As part of a WTMJ Cares initiative spearheaded by 620 WTMJ radio host Jeff Wagner, Wagner is interviewing Froedtert & MCW cancer patients, doctors, nurses, researchers and others about their personal experiences and the latest on cancer treatment and research. Listen to the interviews below. 

WTMJ has also established a voicemail “Hope Hotline” (414-964-5715) where listeners can leave a brief message about their own experiences with cancer, such as how it affected their family, or to share a memory about a loved one. They can even give a shout-out to a favorite cancer doctor. WTMJ will share these messages on-air with listeners.

The WTMJ Cares initiative will also help raise awareness about early cancer detection. Froedtert & MCW clinical staff is offering a limited number of screening and assessment appointments for the WTMJ listening audience, including screening mammograms (usual costs/insurance apply), as well as free skin cancer screenings, prostate cancer screenings, high risk lung cancer assessments and smoking cessation sessions.

Screenings and assessments are available by appointment only, Aug. 16-18: call 414-777-7700 and select option 2. (Prostate cancer screening is available year-round, Mon.-Fri. by appointment.) Learn more about common cancer screenings.


Cancer Rates Growing
Credit 620 WTMJ

WTMJ Cares: Cancer Rates Growing, but so Are Advancements

Jeff Wagner's WTMJ "Week of Hope" broadcast outlines the need to be aware of how to battle cancer yourself, and what's in store for your family and friends as well. Listen to his interview with James Thomas, MD, PhD. Dr. Thomas, who served Jeff's wife in her battle with the disease, discusses the medical advances being made in the fight against cancer.


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Credit 620 WTMJ

WTMJ Cares: Messages From Our Hope Hotline

For the past three weeks, Jeff Wagner has been leading the WTMJ Cares effort to raise cancer awareness and encourage people to get early testing and screenings done. Listed to a culmination of calls from the Hope Hotline.


Maria Voermans
Credit 620 WTMJ

WTMJ Cares: A Story of Survival

As a mother of two, Maria Voermans lived a pretty normal, active lifestyle. But, in 2008 all that changed. She was diagnosed with a cancer so rare, her doctors referred to it as the “Maria Cancer.” Now, Maria is the friendly face behind the counter of the Small Stones Wellness Center, regularly assisting patients, helping them to look and feel better as they face their own life-altering illness or disease. Listen to her story.


Dr. Sarah Deitch
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WTMJ Cares: Keys to Breast Cancer Detection

Dr. Sarah Deitch understands how challenging and emotional a mammogram can be for a woman. In this interview, she explains the importance of screening mammography as well as her thought son the psychological impact of discovering cancer.


Dr. John Miura
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WTMJ Cares: There are Positive Outcomes

Dr. John Miura just completed the fifth year of his surgical residency at Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin. His colleagues say, “He truly exemplifies what a teaching hospital and academic medical center means -- teaching students and residents to become great doctors.” Like so many, he too has a personal perspective on cancer.


Mindy Bartczak
Credit 620 WTMJ

'Someone I Love Has Cancer'

When Mindy Bartczak was three years old, she lost her mom to cancer. Before her mom died, she wrote a powerful book called "Someone I Love Has Cancer" to teach her three kids her illness. When Mindy grew up, she attended nursing school to was performing clinicals at Froedtert Hospital when she encountered a patient with cancer. That patient explained how hard it was explain her disease in a way her grandkids could understand but how she discovered a book called "Someone I Love Has Cancer" - the very book Mindy's mom wrote.


Dr. Clark Gamblin
Credit 620 WTMJ

WTMJ Cares: Liver Cancer and Mental Attitude

T. Clark Gamblin, MD, MS, MBA, is an internationally known hepatobiliary surgeon whose clinical and research interests focus on primary and metastatic tumors of the liver. He shares a little bit about his approach and philosophy. "We've got to recognize that (people) are not alone," said Dr. Gamblin to WTMJ's Jeff Wagner.

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About the Author

Tom Tolan is the Together, We Are Strong cancer blog moderator. Tom was born in Washington, D.C., but grew up in Milwaukee, graduating from Marquette University High School, and later Amherst College in Massachusetts. He has a master’s degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley.