Episodes

Before survivorship was a word, it was a fight. In this special preview, host Matthew Zachary lays the groundwork for The Cancer Mavericks—a documentary series about the people who refused to be statistics and built a movement instead. If you think you know the story of cancer, think again. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Back when doctors didn’t even say the word “cancer” out loud, let alone tell patients they had it, survivorship wasn’t a movement. It wasn’t even an idea. It was shame, silence, and stigma. In this premiere episode, host Matthew Zachary kicks off The Cancer Mavericks with a gut-punch history of how cancer was once portrayed in media—if it was portrayed at all. From 1940s radio dramas and Bette Davis deathbed scenes to 1990s network TV and Hollywood’s “clean cancer” obsession, this episode unpacks how pop culture shaped what people thought cancer looked like, who was allowed to survive, and how little patients were told about their own disease. We meet the pioneers who broke the silence. People like Sidney Farber, the “father of chemotherapy,” and Mary Lasker, the ad-world power broker who dragged Congress kicking and screaming into the War on Cancer. These aren’t textbook characters. They’re real people who changed the future—while the present was still in the dark. And we hear dir…

Before Facebook groups, Slack channels, and TikTok cancer diaries, connecting as a survivor meant classified ads, rotary phones, and maybe a mimeograph machine if you were lucky. In Episode Two, The Cancer Mavericks rewinds to the 1970s and '80s—when the War on Cancer was flooding labs with cash, but survivors were left wondering: what now? There were no after-plans. No safety nets. You got treated (if you could), you survived (if you were lucky), and then… nothing. We meet Fitzhugh Mullen, a radical physician turned accidental organizer, and Katherine Logan, one of the first cancer survivors to say, out loud, that life after treatment wasn’t enough. Together, they built the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS)—a grassroots, pre-internet rebellion that demanded dignity, transparency, and a say in how survivors were treated by the medical system and society. This episode also spotlights the cancer survivor as part of larger social justice movements—from disability right…

What happens when a street-smart surgeon and a no-BS survivor team up to change the rules of cancer care—forever? In this episode, we meet two people who took radically different paths to the same goal: making survivorship a right, not a privilege. Dr. Harold Freeman was a breast cancer surgeon at Harlem Hospital in the 1970s, where he saw poor Black women dying—not from advanced disease, but from late diagnoses, insurance red tape, and sheer neglect. So he stopped asking for permission. He opened clinics on Saturdays. He recruited locals, not lab coats. He created patient navigation—a now-standard model of care that started as an act of medical rebellion. Around the same time, Ellen Stovall was diagnosed with cancer at 24. She beat the disease but got no roadmap for what came next. So she made one. Ellen became a powerhouse policy advocate who took survivorship to Capitol Hill—turning personal trauma into federal testimony and leading the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship…

What if surviving cancer was just the beginning of the real fight? In this episode, we dig into the dirty little secret of cancer care: post-treatment survivorship is often a medical no-man’s-land. Once the last scan is clean and the bell is rung, patients are left to figure out what “getting back to normal” even means—if that’s possible at all. We hear from patients and pioneers who pulled back the curtain on life after cancer, exposing the physical, emotional, and financial wreckage that doesn’t make it into the brochure. From debilitating fatigue, chemo brain, and fertility loss to job discrimination and bankruptcy—survivors found themselves told they should be grateful... while falling apart. Leading the charge is Dr. Patricia Ganz, one of the first physicians to say out loud that survivorship is a medical specialty—and a broken one at that. We follow her 40-year journey advocating for quality of life research, survivor rehab, and the creation of actual survivorship clinics, no…

