Blog

Being Brett’s wife and caregiver was a complicated role, and it strained my nerves. It was hard to simply rest my head on his shoulder the way I used to, or to express my own need for emotional intimacy and comfort when the gravity of his illness loomed large. I bounced back quickly from hurt feelings because there was no choice but to be present when we our time together as a family was diminishing. Every moment mattered.

The Cancer Support Community (CSC) strives to transform the lives of individuals whose lives have been impacted by cancer. This includes caregivers who support patients at each stage of the cancer experience from diagnosis to post-treatment. One way for CSC to understand more about the needs of caregivers is to ask caregivers to share their unique stories through the Cancer Experience Registry® (CER), an online research initiative that seeks to further understand the wide-reaching impact of cancer.

One of the major themes dominating health care discussions today is the fact that healthcare costs in the United States are proving unsustainable. Practices known as utilization management (UM) are one of the major ways the high cost of health care has been addressed. The Cancer Policy Institute at the CSC will be releasing a series of blogs aimed at educating patients about different UM practices and techniques. The upcoming blogs will contain information that patients need to know, including how that particular technique impacts access to care, as well as advocacy opportunities to address those barriers to care.

Read this first blog in the series to learn more about UM, the different practices and techniques, and how CSC is fostering conversations about UM.

Six years into her husband's cancer diagnosis, Nancy Sharp felt cancer's toll on their marriage and children. Like many caregivers, she learned to cope and adapt, even as Brett's brain tumor progressed and treatment options failed.

Nancy Sharp was a new mother wanting to go on her first family vacation with her husband and twins, but even that isn't so simple when you're a cancer caregiver.

Each month, the Cancer Policy Institute profiles advocates who have been engaged in cancer advocacy. This month we caught up with Miranda Johnson, one of the very first CPI Advocate Spotlights and a longtime CSC advocate!

The Cancer Support Community wants to hear directly from liver cancer patients about their specific and unique cancer experiences so that we can enhance our educational programming, advocacy initiatives, and other patient support initiatives to aid those people living with liver cancer.

For cancer caregivers, life is lived even down to the nanosecond. Time for me has become less a measurement of the day than the minutes.

The open enrollment period to purchase health insurance coverage for 2020 is here! Now is the time to make sure that you and your loved ones have access to comprehensive, quality, and affordable coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace.

Cancer caregivers must learn to embrace the gray of life.