Inspiring Resilience

One thing cancer survivors seem to have in common is a capacity for resilience and an ability to take the challenges a cancer diagnosis brings and channel them into something positive. This issue of Heal magazine brings those qualities into sharp relief with truly inspiring stories of individuals who used their experience of having cancer to forge a new beginning.

This affirmation is beautifully captured in the photographs of Bill Aron, who has shared with Heal a few of the many photos and vignettes from his new book, “New Beginnings: The Triumphs of 120 Cancer Survivors.” Aron, himself a survivor, understands how “cancer makes us realize that each day is meant to be appreciated,” and showcases through his moving photographs and testimonials the lessons we all can learn from the survivor’s journey toward healing.

Survivors face challenges aplenty, and one of our goals with Heal is to offer practical suggestions to help make your lives better. Getting needed sleep represents a complex challenge for many survivors, and thankfully, as Kathy LaTour writes in this issue’s cover story, sleep disorders are finally getting the attention they deserve, as she shares some of the research and resources out there available to help.

We all know that some cancer treatments can be very hard on the heart, and in this issue, a two-time cancer survivor shares her powerful story of how therapy she received for Hodgkin lymphoma two decades earlier resulted in damage to her heart and a second cancer diagnosis. Her cautionary tale underscores the importance of self-advocacy and raising awareness about potential late effects of treatment among clinicians, as the number of cancer survivors, thankfully, continues to rise.

And, once again, we feature fresh insights from our cadre of CURE contributors — patients and survivors themselves — who generously share some of the lessons they have learned navigating cancer and its aftermath to help others.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to us with suggestions for what you’d like to learn more about in the pages of Heal and on our website, CureToday.com.

Thank you for reading.