Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died after five bouts with cancer.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Dies From Cancer

The addition of immunotherapy to radiotherapy increased the overall survival of patients with cancer who developed brain metastases, according to new research.

Adding Immunotherapy to Radiotherapy Increases Survival in Patients with Brain Metastases

CURE® compiled a roundup of five recent reports patients with skin cancer may have missed.

5 Reports on Skin Cancer Patients May Have Missed

Dr. Howard A. “Skip” Burris, III explains new advances in the Triple Negative Breast Cancer field.

An Expert Explains the Three Major Treatment Modalities in Triple Negative Breast Cancer

Save the date! We invite you to join CURE for our next monthly #CureConnect Tweet Chat on Thursday, September 24, at 1 p.m. EST, when we plan on discussing living with cancer, from mental health through treatment, to cancer-related pain and beyond.

Join Our Next #CureConnect Tweet Chat About Living with Cancer

Articles

Colon cancer and rectal cancer are diseases that younger generations need to take seriously. 

Colon and Rectal Cancer Can Be a Reality For Gen-X, Millennials, and Gen-Z

Cancer makes your mind wander in many strange directions. If ever you wanted to know what an emotional rollercoaster really felt like, get on the cancer coaster and go for a ride.

The Mind of Cancer

Susan M. O’Brien, M.D., one of the nation’s foremost leukemia experts, discusses the future of frontline therapies and upcoming clinical trials associated with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.



CURE® Speaking Out Video Series Supports Blood Cancer Awareness Month and World Lymphoma Awareness Day

Patients, caregivers, and families to gain virtual access to the latest topics in gastric cancer research from oncology experts.

Debbie's Dream Foundation Announces the Gastroesophageal Cancer Educational Virtual Symposium in Partnership with Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center

Save the date! We invite you to join CURE for our next monthly #CureConnect Tweet Chat on Thursday, September 24, at 1 p.m. EST, when we plan on discussing living with cancer, from mental health through treatment, to cancer-related pain and beyond.



Each month, we host a #CUREConnect Tweet Chat to bring together patients with cancer, survivors, advocates, caregivers & treatment providers to promote collaboration within the community. The chats take place on Twitter on the last Thursday of every month, at 1 p.m. EST.

During the chat, we'll be asking the following questions:

Anxiety and depression are common challenges patients face while living with cancer. Have you experienced these issues? And if so, how do you cope with them?

During treatment, anxiety and pain can often become problematic for patients with cancer. How do you cope with cancer- or treatment-related pain?

Clinical trials offer a chance to try experimental treatments and move the state of science forward. What do you wish you knew more about clinical trials?

Good nutrition can help patients with cancer manage treatment-related side effects and even reduce the risk of recurrence – but it can be difficult to maintain a healthy diet. What are some tips or tricks you have to keep your appetite healthy while living with cancer?

Cancer can throw a person’s life into turmoil and take the focus off a patient’s career for a time. If you worked through treatment, how did you manage to balance life between cancer and your career?

Never participated in a Tweet Chat before? It’s simple!

Log in to your Twitter account on the date and time of the chat and search for “#CureConnect” to find the conversation. You can also search for CURE Magazine and see the questions on our feed.

Make sure you’re filtering your search results by “Latest” to see questions – and other participants’ answers! – in real time.

Every few minutes, we’ll Tweet questions that we invite you to respond to using #CureConnect. You can also join the discussion by watching the hashtag to see other responses. See a response you want to add to? Reply with #CureConnect!

Don’t forget to add #CureConnect to each response you share so others can see your tweets and chat with you too!

 accounts, CURE® asks its readers to share their thoughts with the #CureConnect discussion question. This past week, we asked: “Have you experienced cognitive dysfunction as a result of cancer treatment? How do you deal with it?”

“I can’t sit and read for long anymore, so I often use audiobooks.” – S.T.

“It's been 13 years since my treatment and I still have short-term memory issues as well as focus issues. My brain seems to jump around when I'm trying to read or focus on a task. It's gotten better, but I use lists and work around my limitations.” – G.A.

“I have difficulty reading and comprehending anything lengthy, like a book. I generally can't remember what I've read when I pick up the book again. It's very frustrating because I've always been a reader and was a literature major in college. It's impossible to separate what is due to treatment and what is due to aging.” – R.G.

“I am three years out and I struggle with my speech and remembering things. It is really bad. I am doing crossword puzzles now, which helps some.” – M.D.

