Cancer

Fire stations all around Florida are getting kits to help firefighters lessen their exposure to cancer-causing toxins they encounter during fires.

An experimental vaccine could be on the market for ovarian-cancer patients as soon as 2022, according to the Jacksonville-based company that makes it.

The River City’s Mayo Clinic is participating in the trials.

Updated Feb. 20, 12:34 p.m.

University of Florida Health Proton Therapy Institute treated nearly 200 kids with cancer last year. Now doctors there are hoping a new app will help young patients prepare before they arrive for treatment.

The Proton U App was developed by UF Health child life specialist Kim Todd. It’s an interactive storybook that introduces kids to the hospital environment to make treatment less intimidating.

State Attorney and Public Defender Races

A new UNF poll of likely voters in Florida’s Fourth Judicial Circuit shows the potential for turnover in the State Attorney and Public Defender offices.

Both Angela Corey and Matt Shirk are trailing their respective challengers in those races, Melissa Nelson and Charles Cofer.

Mike Binder, director of UNF's Public Opinion Research Laboratory, joins us to discuss the results of the survey.

Nikolai Vitti

Duval County Public Schools Superintendent Nikolai Vitti joins us to discuss the most pressing issues facing Jacksonville schools, including the ongoing debates over transgender bathrooms, school boundaries, and more.

A Jacksonville girl needs a bone marrow transplant to give her a fighting chance against cancer, her mom said.

But the hardest part isn’t the transplant procedure, it’s finding a donor.

Equal Pay

April 12 is the day set aside as Equal Pay Day.

It’s the day that marks how far into the year women on average have to work to catch up with men's earnings from the previous year.

Despite years of calls for change, the gender pay gap remains in place in the American workplace.

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) is a national leader in the quest for equal pay for equal work.

We speak with Lisa Maatz, vice president of government relations for AAUW, about their new researching concerning the gender pay gap.

It’s predicted 10,000 Floridians will be diagnosed with colon cancer this year. But the deadly disease is still considered very preventable.

Jacksonville’s Mayo Clinic Dr. Ken DeVault chairs the internal medicine department. He says he recently had to tell a patient: It’s colon cancer.

“I didn’t tell them this—I didn’t want them to feel bad—but I felt like, if they’d have just come eight years sooner, they wouldn’t have been dealing with it,” he says.

A program at St. Vincent’s hospital is helping families with young kids learn to cope with cancer. The support group is called Kids Together Against Cancer.    

At any given time, between four and eight North Florida families are attending the meetings at St. Vincent’s. Kids Together Against Cancer welcomes all families dealing with cancer, regardless of where parents are receiving treatment.

Social worker and coordinator Jenny Lehman says many parents have the same question: “How much information do I tell my children and does that change based on their age?”

As the third annual One Spark crowdfunding festival kicks off in downtown Jacksonville, we look at the economic and cultural impact the event has had so far with WJCT business analyst John Burr.

Dr. Scot Ackerman of Jacksonville's Ackerman Cancer Center joins us to discuss proton therapy, a precise, cutting-edge form of radiation used to treat cancer.

And we get a preview of State Aurora's production of "The Color Purple" from cast members Felecia Ewing, Tyrone Lennen and Jennie Baker.