Book: Your Cancer Road Map
So That No One Faces Cancer Alone
Written by Kim Thiboldeaux | Foreword by First Lady Jill Biden
About the Book
No one should have to face cancer alone.
Each year, 1.8 million people are diagnosed with cancer in the United States. Upon learning this difficult news, individuals also have a minefield of complex information to navigate regarding treatment plans, insurance coverage, clinical trials, and more.
Your Cancer Road Map: Navigating Life With Resilience is a compassionate, comprehensive guide for cancer patients, their families, and caregivers, designed to take the guesswork out of these crucial decisions every step of the way.
Your Cancer Road Map covers hard-to-talk-about topics such as treatment options, finances, how cancer can affect your fertility or sexuality, survivor care, hospice care, and end-of-life planning. In the Cancer Support Community tradition, the book ensures that people impacted by cancer can live their lives to the fullest and enables them to gain a sense of control during what can be an overwhelming and chaotic time.
Now more than ever, patients need the tools to participate fully in their healthcare and communicate their preferences and priorities to their healthcare team so that they can make the best decisions for themselves and their loved ones while living with the highest possible quality of life.
Your Cancer Road Map is filled with incredible personal stories from people who could be your friends or neighbors, as well as celebrities and influencers, plus workbook pages, checklists, recommended resources, and more. This book is a powerful companion for anyone with questions about cancer.
Foreword by First Lady Jill Biden – community college educator, military mother, grandmother, and cancer patient advocate
Dr. Biden’s advocacy for more cancer education and prevention began in 1993, when four of her friends were diagnosed with breast cancer. After Dr. Biden and then-Vice President Joe Biden lost their son Beau to brain cancer in 2015, they helped push for a national commitment to ending cancer as we know it through the White House Cancer Moonshot. Following the Obama-Biden Administration, then-former Vice President Biden and Dr. Biden launched the Biden Foundation and the Biden Cancer Initiative. (source: whitehouse.gov)
Guest Essays
- Take a Deep Breath – Joan Lunden, award-winning journalist, women’s health & wellness advocate and cancer survivor
- Ask About Clinical Trials – Holly Rowe, ESPN reporter and cancer survivor
- Young Adults and Cancer – Brad Ludden, Founder of First Descents
- Learn How to Manage Side Effects – Amy Berman, RN, LHD, FAAN
- Exercise and Mind-Body Techniques – Maria Fanelli, MBA, MAMS, CH, CLC
- Sex and Intimacy – Leslie R. Schover, PhD
- Managing Fear of Recurrence – Maria Fanelli, MBA, MAMS, CH, CL
- Hospice and End of Life – Joseph Stern, MD
CSC Speaks with ABC News Denver About New Book
Watch CSC Executive Chair Kim Thiboldeaux, talk to ABC News Denver’s Katie LaSalle about her new book “Your Cancer Road Map” which is designed to help families navigate the challenges of a new cancer diagnosis.
For more than 35 years, the Cancer Support Community has been a trusted resource, demystifying the emotional, physical, financial, and logistical challenges related to cancer. From CSC's former Executive Chair Kim Thiboldeaux, Your Cancer Road Map: Navigating Life With Resilience is a comprehensive guidebook, providing advice and comfort at every point on the cancer journey, from the moment of diagnosis to survivorship and beyond.
Get a Sneak Peek
View an excerpt from Your Cancer Road Map: Navigating Life With Resilience.
About the Author
As a nonprofit executive, thought leader, and author, Kim Thiboldeaux continues to make her mark on the global stage by ensuring that the patient’s voice is at the center of every conversation about cancer. The publication of Your Cancer Road Map: Navigating Life with Resilience is the latest example of how Thiboldeaux is a relentless ally for patients, caregivers, and survivors.
Thiboldeaux is the former CEO and Executive Chair of the Cancer Support Community, a global nonprofit network of 190 locations that deliver more than $50 million in free support and navigation services to patients and families each year. She coauthored Reclaiming Your Life After Diagnosis and The Total Cancer Wellness Guide, and she is the former host of CSC's award-winning Frankly Speaking About Cancer podcast. Thiboldeaux also serves on multiple advisory boards, speaks at leading conferences, and frequently appears in national media outlets.
Listen to Thiboldeaux's interview about Your Cancer Road Map on the Doug Wagner Morning Show on WMT-AM:
On Shelves Now
All proceeds from sales of Your Cancer Road Map will benefit the Cancer Support Community and support its mission to serve all people impacted by a cancer diagnosis.
Praise for Your Cancer Road Map
While directing the series The Emperor of All Maladies, I was struck by all that we are learning about cancer at the cellular and molecular levels, and encouraged by the many exciting scientific advances we are witnessing. While this progress is cause for optimism, we cannot forget that thousands of lives across our country are disrupted by a diagnosis of cancer every single day. A disease as complex as cancer deserves a guidebook as comprehensive as Your Cancer Road Map. This candid, accessible approach to navigating cancer is the tonic every cancer patient needs.
Cancer has affected so many close friends and family members, and they are the inspiration behind my philanthropic commitment to the Cancer Support Community. Your Cancer Road Map puts in one place the gold standard of innovative, patient-focused services and guidance that I am proud to have helped expand across the United States and to underserved communities. It is truly a gift to be a part of such a transformative and effective organization.
Kim Thiboldeaux is a fierce advocate for people living with cancer. I have known Kim and have had the privilege to collaborate with the Cancer Support Community for more than fifteen years and applaud their evidence-informed approach to patient care. Your Cancer Road Map is the guide that every cancer patient needs to relieve the stress of diagnosis and provide guidance and companionship throughout the cancer journey.
As a husband who lost his wife to stage 4 lung cancer, I vowed to honor her memory by changing the face of lung cancer and raising awareness about the challenges survivors and their families face. As a former NFL linebacker, I understand the importance of a game plan, so I am committed to increasing the visibility of vital resources like Your Cancer Road Map. This comprehensive book reflects the intensely personal nature of the cancer experience and is a necessary resource for anyone confronting a cancer diagnosis. There is no one better prepared to give guidance and insight than Kim Thiboldeaux and the Cancer Support Community.
The Cancer Support Community, led by Kim for the past twenty years, has been a great friend and partner to American Indians here in Arizona. They have supported our work to care for cancer patients on the Navajo Nation and have brought countless resources to our patients. Your Cancer Road Map is yet another example of the high quality of their work and their commitment to ensuring ALL people impacted by cancer have access to the highest-quality, culturally adapted cancer care and support.
Putting the Patient in the Driver’s Seat
Kim Thiboldeaux spoke with Cancer Today about her book and shared some advice on approaching a cancer diagnosis.