Successful cancer treatment is science + a range of variables that might collectively be called good luck: How one body responds to a treatment, the environment, timing, and, yes, even chance. Survivorship, however, is something more akin to alchemy. It is the fact of cancer being eliminated, and a series of personal tests that culminate in an identity shift.
For the fortunate, using the words “cancer survivor” is a tool for empowerment. Because for anyone with a cancer diagnosis, the word survivor is the cherished triumphal noun that is swapped in for the hopeful noun: patient. Having crossed the uncertain waters of patienthood, survivors typically arrive at their new status grateful and eager to channel their gratitude. That can mean volunteering, reminding friends to get screenings, becoming a buddy, leading wellness and fitness programs or peer support therapeutic activities. Tower Cancer Magnolia House (Magnolia House) and Cancer Support Center Los Angeles (CSCLA) programming is fueled by survivor know-how and gratitude, integral to our impact for over 30 years.
Survivors (and thrivers) have traveled an interior road that often has no map. Yes, spiritual guidance is readily available in a world where 30 million people are living with cancer. Anyone seeking sermons, books, podcasts, television shows, songs, poetry, even films about life with cancer can find thousands of cultural artifacts testifying to a “cancer journey.” Sifting through the stories of cancer survivors, many may seem similar, but I’ve observed that each is truly specific, and here is why. Diagnosis with a life threatening illness requires a personal audit that is entirely unique. Yet an empowering rush of transcendence is available to every cancer survivor. But that win is tempered with the knowledge gained that survival implies a sense of control. Patients know they are struggling for control and confronting what is beyond their control; survivors live to tell their stories, if they choose, but they know that surviving was not their choice.
Cancer is not a fight patients win or lose based on determination or deserving. Cancer is beaten with science. Survivors who cherish and hold on to that identity are science’s best allies.
At Tower Cancer, the drive to end cancer is foundational, and until that happens, the resolve to improve the lives of everyone in our communities touched by cancer informs the urgency.
Magnolia House and CSCLA programming is a beacon locally, regionally and, increasingly, nationally. People who know what it takes to navigate a cancer diagnosis are here, their insights are priceless, and absolutely free. Please come, connect and stay.
Wishing you a healthy and happy New Year!