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Arlene Karole’s career in educating educators served her well during her breast cancer diagnosis.
June 29, 2022
Sometimes, putting thoughts on paper makes everything clearer. Our survivors and supporters share their thoughts.
Arlene Karole’s career in educating educators served her well during her breast cancer diagnosis.
For Joni Rodgers, cancer wasn’t a gift—it was a crucible.
It can be difficult to be taken seriously as a young person. But as cancer rates continue growing in younger demographics, warriors like 21 year old Manar Kashk stress the importance of advocating for yourself and listening to your body when it comes to your health.
As if a cancer diagnosis weren’t hard enough, caregiving can come at its own cost. Serena Hu shares her experience caregiving for her late father.
My mother’s cancer journey can teach others to trust Black women fighting for their health—and their lives.
Breast cancer thriver Tracee Cole shares her experience of being diagnosed with stage II triple-positive breast cancer a mere month before COVID-19 shut the world down.
Rhonda Meckstroth knows all too well how important it is to receive a second opinion—it saved her husband Jeff during his unexpected lung cancer diagnosis in their small rural Ohio community. Now they’re fighting for other families to have the same second shot at life.
After seeing the effects that invasive treatment had on warriors close to him, Michael Justiz knew there had to be another way when faced with his own prostate cancer diagnosis. He took a gamble on a new technology—and it paid off.
After surviving childhood cancer, Lauren Pickhart was determined to rediscover the things in life she was actually passionate about.
Part-time certified fitness instructor Jennifer Sinkwitts was slated to run the Boston Marathon after an impressive qualifying time—then she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She decided to run anyway.
It’s easy to delay or avoid routine screenings. But Cynthia Hayes knows all too well that these pesky appointments can be life-saving.
You don’t get to choose when your cancer journey happens, but you can choose the ways you grow from it.
After caring for her mother during her battle with stage IV stomach cancer, Michelle Patidar trusted her instincts when a dream-state visit from her mother warned her about her own health.
In losing her mother from colon cancer, Lauren DeMello has gained a new family of previvors and warriors.
While in treatment, four-time warrior Liz Benditt wasn’t finding any one-stop shops for actual helpful, functional self-care items. So she created one.
A cancer diagnosis during a pandemic can feel like a double whammy, but Kelli Stanko ended up stumbling onto joy in the process.
A plan of care is important after a diagnosis, but even more important is making your voice heard during the process so you can receive the care that’s right for you.
After three cancer diagnoses, Marianne Duquette Cuozzo found returning to her love of art helped her understand her changing body.
When blogger Kamelia Britton was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer, she struggled to share her story with thousands of followers and find a sense of purpose. A stranger’s small act of kindness helped her do both.
Frank McKenna’s stage IV lung cancer diagnosis came as a huge surprise, but he never realized the tools he needed for survival were always within reach.
After undergoing treatment for Ewing Sarcoma cancer, veteran Brandi Benson was left with a 24-inch scar that tested and taught her to how to love and embrace her new self.
Bill Thompson thought he was in peak health, until a series of unexplainable symptoms led to his final diagnosis—stage IV bladder cancer. Fighting for his life was equal parts a physical, mental and medical battle.
The turmoil of blogger Anna Crollman’s cancer diagnosis at 27 was amplified when she learned treatment could lead to loss of fertility. Her path to pregnancy wasn’t easy, but it evolved into a beautiful testimony of strength.
Matt Newman wishes he had never gotten cancer, but that hasn’t stopped him from inspiring other warriors to take charge of their own lives in the face of a diagnosis.
It’s time to turn the spotlight on the silent sufferers of cancer—men.
Fighting cancer once as a graduate student abroad was hard enough for Christy Lorio – and then she was diagnosed a second time.
Brandi Benson went overseas to fight for her country, but she ended up fighting another battle within herself—cancer.
In waiting for No Evidence of Disease, Ana Reyes says cancer survivorship is much like a board game—full of false starts, great luck, and a lot of waiting.
As a military wife, Kelsey Bucci is well versed in leaning into the unknown, and her unexpected breast cancer diagnosis was no exception. Through takeaways from her own fight, she’s now helping warriors everywhere feel beautiful and safe.
A cancer journey is deeply personal, but two-time warrior Christina Vaccacio chose to look outward and uplift others through sharing her story. It ended up impacting her own life in ways she never expected.
