Just because you may have lost a limb recently, or are needing to make the tough decision to go through with amputation, doesn’t mean you can’t live a full life. There are better days ahead, I promise.
Meet Courtney
Two Years Post-Diagnosis: A Reflection
If I had to summarize, I think cancer has made me more human. I’m not a guru, or an influencer, or even really qualified on anything other than my own experience. This is not a place where I will reveal the secrets of “doing cancer well,” because I certainly don’t know what that looks like and don’t pretend I do. This blog is a place of reflection. Writing for you all has helped me process personally, and it’s helped me feel heard publically.
Meet Michelle
Five Tips for Facing a Rare Cancer
At age 22, I was diagnosed with a rare sarcoma called aggressive angiomyxoma – say that 10 times fast. When my parents and I got the news we asked the doctor, “Is it cancer?” He responded, “That is a complicated question.” He said he had never seen it before and I needed to get to New York or Boston – there were only 250 reported cases in the world, ever.
Just Diagnosed With Sarcoma: Answers from an Expert
Although sarcomas are rare diseases, it’s important for patients to know that they’re not alone. There are numerous local and national patient advocacy groups dedicated to increasing the awareness and knowledge of sarcomas among patients and their caregivers, and to providing support. You can find pages on Cancer.Net that list support organizations for soft-tissue sarcoma, Kaposi sarcoma, sarcoma of specific organs, bone cancer, and GIST.
5 Ways to Make Travel Easier When Your Child Has Cancer
Some of a family’s happiest memories can come from summer vacations. While traveling with children is never easy, if you are a parent of a child who has cancer, going away can be downright daunting. But a family vacation can be just what the doctor ordered for a pediatric cancer patient — a chance to be a kid and have fun.
“Parents worry that their children aren’t having a normal childhood when they have cancer,” says Margery Davis, a manager on the pediatric social work team at Memorial Sloan Kettering. “A vacation can provide normal family time.”
Ms. Davis shared these planning and travel tips for parents to ensure a happy and safe family vacation — for everybody.
The Bittersweet Balm of Father’s Day as a Bereaved Dad, and How You Can Help
A Father's Day Note for Those Who Have Lost Theirs
Every year around this time, I feel a barrage of tiny pangs of sadness, and then of regret. As my e-mail inbox fills with “Show Dad How Much You Care” subject lines, as restaurants and ballparks advertise their Father’s Day specials, I think, “I wish I hadn’t seen that reminder that he’s gone.” And then, in the next moment: “Daniel, don’t be self-centered, think of all the fathers and daughters and sons and mothers who are honoring love and family today.”
Living as a Soft Tissue Sarcoma Survivor
For some people with soft tissue sarcoma , treatment may remove or destroy the cancer. Completing treatment can be both stressful and exciting. You may be relieved to finish treatment, but find it hard not to worry about cancer coming back. This is a very common if you've had cancer.
For other people, the cancer may never go away completely. They might get regular treatments with chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or other therapies to try to help keep the cancer in check. Learning to live with cancer that does not go away can be difficult and very stressful.
Life after cancer means returning to some familiar things and also making some new choices.