Samantha Eisenstein Watson is already an accomplished mAss Kicker! After kicking some Ewing’s Sarcoma mAss and then kicking some Leukemia mAss, she started the nonprofit The SAMFund to help supplement money for young adult survivors that was lost during treatment. They provide grants and scholarships to help pay for transitional issues such as education, living, job search and lingering medical expenses.  We were very lucky to catch a few minutes with this extremely busy woman!

Stephen Gudas is a one of the pioneers of Oncology Physical Therapy and a distinguished mAss Kicker.  He is currently a professor of anatomy at Virginia Commonwealth University and serves a secondary appointment in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center.  He is the namesake of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), Oncology Section: Steve Gudas Award For Outstanding Publication in Rehabilitation Oncology.  The award was established by the APTA Oncology section to recognize those persons whose written publication in the Section’s Journal, Rehabilitation Oncology, has resulted in advancement of the practice of oncology physical therapy. Dr. Gudas was so kind to answer a few questions for mAss Kickers Foundation about the role of physical rehabilitation in tumor/ cancer survivorship.  There are many similarities between physical therapy and tumor/cancer "thrivership".  The ultimate goal of both disciplines is the return of function of an individual into society through physical activity. Here are a few questions we asked Dr. Gudas.

Cancer epidemiological research helps uncover risk factors that are associated with different tumor types. Cancer outcomes research essentially includes research on quality of life and other psychosocial issues that come up for patients, cancer relapse and recurrence, and ultimately cancer survival. All of these kinds of research are important to improve the lives of cancer patients and their loved ones, and research is built upon patient participation.