Alan Dynner was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in 2016 at 76 years old. Treatment for the cancer would require a life-saving stem cell transplant, a procedure that most hospitals deemed too grueling for someone Dynner’s age. But thanks in large part to treatment options, Dynner qualified for a reduced-intensity transplant — and now, with effectively a new immune system, the former attorney and business executive is back to his regular routine.

Nancy Hale was given a 30 percent chance of surviving three years when she was diagnosed with lung cancer. But today, six years after her initial diagnosis and because of an immunotherapy clinical trial, Hale is in remission — and "blazing the trail" for other patients.