Three years ago, YES! Beat Liver Tumors Co-Founder Suzanne Liindley asked Wake Radiology Oncology Co-Medical Director, Andrew Kennedy, MD to team up and help host a medical conference that would bring cancer patients and medical professionals together in an informational setting. The inaugural Liver Symposium came to life in Chicago, May 14-16, 2009. It has become what is defined as a global collaboration of medical practitioners and cancer survivors,  Jim Belushi brought entertainment and memories to the inaugural gala, setting the stage for what was to be a powerful first meeting. 
 
Subsequent meetings have been held in Denver with Curtis Salgado and Scott Burton performing and sharing their stories of survival.  The third symposium was held in Dallas, April 8-10, 2010.  Curtis Salgado and Edie Eger, PhD began the unforgettable meeting with passionate stories of life.  Two days of information and education followed giving patients insight into new treatment options, possibilities in the pipeline, and resources and support to help pave the way.  At the close of the first day, Team Texas provided "Rides of a Lifetime" to all the attendees and both professionals and patients alike were empowered by a 165 mile per hour ride followed by an inspiring talk by Team Texas owner, Mike Starr. The meeting concluded with a CME forum education about treatment options surrounding both primary and metastatic liver tumors.

For the past decade, Kennedy, co-medical director for Wake Radiology Oncology Services in Cary, North Carolina, has been educating physicians about radiation treatments, including radioembolization, which places millions of minute microspheres of radiation directly into liver tumors to kill them from the inside out. Radioembolization provides a treatment option for those patients with liver tumors that cannot be removed with surgery, Kennedy says. "Chemotherapy may have stopped working, and they are not a good candidate for surgical resection."

Lindley and Kennedy met in 2007 when Kennedy asked Lindley to talk about her experience at a seminar for physicians. A short time later, Lindley formed YES (www.beatlivertumors.org) to educate patients with liver tumors about treatment options, resources, and living with liver tumors.

"Since we had common goals, we started working together," Kennedy says, giving credit to Lindley for suggesting they merge their meetings into a patient and physician symposium. He also credits her for helping publicize microspheres.  "It's an incredible conference. The patients and doctors together learning about new options often see treatment from a different perspective for the first time." says Suzanne Lindley. In addition to workshops that cover myriad aspects of coping with cancer, Lindley says the Liver Symposium allows patients to have one-on-one time with the physicians to talk about options for their own situation.

The next symposium is scheduled for November in Dallas, Texas.