“Brain fog since 2003. I can forget what I was doing if I get distracted. I also say complete sentences backwards if I get excited.” – R.P-P.

“I am four years out from last chemo — I lose names and sometimes can’t find the right word. I also will ‘know something’ but don’t know how I know it: whether I read it, saw it on the news, someone told me, etc. This could be from chemo, could be from aging, or a combo of both.” – K.M.

“Neurocognitive deficits led to my early retirement from medicine 15 years after a second round of head and neck radiation. I was afraid I’d forget something important and it was hard to keep up with the pace and literature. Now I listen to audiobooks more often than reading and I make lists of things I need to do or buy. I always set a timer when I cook after several minor mishaps. I try to do one thing at a time as I may forget something important. I don’t load the day with activities because it will take a while to recover from the resultant fatigue. Retirement made everything a little better.” – S.T.

“I write everything down and that helps. I have a lot of trouble with word finding which can be frustrating. When I'm tired or stressed it's worse. I'm an oncology nurse, so unfortunately tired and stressed is kind of my normal. So, I deal with it the best I can. It's been seven years and it seems like it's getting worse as I age, not improving as I get further out from treatment.” – M.S.

On social media, CURE® recently asked its readers to share how they deal with the cognitive dysfunction that can come about from cancer treatment.

How Do You Deal With Cognitive Dysfunction as a Result of Cancer Treatment?

Khevin Barnes is a Male Breast Cancer survivor, magician and speaker. He is currently writing, composing and producing a comedy stage musical about Male Breast Cancer Awareness. He travels wherever he is invited to speak to (and do a little magic for) men and women about breast cancer. www.BreastCancerSpeaker.com www.MaleBreastCancerSurvivor.com

I understand how guy’s with breast cancer can feel overlooked or ignored. After all, I’m one of them.Ours can be a lonely disease. We’ve been making our case publicly for a long time now, and I’m pleased to see the progress that’s been made, but there is a challenging road ahead for those of us with this obscure disorder.

Where men are concerned, it may be easy to get lost in the sea of pink that envelops breast cancer; to feel disregarded and snubbed by the medical community, the pharmaceutical industry and even our friends and family members who see the cancer in male breasts as some sort of aberration of a much too common and pervasive illness.

None of this is our fault of course. Or is it? In sheer numbers and statistics, we are a miniscule part of the cancer club; representing a mere 1% of all breast cancer cases. But when all is said and done, the biggest problem as I see it is not that we’re overlooked or ignored; we are simply undiscovered. At the same time, we are the one’s endowed with the capacity to find that bump in the road, or in this case, the bump in our breast that stops us cold on the highway of life.

Most people don’t connect men with breast cancer. And why would they? Far too few health care professionals suggest that the gentlemen among us probe our chests for anything amiss, and society has created a decidedly feminine connection to human breasts. We can’t change that. But the problem doesn’t lie with women or doctors or even society. The problem is men. The problem is us.

Imagine a man, somewhere on your list of acquaintances, spending the day laying shingles on the construction site; hopping on the Harley and speeding home; blowing through a few beers and stepping into the shower to wash off the dust and grease and — check his pecks. This, by the way, is the very stereotype that prevents early detection and kills men. This is the kind of thinking that takes perfectly healthy men and renders them invisible.

This is the world of the “undiscovered.”

The point is, you are no less masculine because you have breasts and no less susceptible to the ravages of breast cancer than your female friends. Like so many men I know who are advocates for early detection in male breast cancer, I too am determined to bring our group into plain view; to not only make us visible where a breast is concerned but to make us indivisible where our quest is concerned.

Voices bring awareness and that in turn brings us out of the shadows and puts us on the grid. This may take some time, but if you are diagnosed with cancer, time doesn’t seem to take up so much space anymore. The time is now. The minute we are survivors of cancer of any kind and at any stage, we become estranged from what might seem like the regular world. Life is no longer reliable, and our future is no longer secure. Early detection can change that.

Thirty seconds in the shower. That’s the time it takes to put on your shoes or pet your cat. That’s about how long it took to read the last two paragraphs in this story. And that may be all the time you need to save your life.

The greatest obstacle facing men with breast cancer may be … ourselves.

