Treating the Whole Patient With Cancer

It is important to address both the physical and emotional side of cancer.

During a cancer journey, it is vitally important to make sure the person, and not just their disease, is being cared for and treated. Mental and emotional well-being are crucial to a person’s overall health, and they deserve plenty of attention from patients and providers alike.

In this seasonal issue of CURE®, we speak with a patient with cancer who has had to make her way through diagnosis, surgery and treatment — all while communicating through translators and not feeling connected to her fellow patients. She has since started volunteering to assist other patients so they don’t experience that same sense of isolation.

“I didn’t know any other patients who were going through this,” Zulma Zoraida Limas Rodriguez, who speaks Spanish, told us through an interpreter as part of our story on non-English-speaking patients navigating cancer. “I didn’t know what was going to happen in terms of the chemotherapy. And so now I volunteer to help women with cancer talk about the experience, and I’m very happy to be able to help them.”

Also in this issue, we celebrate the honorees of CURE Media Group’s 2023 Extraordinary Healer® awards, including a nurse who returned to support patients at the center where she received treatment for a brain tumor as a child.

We also share one patient’s exploration of the complex emotions that come with receiving good news as someone with stage 4 cancer, look at the potential benefits of meditation practices for patients and speak with experts about the effect of depression on breast cancer treatment and survival.

“Sometimes for oncologists, their mindset is ‘provide the best care for the patient.’ But in the patient’s mind, the best care may not be just survival,” one study author tells us.

As always, we hope you find our stories inspirational and informative. Thank you for reading.

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