Sharing Stories of Survivorship

This issue of CURE highlights personal stories and expert insights, from living with multiple diagnoses to self-advocacy, nutrition and survivorship care.

At CURE, we work tirelessly to bring you, our readers, valuable insights into every stage of the cancer journey — including stories of survivorship.

As columnist Chester Freeman, who was diagnosed with bladder cancer nine years ago, and more recently with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, writes in this seasonal issue of CURE: “I’m grateful that I can live my daily life and enjoy the pleasures of music, art and nature. Those are the things that give me joy. They lift my spirits and lighten my heart. I’m grateful that the lessons I learned from having bladder cancer have given me strength to face the new cancer diagnosis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia.”

“I have a heightened sense of awareness about myself and my body, and I’m learning to appreciate my life as it is, living with cancer,” Chester writes. “I take the good days and the bad days with courage, strength and determination.”

Elsewhere, Kristen Rabe, who received a diagnosis of multiple myeloma, tells us about the importance of self-advocacy for fellow patients.

“As patients with cancer, we see so many professionals who make important judgments about our care,” she writes. “Some spend a lot of time with us, others just a few minutes. We must be vigilant and speak up if we don’t agree or aren’t comfortable with a recommendation. Being an active participant helps ensure appropriate medical care and is vital to our emotional self-care.”

Also in this issue, we speak with survivor, advocate and author Daniel Jernazian, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma at age 11, about his memoir, “I Made Cancer Cry Twice.” We also learned from Dr. John Lin of the University of Pennsylvania about the need for reliable access to healthy food, as food insecurity has been found in his research to be linked to a 28% higher risk of death among cancer survivors.

“Food security — meaning reliable access to nutritious food — is critical for cancer survivors because the body needs fuel to recover from cancer and cancer treatment,” Lin said. “Having sufficient nutrition is important for immune function, energy levels and healing, but cancer survivors who are food insecure may struggle to consume the nutrient-rich foods that support healing.”

Additionally, we spoke with Kanisha Parikh, a dietitian at John Theurer Cancer Center, part of Hackensack Meridian Health in New Jersey, for a cooking demonstration that can be viewed at curetoday.com. The recipe is a lentil tomato soup intended to help patients manage common side effects from treatment, such as taste changes, nausea, painful swallowing and mouth sores.

“This recipe is packed with flavor from ingredients like tomatoes, lemon juice and warming spices such as cumin, coriander, smoked paprika and cinnamon,” Parikh said. “The lentils provide protein, and ingredients like olive oil and whole milk add calories and healthy fats to help prevent unintentional weight loss.”

For all the latest updates in oncology, including breaking news on Food and Drug Administration approvals of new treatments and expert perspectives on key cancer information, you can always visit curetoday.com.

In the pages of this issue and on our website, you will find both personal stories that resonate and expert opinions to provide context. We hope this information serves you well and offers encouragement and support.

Thank you for your continued readership.

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