Tag: cancer survivor
Cancer Caregiving: Rewarding, Fulfilling, Frustrating, Burdensome, or Spiritually Uplifting?
As I began writing this article, I started to think about the many caregivers I have known and what they have shared with me about their experiences as caregivers. The myriad of descriptors they used are only a few of the words in the title of this article. One caregiver said she had never had…
CancerForward We Can Go Forward Luncheon 2014
CancerForward’s We Can Go Forward Luncheon 2014 will present as keynote speaker New York Times number one listed author and ABC News anchor, Dan Harris. Harris will share how meditation and mindfulness have entered the mainstream health care continuum for cancer survivors and their caregivers. His recently-released book, 10% Happier, tells of Dan’s 2004 live-on-national-TV…
How To Avoid Worrying About Pain
One day a breast cancer survivor came to my office with a bump on the back of her heel. She told me that it was painful and she was worried her cancer had returned. This woman, an executive and a runner, had a smooth, soft and tender mass about the size of a walnut. Immediately…
More Than Good Enough: The Rene Syler Story
Rene Syler is a cancer advocate and survivor, a best-selling author, a long-time broadcast journalist, a former morning TV network anchor, and, most of all, a good enough mother. That last title might not sound like a ringing endorsement, but from Syler’s point of view, it certainly is. Her first book, “Good Enough Mother: The…
Living Through – A Spiritual Guide Through Cancer
I suppose I have recited Psalm 23 publicly at religious services more times than I can count, but in the private times of trial and tribulation, when I needed the comfort of the Holy One, I have turned to it as well. Allow me a preface, and then I will return to the Psalm itself.For…
Meditation For Cancer Survivors: Getting Started
Editor’s Note: For the first time, researchers have shown that practicing mindfulness meditation has a positive physical impact at the cellular level in breast cancer survivors. For many years, oncologists have known that alternative or integrative therapies likes meditation bolster the emotional well-being of cancer survivors. ABC News anchor Dan Harris, a leading and studied…
Oh, My Lord! You Won’t Believe This One!
In Reverend Susan Sparks’ book, “Laugh Your Way to Grace,” a single phrase sums the unique perspective of a lawyer, minister, standup comedian cancer survivor: “…alone with what were soon to be my two constant companions: cancer and sarcasm.” After facing a breast cancer diagnosis five years ago, Susan Sparks found herself using humor to…