EP2: You’re Cured, Good Luck

The Cancer Mavericks: A History of Survivorship

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 rights to civil rights—and shows how patient voice became political power. From the Black Panthers’ free clinics to the Young Lords’ takeover of Lincoln Hospital, we trace how survivors and community organizers shared DNA: no one was coming to save them, so they did it themselves.

You’ll also hear from people who were told they were lucky to be alive—as if that meant they shouldn’t ask for more. They did anyway.

This isn’t a nostalgia trip. It’s a reminder that survivorship is a human rights issue. And the fight didn’t start on Capitol Hill—it started with people in living rooms and church basements, demanding to be seen.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Survivorship wasn’t part of the plan in early cancer care—patients were expected to disappear after treatment
• The National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS) helped define survivorship as its own phase of care and advocacy
• Survivors began organizing using tools from other civil and disability rights movements
• Early advocates were often dismissed as ungrateful or demanding for wanting quality of life after treatment
• Fitzhugh Mullen and Katherine Logan pioneered a movement that laid the foundation for survivorship rights today
• Marginalized communities often led the charge in demanding equitable care—through grassroots activism, not institutional permission

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