No one envisions themselves getting married in a hospital. But that’s where Miranda Wickham and Enver Candan found themselves saying “I do” just weeks after Mr. Candan was admitted to MSK for acute promyelocytic leukemia treatment.

As The New York Times reported, after COVID-19 and the cancer diagnosis canceled two earlier plans to wed, the couple applied for a marriage license and expected to sign some forms at the hospital to make their union official. But the staff on Mr. Candan’s floor saw to it that it was an event to remember. They recruited Recovery Room Nurse and Universal Life Minister Sonja Schedler as the officiant, provided flowers picked from a staff member’s garden, blew bubbles as the couple walked down the hall, and turned a conference room into a festive reception space.

“We didn’t even know them personally, and all of these people had done all this. It was very emotional,” Ms. Wickham told The New York Times.

A recent survey of more than 1,000 American adults found that 35 percent skipped previously scheduled cancer screening appointments during the pandemic. A USA Today article on the survey quotes MSK’s Dr. Jeffrey Drebin, who says that pushing back screening has a domino effect, as it could also delay life-saving treatment.

In the New York Daily News, MSK’s Dr. Lisa DeAngelis emphasizes the importance of cancer care, and how early detection saves lives. She urges New Yorkers to schedule mammograms, colonoscopies, skin checks, and other screenings now, while New York City’s COVID numbers are low and stable.

A recent study about cancer patients with COVID-19 indicates that while chemotherapy and surgery do not worsen outcomes, immunotherapy may.

The study, published in Nature Medicine on June 24, followed 423 symptomatic COVID patients at MSK. Of these, 168 were hospitalized and 40 needed mechanical ventilation. Fifty-one patients, or 12 percent, died.

Severe illness was correlated with older age (65 and above), non-white race, heart disease, high blood pressure, kidney disease, and immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment (an immunotherapy). Metastatic cancer, cancer surgery, or chemotherapy within the previous 30 days did not correlate with increased rates of hospitalization or severe respiratory disease.

In an MSK blog post on the study, co-author Dr. Mini Kamboj stated that those in need of immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment should still receive it and should be especially diligent about reducing their risk of contracting COVID.

Read more:
Cancer Network
European Pharmaceutical Review
Fierce Pharma
Healio
MedPage Today