Everybody has bad days, but nobody tells you how to handle them. The times where you feel hopeless, anxious or paranoid. When you feel angry that cancer will always be a part of your life, scared that it may come back or frustrated that side effects from treatment might never go away.
Cancer Support
There’s a treat in store for Roswell Park inpatients! During the admission process, they now receive a comfort kit to make their stay more pleasant. Patients visiting the Breast and Gynecology clinics are also invited to pick up kits in the Breast and GYN Resource Center, located on the first floor of the Scott Bieler Clinical Sciences Center.
"It doesn't matter your age; kindness comes from donors of all kinds. The fact that these children are so selfless at only five or six years old is, to me, a source of hope for the future."
I hope you will take a moment to write down what you want your 2017 to be. And whether you are in the middle of treatment, completing treatment, or newly diagnosed, trust that you will get to a place where you can say, “I'm happy, and I am alive.”
With only a few days until Christmas, I’m doing everything I can to channel that strength and use it to begin 2017 on a grateful and optimistic note.
If someone you know is battling cancer, send them a box of love! Fill the care package with thoughtful items that will be useful during treatment. Watch the video for tips!
Whether you’re a patient or the friend or loved one of a patient, you may want something to do while you’re waiting around for test results, clinic appointments, and procedures. Roswell Park offers several ways to help you pass the time in the waiting area — and they’re all free!
In the United States, hair and beauty are multibillion-dollar industries, with the average woman spending about $50,000 on her hair over a lifetime. Clearly, good hair days are important and for most women, play a strong role in personal identity, self-confidence and the image presented to the world. So when patients begin treatment for cancer, the concern over hair loss sits front and center on the list of side effects that are likely to become an important part of their experience.
There are certain times of year when my cancer story makes me feel incredibly isolated. There’s the time surrounding April 14, the day I was diagnosed, July 29, the day I was deemed “in remission” and, the one I’ve experienced most recently, the month of October.
Perched on a steel pontoon in the Niagara River, a snowy owl gazes directly at the viewer, curious but cautious, during a brief stopover on a winter flight. Seen through the lens of Buffalo photographer Laird Robertson, the serene and magical moment is captured in a photo now on display in the Scott Bieler Clinical Sciences Center at Roswell Park.
After a recent appointment at Roswell Park, I was suddenly awash with emotion, almost on the verge of tears. My brain was flooded with the enormity of my entire experience, starting of course with the brutal reality that I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 36.
For every amazing, caring friend, there’s another who has drifted away. The one who wholeheartedly promised, “if you need anything, I’m here,” and wasn’t. There are just some friends, for whatever reason, who won’t be there for you, even if you really want them or need them in your corner.