For decades, cancer care had a massive blind spot: young adults. If you were diagnosed between the ages of 15 and 39, you were basically invisible—too old for pediatrics, too young for geriatrics, and completely off the radar of clinical trials, support systems, and survivorship planning. In this episode, Matthew Zachary introduces the origin story of the AYA (Adolescent and Young Adult) cancer movement—and how a pissed-off generation of young survivors said enough is enough. We hear from advocates like Tamika Felder and Lindsay Norbeck, who survived cancer in their 20s and were left to deal with infertility, dating trauma, career detours, and the brutal realities of trying to “just be normal” when your body, future, and finances were blown apart. We dive into fertility preservation battles, post-cancer sex lives that no one talked about, and the social isolation of being a survivor with no peers—because, until the mid-2000s, there wasn’t even a name for this group. Also featured…

What happens when Hollywood gets cancer—and decides to do something about it? In this episode, we explore the power and pitfalls of celebrity advocacy in the cancer world. When Katie Couric got a colonoscopy on live TV, it wasn’t just a media stunt—it led to a 20% spike in screenings. That moment became known as the Katie Couric Effect, and it proved something: when a household name says, “get screened,” people actually listen. But it didn’t stop there. Katie co-founded Stand Up To Cancer alongside producer Laura Ziskin and others in the entertainment world who had lost friends and family. It became one of the most successful nonprofit disruptors in the field, funding research that directly led to multiple FDA-approved treatments—and permanently shifting how cancer fundraising looked and sounded. We also hear from Dr. Larissa Nekhlyudov on the high-stakes fallout of survivorship: financial toxicity, mental health breakdowns, and long-term effects that aren’t covered by a red carpet…

Cancer hits hard. But it hits some communities harder. Not because of biology—but because of broken systems, baked-in bias, and willful neglect. In this episode, The Cancer Mavericks zooms in on cancer disparities—how race, income, geography, and history shape who gets diagnosed early, who gets treated properly, and who gets left behind. This isn’t a new problem. It’s a crisis that's been ignored for decades. We meet Mary Lovato, a Native American woman from the Santo Domingo Pueblo in New Mexico who was diagnosed with leukemia and forced to travel 800 miles for care. Her experience sparked a movement for Native-led support systems and culturally competent survivorship programs—despite resistance, stigma, and underfunded Indian Health Services. We also hear from Maimah Karmo, the unstoppable force behind the Tigerlily Foundation, who survived breast cancer in her 20s and now fights for Black women to be seen, heard, and included in every part of the cancer conversation—from clinica…

This is the finale—but it’s not the end. In this final chapter of The Cancer Mavericks, we connect the past to the present—and hand the mic to the next generation. The episode weaves together legacy and momentum, spotlighting the bridge between the trailblazers who fought to be heard and the advocates now rising with new tools, new platforms, and a louder voice than ever before. We hear from Dr. Lisa Richardson at the CDC, Dr. Catharine Young from the White House Cancer Moonshot, and leaders like Deanna Darlington and Dr. John Carpten who are reshaping the narrative of survivorship, equity, and community power. From TikTok to town halls, Instagram Lives to the halls of Congress, cancer advocacy no longer looks like it used to—and that’s the point. This isn’t a victory lap. It’s a relay race. And the baton is being passed, intentionally, urgently, and loudly. Host Matthew Zachary reflects on 30 years of survivorship and what it means to witness your life’s work echo into the voices…

Before there was a series, a movement, or a name—there was this conversation. In this special bonus episode, Matthew Zachary rewinds to what could’ve been the pilot for The Cancer Mavericks: a raw, funny, and unexpectedly deep conversation with his mom, Roz Greenzweig. A retired educator and lifelong cinephile, Roz doesn’t just remember every classic cancer movie ever made—she lived through one when her 21-year-old son was diagnosed with brain cancer. Together, they break down how Hollywood portrayed cancer for most of the 20th century: quietly, tragically, and with full glam. From Bette Davis fading out in Dark Victory to the sanitized tragedy of Love Story, Roz and Matthew trace the gap between the “beautiful deaths” on screen and the messy, terrifying, and absurd reality they lived off screen. This is part media criticism, part family therapy, and part origin story for a generation of advocates who didn’t see themselves in the movies—but showed up anyway. If you want to underst…