Survivorship

Havoc

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Today, regardless of diagnosis, you are a survivor.

While the medical community delves into the mysteries of cancer and its undoing, we cancer survivors need immediate and long-term health practices that might tip the scale in our favor of survival.

Being diagnosed with cancer changes everything about your life. Yes, there are those few who have a simple diagnosis, breeze through treatment and then actually get back to some form of "normal" — the life they lived before they heard the words, It's cancer.

When former president Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act in 1971, survivorship care was not even a topic of discussion due to extensive inpatient care and high mortality rates from the disease.

For survivors of colorectal cancer, struggles can include negative body image, persistent gastrointestinal problems and sexual dysfunction—issues that can diminish quality of life and jeopardize relationships.