CancerEd Online
CancerEd Online is Cancer Support Community's home for Frankly Speaking About Cancer educational videos. These programs are for cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers.
Quick Guides last 5-10 minutes. Some videos cover what you need to know about a type of cancer. Others introduce topics like clinical trials and treatments.
Webinars are longer. Each video lasts 60-90 minutes and features leaders in cancer care and research. They discuss the latest medical updates in easy-to-understand terms. All of our webinars are recordings that aired live in 2015-2018. Stay tuned for new topics.
Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia
After Treatment
Biosimilars
Bladder Cancer
Breast Cancer
In this 2018 webinar, two expert panelists discussed what those living with metastatic breast cancer need to know about making treatment decisions; living with uncertainty; and nutrition, sleep, and exercise.
In this webinar from 2015, panelists provide information, resources and tips on nutrition as well as emotional support for people living with metastatic breast cancer.
Caregivers
Clinical Trials
If you have cancer, it is important to know about clinical trials and how they work. Not every cancer patient will be on a trial – or needs to be. However, everyone should be aware that a clinical trial can be the best treatment option at some point during your care. Every decision to be part of a clinical trial is rooted in hope for an individual future and for a better future for everyone who faces cancer. This quick guide will help to answer some important questions about clinical trials. Mostly, we hope that it encourages more people to ask about and consider taking part in clinical trials. Watch this guide to learn more about clinical trials and the important role that they play in cancer treatment.
Watch the webinar, Frankly Speaking About Cancer: Clinical Trials and Immunotherapy, that took place on October 24, 2016, for what you need to know about immunotherapy treatment and finding clinical trials that might be right for you. Immunotherapy works by boosting the body’s natural ability to fight cancer.
Watch the webinar, Frankly Speaking About Cancer: Who Is Missing From Cancer Clinical Trials that took place on November 20, 2017. Three advocates will discuss which groups are missing from cancer clinical trials and how we can address this.
Head and Neck Cancer
The Quick Guide to Head and Neck Cancer explains what head and neck cancer is, the five main types of head and neck cancer, and their risk factors. It also explains how head and neck cancer is diagnosed, who should be on your health care team, why you may want a second opinion, and what treatment planning and options are available.
Coping with Head and Neck Cancer explains how to cope with the side effects of head and neck cancer. It includes how to deal with stigma around head and neck cancer, eating and swallowing problems, restoring speech, and stoma care. It also explains what lymphedema (head and neck swelling) and trismus (problems with opening your mouth fully) are. Finally, it offers tips for living with your head and neck cancer, for caregivers, and for finding support.
A healthy diet is an important part of a head and neck cancer patient’s journey before, during, and after treatment. Eating healthy can help prevent weight loss, lack of appetite, and other side effects of head and neck cancer treatment. It can also help you feel better and respond better to your cancer treatment.
Immunotherapy
Welcome to this short guide on CAR T Cell Therapy. It will explain what CAR T cell therapy is and which types of patients it might help. CAR T cell therapy is one type of immunotherapy. Immunotherapies use your body’s immune system to identify, attack, and kill cancer cells. In general, the immune system recognizes cells that don’t belong in your body and attacks them. T cells are the immune system’s soldiers. They travel throughout your body to find and attack harmful or abnormal cells, like bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells. But T cells can have a hard time finding cancer cells to attack. CAR T cell therapy uses your own T cells and makes them better at finding and attacking your cancer.
Cancer patients and their loved ones may start hearing more about immunotherapy treatments. These treatments use the body’s natural defense system (called the immune system) to help fight cancer. Immunotherapy treatments can use lots of different ways to attack cancer cells. This eLearning guide will explain what immunotherapy is and how it works. The guide covers 8 common types of immunotherapy treatments and how each treatment works in different ways with your immune system to fight cancer. Watch this 12-minute guide to learn more.
If you or your loved one is interested in immunotherapy, it is important to know about the possible side effects of immunotherapy treatments. Immunotherapy side effects are generally different from the side effects of other cancer treatments, like chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Some immunotherapy side effects may occur right away. Others may not occur for days, weeks, or months after treatment. Every cancer patient receiving immunotherapy should talk to their doctor about possible side effects. Watch this 10-minute guide to learn more.
Watch the webinar, Frankly Speaking About Cancer: Clinical Trials and Immunotherapy, that took place on October 24, 2016, for what you need to know about immunotherapy treatment and finding clinical trials that might be right for you. Immunotherapy works by boosting the body’s natural ability to fight cancer.
Kidney Cancer
This guide is divided into three parts: 1) "What Is Kidney Cancer?" explains how your kidneys function, risk factors for kidney cancer and how kidney cancer is diagnosed. It also explains the different types of kidney cancers and symptoms you may experience. 2) "Kidney Cancer: Treatment for Stage 1-3" explains treatment options, possible side effects from treatment, and some ways cope with Stage 1-3 kidney cancer. 3) "Kidney Cancer: Treatment for Stage 4 (Metastatic) explains treatment options, possible side effects from treatment, and some ways to cope with Stage 4, or metastatic, kidney cancer.
