Season 1
May 7, 2021
Introducing: The Cancer Mavericks
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 Pr…
June 4, 2021
EP1: The Big C Wasn’t Always on TV
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 ho…
July 1, 2021
EP2: You’re Cured, Good Luck
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, …
Aug. 5, 2021
EP3: The Navigator and the Negotiator
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 a…
Sept. 10, 2021
EP4: You’re Not ‘Cured’ — You’re Just Not Dead
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…
Oct. 8, 2021
EP5: The Young Adult Cancer Revolution: When the Next Generation Got Loud
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…
Nov. 12, 2021
EP6: Lights, Camera… Colonoscopy: Cancer Mavericks Go to Hollywood
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 …
Dec. 17, 2021
EP7: The Inequity of Cure: Who Gets to Matter
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 tr…
Oct. 27, 2022
EP8: The Future Was Listening
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 advoc…
Dec. 28, 2023
[BONUS] Cancer Mavericks Goes to Hollywood (With My Mom)
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 lifel…