Kate, Princess of Wales, Enters ‘Survivorship Care Period’ of Cancer Journey

Kate, the Princess of Wales, has announced that her cancer is in remission.

“It is a relief to now be in remission and I remain focused on recovery,” the princess, born Kate Middleton, 43, wrote on Instagram on Jan. 14. “As anyone who has experienced a cancer diagnosis will know, it takes time to adjust to a new normal.”

“What Kate is moving into is what we refer to commonly as the ‘survivorship care period,’” Dr. Frank J. Penedo of Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, Miami, Florida, explained in an interview with CURE®.

Kate announced in March 2024 that she had received a diagnosis of cancer, and said in September that she had finished chemotherapy treatments. The type of cancer has never been disclosed.

Penedo, Center Associate Director, Cancer Survivorship and Translational Behavioral Sciences; Director, Cancer Survivorship and Supportive Care; and Director, Biopsychosocial Mechanisms and Health Outcomes (BMHO) Lab, at Sylvester, spoke with CURE® about cancer survivorship and the importance of patients maintaining a long-term relationship with their care team. Penedo also serves as a Professor of Psychology and Medicine, at the University of Miami.

Transcript:

What Kate is moving into is what we refer to commonly as the survivorship care period. The [National Cancer Institute] defines a cancer survivor as somebody from the day of diagnosis through the balance of their life. Survivorship care is the care that a person is receiving in addition to their medical treatment post-completion of their primary treatments. In that survivorship care, it's really critical that the patient remains very involved with their care team for a variety of reasons.

Patients with cancer, even if they go into full or partial remission, have a greater chance of developing secondary cancers, for example. There's the issue of recurrence as well, which is critical. There has to be ongoing monitoring, whether it's through blood test, through imaging and so forth.

There's also the issue of the treatment-related side effects, and those side effects can be persistent, they can be chronic and they can be debilitating. It's really important for an individual who's been treated for cancer, even if they're in remission, to have that engagement with the care team, so the care team can monitor their levels of fatigue, pain, sleep difficulties and other lifestyle factors that are impacted by cancer.

Transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

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