The Bad Boys of Breast Cancer

Vomiting is a common side effect of many cancer treatments and can lead to dental decay. However, there are steps that patients can take after throwing up to protect their teeth, explained Patricia Mulvaney-Roth, a nurse and lead clinical educator at Molloy College.

“Dental erosion is a complex clinical condition that is not well-known by lay people or by non-dental health professionals,” Mulvaney-Roth said, explaining that erosion occurs when dental hard tissue erodes.

Erosion can happen as a result of drinking excess soft drinks or alcohol, or by the mixing of hydrochloric acid from gastric juices formed by the stomach lining – what happens when a person vomits.

Mulvaney-Roth and her team recently reviewed 14 studies regarding vomiting-related dental erosion and presented their findings at the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) Bridge virtual conference. Notably, four studies outlined the benefit of rinsing with water or saltwater after a vomiting episode and five studies said that commercial mouthwashes containing fluoride can help.

Additionally, many patients may want to brush their teeth soon after throwing up. However, that, too can lead to dental erosion because teeth are softest for the hour after vomiting.

“[There are] some important things to look at here. A patient’s own oral hygiene self-care can mistakenly worsen dental erosion, tooth sensitivity and tooth breakage, because they’re running to brush their teeth after a vomiting episode,” Mulvaney-Roth said.

“If dental erosion is left unchecked, certain cancer patients who survived the cancer illness phase can eventually suffer long-term mandibular and maxillary problems. Once lost, enamel cannot be replaced.”

Mulvaney-Roth emphasized that both patients and health care providers need to be better educated on dental health, especially for patients with cancer who may be prone to vomiting as a result of their cancer treatment.

“Patient education should include [discussing] rinsing your mouth with plain water, a salt mixture, or mouthwash with fluoride after vomiting to reduce dental erosion. Using a tongue cleaner is recommended after the vomiting to remove the acid from the tongue.”

An oncology nurse outlines ways that patients can prevent dental erosion after a vomiting episode. 

Think Before You Brush: Dental Hygiene After Vomiting

You have a new cancer diagnosis that stops you in your tracks. You are sick, afraid, vulnerable and in pain when you come to the cancer center at Temple University Hospital. The first advocate you will meet on your cancer journey is your nurse navigator, Maria Rodriguez, B.S.N., RN. Fortunately, she has been expecting you and researching your case. Maria is an integral part of the plan, and she is ready to help you every step of the way to obtain care.

Nurse navigators like Maria break through barriers to obtaining care. What makes Maria different is that she looks beyond your diagnosis and treats you like a human being. Great nurses heal the sick, soothe the spirit and treat illness. Maria also honors what makes you an individual. The cancer center at Temple University Hospital in North Philadelphia is in an area rich in diversity. We have a large population of Hispanic patients. Prior to Maria’s arrival, these patients fell through the cracks.

They needed services, but they did not have an advocate to make sure they received that care. Because she is Hispanic, Maria understands the fears and myths associated with cancer in this community and is able to explain them to clinicians and physicians. She provides a clear picture of what’s being communicated to both the patient and the medical providers, generating trust.

Although Maria is fluent in Spanish, she took the steps beyond her job requirement to become a dual-role medical interpreter to make sure she used and translated the correct words and messages to our Spanish-speaking patients, who come from various countries. She handles her role with integrity, ensuring that bad news is delivered with compassion and sensitivity. As a testament to how well she is loved, numerous patient photos and mementos, with many notes of appreciation and thanks, adorn her office.

Maria also made our cancer center’s yearly holiday-meal food drive for patients more inclusive. Foods like boxed stuffing, gravy and cranberry sauce are common on American holiday tables. However, Maria made sure that the drive included culturally specific culinary items for the traditional Hispanic holiday feast, such as “sofrito,” rice, certain seasonings and “tembleque,” a traditional dessert, to be distributed to families in need. The center’s patients and families greatly appreciated these familiar and welcoming items.

Maria also spearheaded the Feliz Navidad celebration. This program featured the Christmas traditions of Spanish-speaking countries, including nostalgic songs and cuisine cooked by the patients and staff. Meaningful gifts including hats, scarves and Christmas ornaments were distributed. The patients were very thankful, appreciative and overjoyed that the cancer center’s staff took the time to make them happy. This event allowed them to forget about the seriousness of their illness for a moment. Overheard during the joyous and festive celebration was a nursing col- league’s remark that “Maria is the best thing that ever happened to our patients.” I agree, because she has the ability to reach out and meet patients where they are mentally and emotionally. She shines above others because of her warm hospitality and inviting nature.

