Six years after treatment for kidney cancer, Robert Kayser reflects on the good fortune that led to his surprise diagnosis, successful surgery, and a healthy retirement filled with bicycling, artisan bread baking and traveling in coastal Alabama.
When Ian Cherico was rushed to the hospital, he was in a fight for his life. “Minutes later and I could have died,” he says. Ian was only 17 years old at the time, and his body was shutting down. It all started with a headache he couldn’t shake.
One year ago, my husband, Roman, was hospitalized at Roswell Park in Buffalo, NY for a stem cell transplant. As Canadians, when we first learned of the opportunity to have BMT at Roswell Park, we had no idea of what lay ahead.
Take it from George Grace: if you’ve smoked your entire life, you listen closely to news about innovative cancer treatments. Grace listened, even before a spot on his lung led to a diagnosis of early-stage non-small cell lung cancer.
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.
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.”
As a cancer survivor of 24 years, I’ve been through a significant amount of ups and downs when it comes to my health. In this environment, one learns to become fluid and quickly adapt. I’ve had the opportunity to revisit and evaluate several facets of my life—priorities, family, careers and other relationships. Twenty-four years post-diagnosis, I am still constantly making those assessments and adjustments.
2016 introduced us to a group of special survivors, including Mary Best, who shared tips for other young adults on handling social situations involving alcohol. KayEllen Gebhart’s first-hand advice resonated with ovarian cancer survivors, we shared tips on coping with "scanxiety," and you told us what not to say to a cancer patient.