People living with cancer help other people living with cancer. It happens every day, in ways large and small.
Sometimes helping becomes your life’s work. In this issue, we’re celebrating the Cancer Health 25: Change Makers—individuals whose experience with cancer has motivated them to find new ways to give back. Their personal stories and public service elevate the spirit.
Words of support can reverberate for years. Blues musician Curtis Salgado, who has survived both liver and lung cancer, will always remember the help that lifted him up when he was at a low ebb, which came from a woman who had survived colon cancer, a story he recounts in “Still Singing.”
Breast cancer survivor Megan-Claire Chase’s experience has made her a passionate advocate for better outreach to women about their fertility options before treatment (“Infertility Grief”). With the help of a fellow cancer survivor, Jeff Neurman (“A Leukemia Diary”) started the podcast Guys With Cancer to help other men with cancer overcome the social pressure to be stoic. Multiple myeloma survivor O. David Dye is grateful for blessings from doctors, nurses, church members, friends and family, but his most unexpected blessing was being given (“An Enduring Gift of Gardening”).
In these days of pandemic distress, we could all use a little more help. You can learn to protect yourself from the new coronavirus by reading up on the Basics, and find out how to navigate the ways it is changing cancer care (Care & Treatment). You can also get help through financial lifelines and stay-at-home wellness programs (News) as well as other tools to help cope with the coronavirus (Resources).
Don’t be afraid to give help—or accept it. Specialists are available wherever you are being treated to help you recover better and faster (“Cancer Rehabilitation”).
Please help us, too, by letting us know topics you’d like us to cover in the future (Reader Survey).
As you undergo your own cancer journey, remember that kind words and deeds, given or received, make a difference. Each of us has a chance to become a Change Maker.
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