A Patient’s Journey Through Remission and Mental Health With Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

Jace Yawnick, now 27-years-old and in remission from non-Hodgkin lymphoma, is navigating the world of mental health one day at a time.

Yawnick was 25 when he received his diagnosis. He began documenting his experience with the disease and treatment immediately, and quickly amassed an online following of hundreds of thousands of supporters, and launched the non-profit organization Jace Beats Cancer.

After first speaking with CURE in 2024, Yawnick recently sat down for a follow-up interview to discuss how he’s doing these days.

Transcript

Can you describe your mental and emotional state after entering remission from non-Hodgkin lymphoma?

Mental health in the cancer space is a really tricky problem. There are a lot of companies that are attempting to help it, but it's a very large and wide scale problem, especially in the United States. I often will survey the community that we have of over 700,000 people that follow me on social media, asking them what resources they have or if they feel that they're sufficient, and often the answer is no, and that the resources that are there fall short.

In terms of my own mental health, I've had to navigate this process with the resources I have — my network of friends and family, and my fiancé — but in moments when I feel alone, it can be challenging, and I often share that on social media because I know many others face the same emotions and internal dialogue that I experience. So, we're hopeful. I'm hopeful that somebody comes up with a solution. I'm actually working on a solution right now with a group out of Harvard who are also cancer survivors to try to tackle this problem.

Overall, I'm good, taking it one day at a time. The hard days are hard, the good days are good, and that's just life for everybody in general.

Transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

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