Blogs

Although my daughter’s cancer scans currently show no evidence of disease, I am haunted by the fact that there is always a possibility it could return and uproot our lives yet again.

I think all of us feel abandoned somewhat when we lose an oncologist, and other cancer survivors have expressed these same emotions to me. But I have to realize that a piece of her will always be with me until the day I pass.

After reaching the point where anxiety was completely overwhelming my system before getting routine cancer scans, I decided to try a new approach suggested by my therapist to ease my worries.

Having been a caregiver to my late husband who died from cancer, I know first-hand the difficulties of caregiving — not to mention what it must be like for those trying to do it during a worldwide pandemic.

In the midst of my treatment for mantle cell lymphoma, I had to suffer through the feeling of wanting to crawl out of my own skin when my oncologist gave me a medication tapering plan that was not gradual enough.

Many young people slip cell phones inside their bras or pockets without a thought, but I worry if that is a safe practice and wonder if it could lead to health problems — such as cancer — in the future.

I laminated pictures of my friends and created an angel garden complete with a stone that reads “she flies with butterflies” to ensure that the friends I have lost to breast cancer aren’t forgotten.

Here is a poem for cancer caregivers, who sacrifice their time with compassion and devotion to do everything they can to help an individual with cancer.

As a caregiver to my daughter with breast cancer, I had to get creative in finding ways to help her keep food down after treatments made her nauseous.

I learned that a more prominent obstacle that we need to navigate is getting past the assumption that having a darker skin tone protects people from skin cancer.

As I sit here watching the Winter Olympics, I am immediately reminded of all the ways in which my grueling and stressful journey with cancer feels akin to the struggles of these Olympic athletes.

As I remember my wonderful service dog, Sita, and honor her life, I want her to know that she not only taught me how to live, but also how to die gracefully.

After my cancer diagnosis, I was thrust into a world where I rarely understood what was happening to me. An easy-to-understand “cancer vocabulary” would have surely eased my confusions.

A breast cancer survivor explains why she was inspired to donate her hair to make wigs for children with cancer 11 years after she lost her own hair during chemotherapy treatments.

A pancreatic cancer survivor explains why hearing the news that someone else has cancer makes it difficult for him to engage in the conversation, as it reminds him of his experience.

A mother of a breast cancer survivor who has lost loved ones to the disease explains why the phrase “living with cancer” doesn’t make sense, because there is no escape from it after diagnosis.

I was hesitant to glance at myself in the mirror in the year after my breast cancer surgery. But I soon learned that I was more than just my image, and I encourage others to do the same.

A woman whose husband died from cancer explains how she shattered a piece of pottery and glued it back together, to represent the cracks of her life left by her loss and how her husband remains connected to her.

A cancer survivor explains how he had to flip the script and become a caregiver for his wife when she was injured, and how it affected him.

A woman with metastatic breast cancer reflects on her pre-cancer life 20 years ago and how her perspective on the disease has shifted as she’s reached a level of acceptance and hope for the future.

A breast cancer survivor describes how preparing an outfit for her son’s upcoming wedding and seeing social media photos of other women sparked body envy within her for those who have not been affected by breast cancer surgeries.

A cancer survivor explains how he has learned to build resilience against the stress and terror around getting routine cancer scans done so that he can live his life more freely.

A colon cancer survivor expresses her frustration about the way the health care system is currently being managed as yet another wave of COVID-19 cases caused her to cancel an appointment she’d waited three months for.

A man with breast cancer explains how contracting COVID-19 led him to discovering the benefits of slowing down.

A breast cancer survivor discusses how researching cancer risks and environmental factors made her feel better equipped with information against the disease.

A patient with ovarian cancer describes how she enrolled in a clinical trial, and how it has given her a renewed sense of hope that she may find a successful treatment option.

A mother of a breast cancer survivor explains how she and her daughter creatively incorporated exercise into her daughter’s daily routine to improve her physical and mental health during treatment.

A survivor of multiple cancers explains how “visits” from deceased friends and loved ones made her feel safe before undergoing treatments.

A woman living with metastatic breast cancer describes how the death of a friend’s grandmother reminded her of her own grandmother’s passing and the lessons she learned about life from it that she applies in her cancer journey.

A patient with stage 4 ovarian cancer still receiving treatment six years after her first diagnosis explains that even though she’s exhausted from all her treatments and the related side effects, she knows many others don’t survive as long as she has.