At 23 years old, engineer Sydney Rozycki was on the cusp of young adult life when she received an unexpected breast cancer diagnosis. But she never saw it as being the end of her story—only a continuation.
Sofia Reino, a two-time cancer survivor, says the trials and tribulations of life in active treatment makes cancer warriors and survivors particularly prepared for difficult situations—including a pandemic.
Diagnosed with lymphoma like her father, Lea Guccione turned her cancer diagnosis into a powerful opportunity to find joy in the strangest moments.
First, her sister-in-law was diagnosed with metastatic cancer. Then her father. Supporter Melinda George shares two poems in reflection of the shock of those diagnoses and her love for her family.
You can’t control a cancer diagnosis, but you can control how you react to it. In her latest column, Jessica Walker talks about how to focus on the aspects of your life you can control amidst the uncertainty of a cancer diagnosis.
After a near-death experience following an unexpected cancer diagnosis, Kathleen Brown reflects on the past 24 years of survivorship to appreciate the hidden gifts of her cancer journey.
In her latest column, Jessica Walker offers five tips for the newly diagnosed who may feel completely overwhelmed about the journey before them.
As newlyweds, Jessica Walker and her husband Tommy were blindsided by Tommy’s cancer diagnosis, but through treatments and recurrences, Jessica learned cancer doesn’t have to control their whole story.
G.P. Gottlieb has always loved music—this was something her cancer couldn’t defeat. And after treatment, she found a way to share the joy of music with other cancer warriors.
During her three cancer diagnoses, Tameka Johnson was flooded with harsh emotions—pain, anger, fear, frustration—but found her respite in writing, in loving her daughter, and living life “on purpose.”
Kandis Draw was devastated after her mother’s cancer diagnosis, and after years of caregiving, she realized how important it was to spend just as much time caring for herself.
After running herself ragged, trying to be the “perfect” caregiver, Jessica Walker realized she was not only doing herself a disservice, but her husband, too.
At just 30 years old, Sophie has been in remission from cancer for 23 years, but the trauma of surviving childhood cancer can’t be ignored, despite Sophie’s best efforts to stifle the memories.
Wendy Santana often felt fear, isolation, and anxiety during treatment and recovery for brain cancer, but a new tattoo sparked conversations in the hospital room that revived her spirit.
Eager to get back to her old life, cW columnist Jessica Walker comes to terms with the fact that life is rarely the same post-cancer.
When cW columnist Jessica Walker went on an overseas excursion with her husband after his cancer diagnosis, she learned the small moments of joy are just as momentous as those that seem larger than life.
Britny Maldonado learns to loosen up and laugh in the face of her leukemia diagnosis, because “it’s just cancer.”
After years of poor sun-protection habits, Jennifer Bringle’s breast cancer diagnosis finally made her get serious about skin cancer.
Everything was going right for William Yank, until he fell ill with an innocuous sore throat. The diagnosis? Acute lymphoblastic leukemia. But in the months following treatment and remission, he learned that the true purpose of his life was just beginning.
Honeymoon Wife, Newlywed Wife, Cancer Wife. Debut Cancer Wellness monthly columnist Jessica Walker shares what she felt when she took on all three roles at once.
When cancer waylays her grandmother’s self-care routine, Ashley Jones learns a new way to express her love and appreciation.
When Jamie found a lump in her breast, doctors told her it was nothing to worry about, but she trusted her instincts and got a second opinion. When she was eventually diagnosed with breast cancer, Jamie truly understood the importance of patients advocating for themselves.
After years of strained relationships and compounded stress, Jeri Walker’s breast cancer diagnosis helped usher in a new life of joy, creativity, and personal growth.
Dana and Colleen do everything together. When they both get diagnosed with cancer, they come up with a plan to truly start living.
In his second essay for Cancer Wellness about his mother’s last days, Robert G. Margolis writes, “No one, I felt, is ever done doing what they want to do in their life, even after their life is done.”
Time is quantifiable when you’re living treatment to treatment, but life after cancer feels open-ended.
After hearing my results, I thought: How do I tell my boyfriend?
Most 10-year-olds find out how to make volcanoes in science class; I figured out boobs were just as sensitive and explosive.
I need to accept that when it comes to my sun safety, I am, finally, all out of excuses.
“During a late-August afternoon, about a month before she died, my mother and I recited a duet of suggestions for the inscription on her gravestone. Each one made us laugh.”
“If cancer has taught me anything, it’s that I cannot do it all myself and that I do not have to be strong all the time.”