Original caption: A scientist labels each protein in the radio nucleotide sequence of human genes to create a unique DNA profile. --- Image by © Dan McCoy - Rainbow/Science Faction/Corbis

PBS, KCPT explore ‘Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies’

March 31, 2015  |  Flatland  |  1 min read

Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies,” tells the comprehensive story of cancer, from its first description in an ancient Egyptian scroll to the gleaming laboratories of modern research institutions. The six-hour film interweaves a sweeping historical narrative with intimate stories about contemporary patients and an investigation into the latest scientific breakthroughs that may have brought us, at long last, within sight of lasting cures.

As part of our Cancer in KC series, a collaboration between KCPT and Flatland, we’ve been collecting your cancer stories and sharing them on a story board that reflects the range of experience in our metro with the emperor of all maladies — these are stories of perseverance, courage, fear, tragedy and hope.

Tune in for Ken Burns’ “Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies” tonight and April 1 at 8 p.m. on KCPT. Join KCPT’s Nick Haines and a panel of local experts on April 2 at 8 p.m. for an examination of cancer’s impact in the metro in a special titled “Cancer in KC.”

How has cancer impacted your life? Share your story.

Reading these stories is free, but telling them is not. Start your monthly gift now to support Flatland’s community-focused reporting.

Nick’s Picks | Messi, Jail, Buses, and More …

June 1, 2026

World Cup Team(s) Arrive It’s starting to feel real. The first World Cup team has landed in Kansas City. Defending champions Argentina touched down at KCI airport on Sunday and will begin practicing today at Sporting KC’s training facility in Wyandotte County. Much of the attention, of course, is focused on Lionel Messi. The soccer…

Related Stories

(L-R) Christina Hill and her grandmother, Lucy Wilkerson, pose for a photo with Christina’s kids, Hunter Hill Harris and Summer Hill Harris, at Lucy’s assisted living home in Grain Valley, Missouri. (Chase Castor | Flatland)

Caregiving Squeezes Households Between Young and Old 

Melissa Johnson knows her life is hardly unique. The Oak Grove, Missouri, woman cares for her infirm 72-year-old mother, who lives in her own home nearby.  She calls her mother daily. She brings dinner to her several times a week.  Johnson, who coordinates care with her aunt, a team of therapists, and a nurse, is…

Read More >
Rev. Tarris Rosell and sister Rosemary Flanigan

Feeding Tubes and Defibrillators

Let’s begin with two stories about the growing and important field of bioethics. The first is from Ryan Pferdehirt, the newly named Flanigan Chair in Bioethics at the Kansas City-based Center for Practical Bioethics. A hospital once asked him to consult on a bioethics case in which a son thought his desperately ill, hospitalized mother…

Read More >
People walk outside the Wyandotte County Public Health Department in Kansas City, Kansas. (Zane Irwin | Kansas News Service

After Tuberculosis Outbreak, Wyandotte County Parts Ways with Health Director

The director of the Wyandotte County Public Health Department is no longer with the agency, a spokesperson confirmed Tuesday. It comes after turmoil during the handling of the major tuberculosis outbreak, shown by emails obtained by the Kansas News Service. Elisha Caldwell had been head of the local health department while an outbreak of TB grew…

Read More >