Kim Johnson

With the passing of CURE co-founder Kathy LaTour, one contributor remembers the advice, friendship and kindness that Kathy passed on to her that helped her to share her own cancer story.

Writing about the cancer journey and sharing your story is vulnerable and challenging, but the experience is often cathartic and necessary.

A simple banana split can be a powerful memory, and a powerful tool, to help caregivers and patients find the strength to keep going on their cancer journey.

Knowledge is power, and using that is vital on the cancer journey.

“Being a caregiver is a role that is defined by cancer more so than it is by the caregiver.”

COVID-19 has dramatically altered the lives of millions across the globe, but for patients with cancer, the new restrictions and new challenges are ones they have already managed to handle.

Being a caregiver can be an isolating experience, but there is a wider community for all caregivers to lean on in their time of need.

Part of the prognosis is often what the patient brings to it, the journey ahead of them that only they can travel.

During cancer it's easy to let friends in the "outside world" fall to the wayside, but it's sometimes possible, and helpful, to foster those relationships.

Practicing kindness can help survivors, patients and everyone else get through this pandemic together.

Many patients with cancer and their caregivers have already had to live through their own forms of social distancing during intense treatment journeys. These lessons can provide perspective on the current COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing.

A caregiver explains the reality of going through cancer for those who are new to the disease or have never experienced it.

Those people who may seem like a burden while you navigate the new normal that is life with cancer may be the very people who support you through this journey. For the caregivers out there: try to maintain your autonomy.

Moving on while letting go of being a 25-year-old caregiver back to being a young woman.

Just as we tell the person that we love enduring cancer that they are not alone, as caregivers, neither are we.

Remembering to remain present through cancer.

I'm using the lessons that cancer taught me to move forward in life.

I shared some advice with another soon-to-be caregiver.

I have said many times in the past few years that I would love to live in a world without cancer.

An article Honoring the Hero for Colorado's Light the Night Walk.

Moving on and focusing on your own future after cancer is an important step in the healing process.

You are one person before the diagnosis comes, you are another person during the journey and you are different person when remission is gained. That is not to say that certain pieces of you don't remain, but I feel it nearly impossible to go through this journey unchanged.

When dealing with cancer, it's important to know your limits and be OK with them, to focus on the good.

Focusing on the "and" instead of the rest

In spending so many hours online, I came to see that much of what I was reading was opinions and, in fact, not facts at all.

Communication between health care professionals and institutions can be vital to ensure the best treatment possible.

This week, I'm celebrating all the new graduates, including myself.

Learning more about those who work for pharmaceutical companies can be an eye-opening experience.

And no matter how isolating cancer can be for some patients, they need to know that they are not alone. An entire world of resources is out there, but without somebody to guide those affected by cancer, they may never know of this world.

I learned a lot during my time as a caregiver, and plan to carry that over in my career as an oncology nurse.