Although caring takes its toll on Maria, she never shows that to her patients. She always finds the time to make people laugh. She has a joie de vivre that helps patients focus on healing, and her infectious laughter is a balm in stressful situations. Maria can make you laugh when you want to cry.

As an experienced triage nurse, Maria can quickly decipher when patients require emergency care necessitating a lifesaving rapid response. Many times, patients come to the cancer center with advanced stages of disease and visible signs of progression. An example of her compassion and nursing skills was seen when a patient with head and neck cancer and a tracheostomy was waiting for an appointment with his physician. Maria quickly identified the patient’s swollen lips and protruding tongue and knew that angioedema was likely the cause of his presentation. Quick action was taken with the rapid response team to address his symptoms. If it were not for Maria’s intervention, his airway would likely have collapsed, putting his life at risk.

Many times, patients require resources to help them during treatments, like skin cream to tolerate the effects of the chemotherapy agent Erbitux (cetuximab) or a hat on a cold winter day after they have lost their hair due to treatments. Patients come to Maria, and she makes sure the resources go where they are needed the most.

® Extraordinary Healer® Award because she truly exemplifies what it means to be a compassionate and skilled nurse. Her competence across all cultures and her desire to go the extra mile for all our patients demonstrate her selflessness. She gives of herself without thought of a reward or accolades. Our patients love her, and the cancer center would not be as successful without her kindness, thoughtfulness and compassion. She serves as a role model for others because of her selflessness, and, as a result, our patients are well served.

You have a new cancer diagnosis that stops you in your tracks. You are sick, afraid, vulnerable and in pain when you come to the cancer center at Temple University Hospital. The first advocate you will meet on your cancer journey is your nurse navigator

The Best Thing That Ever Happened, Advocating For the Patient

The call that raised the hair on my arms, which is the one I least expected, came at 7:30 a.m. during a sales meeting.

It was during the spring in 2007. At the time, I sold real estate for the Hilton Corporation. I remember the morning vividly. That Tuesday, the sunrise shot pinks and purples across the sky as I drove the 15 miles to work.

I wasn’t in my chair for more than a few moments when my phone rang. Caller ID showed it was Karen, which the sister next to me in age. Karen is the organizer, the accountant, the person who delivers all the news, good or bad, to our large family. I wondered why she was calling me. “This can’t be good,” I can remember thinking. I stepped out of the conference room to take the call.

Karen’s voice was thick and deep. “Pamela, start praying for Claire right now. She’s in the ER and not doing well.”

Before my sister called me, I knew something was happening with my eight-year-old niece, Claire, because my brother, Dan, had called questioning me about my eye disease.

I was born with Brown syndrome, which is a rare condition that affects the muscles in my head. I only see with one eye at a time. Dan mentioned during that call that one of Claire’s eyes would not focus. However, I was born with my disease, and Claire’s was recent. Dan and his wife, Colleen, had taken Claire to an ophthalmologist, but the doctor had no explanation for her condition.

Then shortly after that, Claire started falling. She was such a clown though, everyone thought her behavior was her being a silly eight-year-old, and that her stumbles and spills meant she was kidding around. Dan and Colleen called her an “oops” child. They had no intention of having a fourth child but when Claire entered the world, with her brilliant blue eyes and sunny disposition, she had everyone eating out of the palm of her hand.

That morning, as I stood in the cold hallway at work in Orlando, listening to Karen who lived in Boynton Beach, Claire was having seizures in a hospital somewhere in Dallas.

“Pamela, she may not make it out. They are removing fluid from her brain now,” Karen said. Her words sounding far away and echoey.

A few days later, Claire was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, a highly aggressive brain tumor, also known as DIPG. If there is such a thing as worst of the worst cancer, this is it. DIPG grows at the base of the brain stem, which controls many of the body’s vital functions such as breathing, blood pressure, and heart rate. This type of cancer is inoperable because of its location in the brain. Treatment is not for a cure but to give the patient more time. Claire was given six months to live.

Claire was taken to every doctor and clinical trial possible.

But ultimately, her little body could not rid itself of the tumor that raged in her. She went to heaven on December 6, 2009. No parent should ever have to endure losing a child to cancer, or any way. I couldn’t imagine if it were my son, James. I struggled with how to console Dan and Colleen, so I did what my mom taught me, and I prayed.