Lung Cancer
Making Treatment Decisions
Managing the Cost of Cancer Care
- Understand health insurance
- Find out what your insurance covers
- Understand what you expect to pay for your treatment
- Ways to prepare for out-of-pocket costs
- Planning for future costs
- Ideas for lowering costs
- Resources and information about financial aid
- The most common medical-related costs for cancer care
- Practical questions to ask as you learn about cancer care costs
- Information about resources that can help
Managing Side Effects
Melanoma
Multiple Myeloma
Download Multiple Myeloma Quick Guide Resource
This guide is divided into four parts: 1) “Multiple Myeloma” explains risk factors, diagnoses, and symptoms of multiple myeloma, monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), and asymptomatic or smoldering myeloma. 2) “Treatment for Symptomatic Multiple Myeloma” covers approved treatments, stem cell transplants, maintenance therapy, clinical trials, symptoms, and side effects. 3) “Treatment for Relapsed or Refractory Myeloma” talks about treatments, clinical trials, symptoms, side effects, and how to find support if your cancer has come back or has not responded to treatment. 4) “Coping with Symptoms and Side Effects of Myeloma” goes over common concerns such as anemia, infections, bone and kidney problems, fatigue, and peripheral neuropathy.
Myeloproliferative Neoplasms
New Ways of Managing Care
Cancer care is changing, and there are five new models for cancer care: cancer treatment guidelines, clinical pathways, bundled payments, accountable care organizations and oncology medical homes. Learn more about how these new models can improve your life by watching this 11-minute quick guide.
Download New Ways of Managing Cancer Care Quick Guide Resource
Guidelines are recommendations for “best practices” in cancer care. Your doctor may be using a Cancer Treatment Guideline to decide what your treatment options should be. Learn more about Treatment Guidelines, how they are developed, and how they influence your care by watching this 12-minute quick guide.
Clinical pathways—also known as care pathways, critical pathways, and care maps—are tools used to manage cancer care. They aim to provide good care at a lower cost. Knowing whether your doctors are using clinical pathways can help you as you make treatment decisions. Learn more about clinical pathways by watching this 9-minute quick guide.
Bundled payments are a new way that physicians are being paid to deliver cancer care. Watch this 9-minute video to learn more about this payment method and how it can improve your patient experience, while reducing costs and unnecessary tests.
Oncology Medical Homes and Accountable Care Organizations are new models for medical care that ensure that the patient gets the care that they need. Watch this 10-minute video to learn more about these models and their potential for providing patient centered care.
Download Oncology Medical Homes & Accountable Care Organizations Quick Guide Resource
The Oncology Care Model (OCM) is a new payment and delivery model created by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMS Innovation Center). The goal of the OCM is to provide coordinated high-quality oncology care at the same or lower cost to Medicare beneficiaries. Learn more about this new model of care and how it is being used to treat cancer patients by taking this short 7-minute quick guide.
Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
Policy & Advocacy
Precision Medicine
Precision medicine takes into account how different each person’s environment, lifestyle, and genes are from one another. The goal of precision medicine is to create a treatment plan according to the “precise” molecular aspects of each patient’s cancer. Treatments can be developed for groups of patients whose cancers all share a specific type of gene or protein. Watch this 8-minute guide to learn more about precision medicine and how it is being used to treat cancer patients. This is the first guide in the Precision Medicine eLearning series.
Genes – which make up your DNA – are molecules inside your cells that you inherited from your birth parents. Sometimes genes are inherited with changes in the DNA, called mutations. Very small changes in the DNA can sometimes cause large issues like cancer. Some inherited mutations can raise a person’s cancer risk later in life. Watch this 6-minute guide to learn more about inherited genetic mutations and how testing for these mutations can help to prevent and diagnosis cancer. This is the second guide in the Precision Medicine eLearning series.
Download Precision Medicine: Cancers You Can Inherit Quick Guide Resource
Biomarker testing helps your doctor understand what is unique about you and your cancer on a molecular level. A biomarker is a molecule in your body that your doctors can measure to tell them something specific about you and your cancer. Biomarkers can let doctors know if your tumor has a good chance of responding to a certain treatment. Watch this 9-minute guide to learn more about biomarker testing and how it is being used to diagnose and treat cancer patients. This is the third guide in the Precision Medicine eLearning series.
Download Precision Medicine: Biomarker Testing Quick Guide Resource
Targeted therapy is a type of cancer treatment that targets a specific change in some cancers that helps them grow, divide, and spread. Targeted drugs are designed to block cancer growth “driven” by these changes to the tumor’s gene. Doctors decide to use a targeted therapy based on the findings of biomarker tests, including mutation testing of your tumor. Watch this 10-minute guide to learn more about targeted therapies and how they are being used to treat cancer patients. This is the fourth guide in the Precision Medicine eLearning series.
Download Precision Medicine: Targeted Therapies Quick Guide Resource
Tips for Living Well with Cancer
This quick guide gives tips for caregivers of people with cancer. A caregiver is someone who provides emotional support, goes to appointments, helps with decision making, coordinates care, helps with transportation, or helps manage finances. Some caregivers do all of these, and others may only do one or two. Being a caregiver is an important job. This 9-minute guide will highlight what’s important to know and help you take care of yourself while you’re taking care of someone you love.
This quick guide will teach you 10 tips to help you or a loved one navigate a cancer journey. Watch this 10-minute guide to learn more about how to talk with your health care team about a new cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Download 10 Tips for Patients with a New Cancer Diagnosis Quick Guide Resource
Cancer affects a family in many ways. Many parents try to protect their children by not sharing information about the situation. However, children of all ages can feel the impact of an illness on a family. This quick guide will give you information about a child’s general understanding of cancer, ways to talk to them about cancer, some common behaviors you may see in children, and ways to support your family through this experience. Watch this 6-minute guide to learn more about how to talk with your children about a cancer diagnosis and treatment.
