Mike Burg never expected to spend two months in Nebraska. So, when the television producer found himself recovering from an autologous stem cell transplant, he did what he felt he had to do.

“How can I not go to a Nebraska football game?” Burg recalls. 

It’s been more than 20 years since Burg’s transplant, and his oncologist, Julie Vose, MD, has forgiven him for renting a car and sneaking away to Lincoln during his recovery period.

Burg was living in Charlotte, North Carolina, with no plans to ever visit Nebraska when he experienced swelling in his chest and severe itching under his arms. It took about three months for his doctors there to find the cause. He was in the middle of producing a summer concert special for the FOX network in Virginia Beach, Virginia, when he finally got an answer.

“I got the call from my doctor in Charlotte, and he said, ‘Get your tail home, we have to get you to an oncologist,’” Burg remembers. “And it was like that moment of ‘Hey, I’m doing a big TV show. Who cares? You’re about to deal with cancer.’ That combination was so big and frightening.”

It was 2001, and Burg went through chemo and radiation before his Hodgkin’s lymphoma recurred late in 2002. The recommendation? A stem cell transplant, using his own genetically engineered cells. Burg asked his doctor in North Carolina a personal question: If his doctor had a child who needed that treatment, where would he send them?

“He said, ‘You need to go to Dr. Julie Vose at the Nebraska Medical Center,’” says Burg.

Burg started doing his research.

“Obviously Dr. Vose was and still is the rock star for blood cancers,” he says. “The more research I did, the more confident I felt that Nebraska and Dr. Vose were the right choice for me.”

And with that, it became clear Burg was making the trip to Husker country, where his transplant successfully eliminated his cancer.

“It really was a phenomenal treatment. Up, down, left and right,” Burg says. “When I had emotional moments, they had a religious person come and help me through it. When I was being a pain, they told me I was being a pain.”

The impact on Burg was so substantial that it affected his career. He had spent years producing the Teen Choice and Kids Choice Awards but took on projects involving cancer after his recovery.  Dr. Vose connected Burg with the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

“We worked with them, the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, several breast cancer coalitions, and we put together this big show called Frosted Pink, where we had the biggest names in music at the time. And we had the biggest figure skaters in the world.” Burg says.

Frosted Pink, which aired on ABC in 2007, featured performers including Peggy Fleming, Scott Hamilton, and Kristi Yamaguchi, along with musicians Natalie Cole, Cyndi Lauper, Rascal Flatts, and several others. Burg followed up the next year with Frosted Pink with a Twist, which included both music and performances from several Olympic gymnasts. During that decade, Burg created and executive produced cancer programming that aired nationally across FOX, ABC, CBS, and ESPN-related platforms.

_{Kristi Yamaguchi and Scott Hamilton performing during the "Frosted Pink" event that Mike Burg helped put on with various cancer coalitions.}

“Over the years, Mike has used his forum as a TV producer to bring attention to the importance of cancer care and research,” says Dr. Vose. “He has helped to raise funds and to bring awareness to the cancer care community.”

Dr. Vose told Burg, who is now based in Los Angeles, that he could do his most recent checkup closer to home if he wanted. He opted instead to return to Omaha and the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center.

“I just feel safe there,” Burg says. “If there was somebody who was going through what I did, I would say, ‘Don’t go anywhere else, go to Nebraska.”

Dr. Vose appreciates Burg’s commitment to advocacy.

“We are fortunate that many of our patients are long-term survivors after their treatment for lymphoma and provide encouragement and support for current patients and families going through cancer care,” she says. “Long-term survivors also provide needed positive feedback for our entire cancer team. To see the patients and families not only survive but thrive is why we come to work every day!” 

As he reflects on his diagnosis 25 years ago, Burg remembers a lot more than just that Husker game. He thinks about how his journey and how his time in Nebraska changed him.

“It gave me a perspective, and it softened me,” he says. “It’s terrible to say that cancer made you a better person, but in a lot of ways it did.” 

The Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center is a partnership between Nebraska Medicine and the University of Nebraska Medical Center, bringing together patient care, research, and education under one roof. The center serves patients from across Nebraska, Iowa, and the broader Midwest while driving discoveries that help shape the future of cancer care.