age of 38, you took on your first real job in medicine.
That's right, after I finished my fellowship. And at the end of my
fellowship, I was the first selected Young Investigator Award for
ASCO, which led to the Conquer Cancer Foundation efforts to try to
support a lot of young and aspiring researchers. They had a small
reception for me, and people came up and congratulated me. And
among them was an oncologist.
As she was shaking my hand and telling me a little bit about
herself, I noticed that she had an unusual mole on her forehead.
And I said, you know, I apologize, but that mole looks abnormal to
me. Have you shown it to anybody? And she said, oh, I've shown a
couple of doctors, and they said, oh, don't worry about that. It's
probably been there forever. It's fine.
And I said, you know, I don't think it's fine. I think you should
go have it looked at. It actually was melanoma. And so I diagnosed
her the day that I got the Young Investigator Award, and I saw her
35 years later. Over the years, you also participated in research
and clinical trials. Do you remember the prostate prevention trial
that you participated in?
Yes. I went into a prostate prevention trial around the year 2000.
And it was the biggest cancer inquiry trial in the United States at
that time. And then about three years, I guess, the company sent me
out a note saying bring all my medicines in immediately, that all
the trials were being ceased.
That's one of the key things about clinical trials and research. We
don't just assume that we have the right idea and that every trial
is going to work. And built into it is all the safety features so
that patients are informed upfront of what we know. And then as
things develop, then they inform patients.
And some trials do have to be discontinued. And not every new
treatment makes it to market, which is one thing that really is so
difficult in this country, is trying to find the drugs that are
really going to make the difference and get them to market. And it
sometimes takes years because we put patient safety first in our
clinical trials.
You actually were responsible for some of your friends even being
diagnosed with prostate cancer who went to see if they were
eligible for the trial, didn't know that they had prostate cancer,
and they were actually diagnosed because of trying to get into the
trial. I think that was incredible. And that was a service that you
did in talking to other men about the importance of prostate
cancer.
My best friend Art, Art tried to get into the trial program that I
was in, and they found out he had cancer when he was being
examined. And so he could not get into the trial.
That was an incredible kind of serendipity because if it weren't
for some of the research that's been done on prostate cancer in the
years since then, your best friend, the best man of our wedding,
might not be here today. He's got three grandchildren that he never
would have seen. We continue to see them when they come down to
Florida part of the winter. But all of that would have been lost if
it hadn't been for that particular incentive to go and be part of a
research project.
It's interesting to see, after 52 years of marriage, the things
that we've had together and the times that we've had to change
paths. I've been a stay-at-home mom. I've been a schoolteacher.
I've been at our own clinic and academic center. So I've seen kind
of the full range of oncology care.
And I even got a chance to see you once in a while when you were
working all these years. You put in a lot of hours, a lot of
work.
I stop in to say hi once in a while, and thank you for all that
you've done to make that possible.
Dr. Kauer specializes in breast and cervical cancer and palliative
care. She's dedicated her career to preventing and treating cancer
in Native Americans. She and Alan donate to Conquer Cancer to
ensure the next generation of scientists have the funding they need
to explore cancer research. Learn more about the research the
Kauers support at conquer.org.
Hearing the experiences of others can help people cope with the
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Your Stories: Conquering Cancer.
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