Her favorite term, “we’ll find a way to make it better” was not for teenage breakups anymore. Life was happening. This time it was for those left devastatingly heartbroken.

Thank you for reading. My memoir, “Midlife Cancer Crisis,” will be published on October 15, 2020. Visit my website www.cancerfreeliving.life for more information.

What it Was Like to Lose My Niece to Cancer

Vicki Dodson, B.S.N., RN, OCN, has been serving oncology patients for over 35 years. I first met Vicki when I started working on the oncology inpatient unit at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, Washington. She was on the day shift and I was on evenings.

I kept hearing about this person known as the “nurse goddess,” and it didn’t take me long to figure out that that was Vicki’s alter ego. As she introduced herself to her patients, sometimes that was the icebreaker she used, along with a huge smile and an infectious laugh that could be heard throughout the unit. Coming in for a first chemotherapy treatment or receiving a diagnosis of cancer can be a stressful time for patients, but Vicki made them feel at ease with her care and compassion. To this day, she keeps in touch with some of her patients with whom she had a special bond.

A few years ago, Vicki decided to become an oncology nurse navigator. In this role, she is able to take more time to listen to patients verbalize their fears, frustrations and concerns. She helps them figure out the confusing health care system and educates them on the treatments, routines and chemotherapy drugs they will be receiving. She also provides her card in case they ever have questions or need anything. Sometimes we take for granted that this may just be part of the job, but Vicki gives so much of her time and self to her patients, not because she has to, but because that’s who she is. She is filled with caring and compassion for these patients.

We treated a young woman in her early 20s whose cancer had relapsed. The doctors all said that even with the chemotherapy and radiation, this patient had just weeks to live. She was engaged to be married, but it didn’t look like she would make it to the intended date. Vicki, knowing how important it was to the young woman, planned the wedding and made it happen in the hospital. I later found out she has planned a few other weddings, too. I also know that Vicki has taken home and washed the clothing of a wife who didn’t want to leave her husband’s bedside.

In the navigator role, Vicki meets with many patients, some of whom don’t speak English. She once came into work two hours before her shift started to meet with a non-English-speaking patient to ensure that he could successfully navigate the hospital and make it to his procedure on time.

Recently, I called on Vicki for help on a couple of occasions. Once it was for a gentleman whose mother had a new cancer diagnosis but lived in a different state. He wasn’t able to be with her because his wife was pregnant and expected to give birth soon, but he wanted some information about the diagnosis. I tried to find some brochures, but we didn’t have any, and I couldn’t find the exact information I wanted, so I called Vicki to see if she could point me in the right direction. Instead of just giving me a message to relay, she came right up and met with this man, who was clearly upset, with tears in eyes. After just a few minutes, she was able to give him the information he needed and the reassurance that his mom was going to be OK: Treatment might be difficult, but she would probably do just fine. As he left, you could see that a little weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

The second occasion when I needed Vicki’s help was around Christmas. We had a very sick stem cell transplant patient who needed extra care, and there was talk of sending him to the intensive care unit. In the process of getting him there and having the doctors see him, his wife was becoming overwhelmed. Vicki was at the desk, and I asked if she had a minute. She said she was pretty busy but asked what was up.

I explained, saying the wife might need a little more support as we worked with her husband. She said nothing but got up and followed me, knowing it was important for that family to have support. Her calm manner with the wife was invaluable. She explained what we were going to do while we took time with the patient. In the end, the wife felt more confident about the care her husband was receiving, and the patient was calmer, too.

Vicki’s passion doesn’t end at work. Recently she found out that a cancer support group had lost its facilitator. The patients showed up but found the doors locked and the room empty. The thinking was that the meeting would have to be canceled until a replacement could be found, but Vicki spoke up and said, “Our patients deserve better.” She volunteered to run the support group until a permanent solution could be found. That meant committing to five meetings a month, which she did without hesitation.

Vicki also belongs to many outside organizations. She’s a board member with Cancer Can’t, a local foundation; a Boy Scout leader; and a member of the Oncology Nursing Society and another local foundation, Because There Is Hope. Once, for a community project, Vicki had her group of Scouts clean the yard of a man who had cancer. He usually kept a very neat yard, but because of his diagnosis and treatment, he wasn’t able to do so at that time. He was feeling some stress because a windstorm had littered his yard with branches and leaves. By providing help, Vicki and her Scouts alleviated this man’s worry.

