Survivorship

The stories and experiences are written by people after cancer treatments. These stories are written for those learning how to get back to work, college or just trying to be themselves again. Just getting past treatments isn’t enough, it is surviving and thriving that is key to being you again.

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The People Who Get It

by Steph Stene October 26, 2026

I remember sitting in my social worker’s meeting area in the fall of 2024 at Allan Blair. The room had grey, gloomy walls, there were no windows, and it had uncomfortable chairs.

Dear body, Remember when we were in intensive care, recovering from surgery, and you had to teach the nurses how to pump breastmilk Remember when we had to absorb the breastmilk into towels because your baby couldn’t drink the drug-concentrated milk, and we couldn’t sit up due to the 20 staples down your abdomen?

Imposter!

by Christine Tang

Self-doubt and imposter syndrome are emotional side effects that none of my medical team ever warned me about and neither did anyone else in the cancer community. When they hit, they knocked me completely sideways.

More Than a Cough

by Marissa Griffin October 19, 2026

When people talk about cancer and treatment, they prepare you for the big things, hair loss, fatigue, nausea, surgeries, scars. And I had all of that. But no one warned me about the cough.

The Untold Chapter of Cancer Survivorship

by Tamron Little

Being on the other side of a cancer diagnosis changed everything I thought I knew. Before being diagnosed with Peritoneal Mesothelioma, survivorship would start when the treatment ended.

My Sister’s Cells

by Kimberly Oliver October 14, 2026

The evidence was damning: a sore throat, dry mouth, a little bit of dried drool. My mother’s testimony confirmed it – I, a lifelong silent sleeper, had been snoring.

What Lies Beneath

by Magen Schoonover September 28, 2026

Physically, I’m okay. Scans are clear. Labs are clear. Doctor appointments get pushed back to every six months, sometimes even yearly. The unsettling feeling still creeps in on the first of every month—checking my breasts diligently, holding my breath, and for a split second, seeing a lump as big as before.

The People I Lost, the Self I Found

by Vikki Ramdass-Husain

Hi herd, hope you all are well. I am writing again to talk about the one lesson that cancer has taught me today. Do you know what that is? It is people.

Move Over Deet

by Andrea Bauer

In late winter / early spring of 2016, at the age of 35, I was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer. This, along with the surgery and 12 rounds of a chemotherapy called FOLFOX were a complete surprise.

The Reverse Mullet Undercut

by Erica Doyle Farid September 21, 2026

My hair was my thing. Long, luscious, naturally straight, and easy to style. All my life I really took it for granted how beautiful and effortless it was.