Ashley Taylor

New York

Writer and Journalist at Freelance

Writer, journalist, essayist, et-ceter-ist. Words at @Hazlitt, @joylandfiction, @vol1brooklyn, @slc_lumina, @CatapultStory. Grad of Oberlin, NYU.

Articles

Pro Tips on PROs

2 weeks ago | cancertodaymag.org | Ashley Taylor

PATIENT-REPORTED OUTCOMES, or PROs, is a term that refers broadly to data reported by patients. Trials have found that, across cancer types, when people with advanced disease reported symptoms through a PRO-based system that alerted doctors to changes, they had better symptom management, fewer emergency room and hospital visits, longer survival and better quality of life than those who received usual care.
Avapritinib Reduces Symptom Burden in Indolent Systemic Mastocytosis Patients

2 months ago | patientpower.info | Ashley Taylor

If you are living with indolent systemic mastocytosis (ISM), you know how challenging the daily symptoms can be – from fatigue and brain fog to itching and digestive issues. However, there is encouraging news: The targeted therapy avapritinib (Ayvakit) is showing real-world success in helping patients like you feel better, regain control, and improve your quality of life (QoL). In 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved avapritinib as a treatment for ISM.
The Power of Comedy

2 months ago | cancertodaymag.org | Ashley Taylor

AT THE START of Quacks & Whacks: A Cancer Comedy, four singing puppets introduce themselves as cancer cells. They start in the lungs, hide from a biopsy needle, tell stories around a campfire, and then travel to the brain, their next campsite. These campy cancer cells, the audience learns, are inside the character of Sharon, a public school teacher who is diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer years after a lung biopsy comes up negative.
How Reporting Symptoms Reduces ER Visits and Improves QOL

Mar 6, 2025 | patientpower.info | Ashley Taylor |Liudmila Schafer

Jump ToPROs DataClinical TrialResultsCommentaryAdvocating for PRO SystemsBarriersAsking patients with metastatic cancer to monitor and report on their symptoms and well-being boosts quality of life and helps patients stay out of the emergency room (ER), according to a clinical trial called PRO-TECT. Surveying patients did not, however, improve overall survival, according to a report from the trial published February 7, 2025, in the journal Nature Medicine.
Health & Wellness: Genetics, environmental factors both play a role in developing skin cancer

Oct 22, 2024 | heraldextra.com | Ashley Taylor

By Ashley Taylor - Special to the Daily Herald | Oct 23, 2024 Stock photoThrough being vigilant with sun protection, regular screenings and healthy lifestyle choices, individuals with a genetic predisposition can reduce their risk of developing skin cancer.
Can ChatGPT Provide Reliable Cancer Info?

Sep 26, 2024 | patientpower.info | Ashley Taylor

Cancer patients, listen up: Do not depend on ChatGPT for medical advice. That’s the take-home message of a recent study in which doctors asked ChatGPT 20 questions about breast cancer, then analyzed the accuracy of the responses. About one in four of ChatGPT’s responses (24%) were inaccurate. The researchers asked ChatGPT to give references with each answer and 41% of the websites that ChatGPT cited were realistic-looking URLs for nonexistent webpages.
Peripheral Neuropathy: Exercise May Help, Study Finds

Aug 1, 2024 | patientpower.info | Ashley Taylor

Though chemotherapy is a powerful tool against cancer, it can cause serious and painful side effects, including a type of nerve damage called chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). If you are undergoing chemotherapy, before you develop CIPN, you may want to consider doing physical activities focusing on nerve-muscle communication – namely sensorimotor training or whole-body vibration training.
A Life Rearranged

Jun 21, 2024 | cancertodaymag.org | Ashley Taylor

IN 1997, AT AGE 43, New York City opera singer Kathleen Watt had become a regular performer with the Metropolitan Opera. She and the woman she loved were celebrating nearly two years of their registered domestic partnership, the closest thing to marriage for same-sex couples at the time. Then she found a bump on her right upper gumline that turned out to be the tip of a fast-growing osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer.
The Time Factor | Cancer Today

Jun 21, 2024 | cancertodaymag.org | Ashley Taylor

CANCER, particularly when it is considered incurable, immediately imposes time pressure: How much longer will I live? While cancer treatments can extend survival, they can quickly become the center of a person’s day. In a 2022 column published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Arjun Gupta and his colleagues coined a term for this concept: time toxicity.
ASCO 2024: “We Should Be Using T-DXd Earlier”

Jun 10, 2024 | patientpower.info | Ashley Taylor

At the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, held May 31-June 4 in Chicago, researchers presented results of trials testing treatments for advanced and metastatic breast cancer as well as one confirming a less toxic chemo regimen for Black women with early-stage disease.