I could go on with countless examples of how Vicki gives of herself to help others. She is a wonderful mentor, a great nurse and the true definition of an extraordinary healer. I feel privileged to be able to call her my friend.

In a finalist essay, Laurie Loe details why Vicki Dodson, B.S.N., RN, OCN, is an extraordinary healer and a great mentor.

Nurse Goddess

October 13, 2017 was the day that four words changed my life forever. That was the day I heard a nurse say, “You have breast cancer.” I was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma, stage 2B, hormone-receptor positive, and HER2-negative breast cancer. My tumor was in an uncommon spot at a high traffic intersection of blood and lymph vessels with lots of places for the cancer to run and it had begun to micrometastize into the sentinel lymph nodes.

My oncologist told me that if I didn’t do the aggressive treatment plan that he designed for me that I would die within a year. That is the day I put on my boxing gloves and entered the ring for the fight of my life, which was the fight for my life. Despite the grim prognosis, I never gave up hope throughout treatment.

My faith remained steadfast and unwavering. I knew my God was bigger than my cancer.

I was immediately thrown into a whirlwind of surgeries, bloodwork, scans, tests, doctor appointments, and treatments. My life became consumed by cancer and the fight against it. I spent five months receiving chemo treatments and two months of daily radiation treatments.

The oncology nurses told me they never saw anyone smile and laugh as much as I did through treatments. They were curious to know why. My answer was because I had hope and the joy of the Lord was my strength. There were days where I cried and felt like it was all just too much. I took it one day at a time, and a lot of days I had to take it one minute at a time. In the difficult struggles during treatment, I set a time limit and allowed myself to feel whatever emotion I felt, and I allowed myself to express it whichever way I needed to. Then when the allotted time was up, I forced myself to find the positives, dusted myself off, and made a game plan to get through the difficulty.

As difficult as my cancer journey was, there were a lot of good things that came out of it. Cancer changed my life. It changed my perspective. It showed me what is truly important and valuable in life. It helped me to see that all the things I worried about before cancer really wasn’t that important in the grand scheme of things. Cancer gave me an appreciation for the little things in life and showed me that those little things are really the big things. It showed me that I have more inner strength than I ever realized I had — I just had to dig deep to find it.

Going through cancer deepened my faith. I had to completely rely on my faith to get through each day. It also brought me closer to my family, especially to my older sisters.

I started a ministry called Boxes of Hope which sends care packages, fabric face masks, mastectomy pillows, mastectomy drain aprons, and port pillows free to women who are currently going through treatments for breast cancer. We also provide fabric face masks for free to cancer centers and children’s hospitals.

I pray for each recipient of a Boxes of Hope care package. I have formed friendships with some of the ladies who received my care packages. It is an honor and a blessing to walk alongside these women offering hope and encouragement to let them know they’re not alone in their cancer journeys.

Traci Fotorny is a breast cancer survivor and lives in central Pennsylvania with her husband and their two adult sons. Fotorny is the founder of Boxes of Hope Ministries. Email Fotorny at boxesofhopeministries@gmail.com or message her on Facebook at facebook.com/PinkBoxesOfHope to request a care package or to donate.

As difficult as my cancer journey was, there were a lot of good things that came out of it. Cancer changed my life. It changed my perspective. It showed me what is truly important and valuable in life.

Hope for The Cancer Journey

Working in the infusion room at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Hillman Cancer Center can be extremely busy, but that did not stop Christie Santure, B.S.N., RN, OCN, from sharing her dream of having a caregiver program. Christie approached me, her unit director, three years ago about starting Caring for the Caregiver.

Christie communicated that, time and time again, she noticed that caregivers did not have the tools to take care of themselves while caring for the patient. They often told her that they didn’t receive enough support and were unable to take care of themselves because they were so worried about their loved one. Wanting to help those who were helping others, she researched how to start the support group, found a sponsor to help her and ran with it.

The first sessions took place once a month and had low attendance. That did not deter Christie. She advertised the sessions on all three floors of the Hillman Cancer Center and at other sites in our network. She also attended nursing huddles to help promote her program. Through her belief in this program and her perseverance, the sessions began to thrive. Now, three years later, Christie offers the sessions twice a month at the Hillman Cancer Center. Additionally, she has worked with leadership at two of our network sites to start the Caring for the Caregiver program at those locations.

The group offers support and education to those whose loved ones are battling cancer. Members not only discuss topics and practices around self-care, mindfulness, stress manage- ment, compassion fatigue and nutrition but also support each other by sharing personal stories and struggles, so they experience the comfort of knowing they aren’t alone. Christie constantly works to improve the program, researching topics, resources and teaching materials for the caregivers. This is done outside her normal business day.

Caregivers in the Pittsburgh region are thankful for Christie’s kindness and dedication to this often overlooked population in the medical setting. Here are thoughts from some of the caregivers Christie has helped through this valuable program.

Christie is one of the kindest, most compassionate people I know. I’ve seen her, time and time again, go out of her way to help connect caregivers with the resources and support they need, as well as offer a listening ear to caregivers who just need to talk. Her knowledge, dedication and compassion are an asset to the Pittsburgh oncology community and to anyone who is a caregiver.

Caring for the Caregiver is a unique group in the Pittsburgh area and perhaps beyond, because it takes the time and effort to reach out to people in an oncology unit who are often not seen although they’re standing in plain sight: the caregivers. In most places in the cancer world, we caregivers are just there. We’re the concerned spouse standing in the corner. We have a name but not a story because we don’t have cancer. Many people see us, and some might even understand our burden, but few reach out. They don’t have the time or tools to do anything. Thank God that Christie came along and reached out with this group. Putting together Caring for the Caregiver wasn’t mandatory in her everyday job, but it was necessary for us. Christie saw us walking in numbers through hospitals, doing everything for our loved ones and nothing for ourselves. She understood we were tired/empty/confused and decided we needed help, too.

I’ve been part of the group for a only short period of time, but I can tell you without reservation that had Christie not started this group and thrown the doors open to everyone like me, I would be in a dark place, maybe not able to help my wife and certainly not able to help myself. There are times in life when saying thank you to someone who has suddenly appeared in your life and straightened things out just doesn’t seem to be enough. The Extraordinary Healer® Award would help a lot of us say thank you in a special way to a deserving woman.

A caregiver: One topic we often discuss in our caregivers’ group is gratitude. I am grateful at each meeting that Christie started this group. For the last year and a half, I have felt supported and encouraged by Christie and our facilitator, Joni. I have learned many ways of taking care of myself during my husband’s illness. Numerous times, Christie has explained medical procedures and aspects of treatment that have allayed my fears and helped me face whatever we had to deal with, one day at a time, regarding Dave’s esophageal cancer. This group is a true blessing. Christie’s passion for helping the caregivers — those who are often forgotten in the process — along with her perseverance to make the program a success make her a great candidate for the Extraordinary Healer® Award.

Lynne O’Connor’s winning essay describes how Christine Santure, B.S.N., RN, OCN, is this year’s Extraordinary Healer winner by caring for the caregiver.

Caring For The Caregiver

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died today, Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, after five bouts with cancer. Most recently, she 

 earlier this year when she underwent a biopsy that showed lesions on her liver.

Ginsburg, age 87, served more than two-and-a-half decades as a Justice, after being appointed in 1993 by President Bill Clinton. She was the second female to serve as a Justice and was the most senior liberal member of the court and was respected by Americans nationwide for voting progressively on hot-button issues, including abortion, same-sex marriage, voting rights, immigration, health care, and affirmative action.

Most notably, Ginsburg wrote an opinion on the court case United States v. Virginia, which held that all-male admissions policy at the Virginia Military Institute – which was state funded – was unconstitutional.

Prior to becoming a Supreme Court Justice, Ginsburg was an advocate for the American Civil Liberties Union, where she spearheaded landmark legal strategies to ensure that individuals had equal protection, regardless of gender, per the 14th Amendment. Ginsburg is being remembered on social media both in and out of the political world.

“Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a titan of justice. Her jurisprudence expanded the rights of all Americans, shaping our lives for the better. And her example now shines within the history of our country, there to inspire generations,” mayor and former democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg said on Twitter.

“Ruth Bader Ginsburg. A model for fairness, rational thought, and progress. She will be missed more than we can yet imagine,” actor, writer, and producer Seth MacFarlane tweeted.

In a press release from the supreme court, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr, said, “Our Nation has lost a jurist of historic stature. We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague. Today we mourn, but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her -- a tireless and resolute champion of justice.”

A private service will be held for Ginsburg at Arlington National Cemetery.

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