Frankly Speaking About Cancer with the Cancer Support Community

This episode focuses on making treatment decisions when you or your loved one has been diagnosed with an advanced cancer. There are a lot of issues that a person has to navigate - financial concerns, legal documents, communicating with the care team, and the emotions that come with caring for a loved one with an advanced cancer diagnosis. With us today is hospice and palliative medicine physician Dr. BJ Miller.

Over the last decade, the number of treatment options for patients with advanced cancers has greatly expanded. In this episode, we look at treatments currently available to patients diagnosed with advanced or metastatic bladder cancer and discuss ways to cope with this difficult diagnosis. Our guests are Dr. Daniel Geynisman and Monica Scanlan, BSN, RN, both of Fox Chase Cancer Center at Temple Health, and Rachel Saks, MSS, LSW, OSW-C, Senior Director, Education at the Cancer Support Community.

Grief can be complicated and confusing. Coping with the feelings that follow a loss can be difficult, but it doesn’t have to be something from which we run away. In this episode, we sit down with Susan Ash Lee, Vice President, Clinical Services at CSC. Susan offers a compassionate exploration of this subject and insight into how we can help ourselves and our loved ones in the face of grief.

This episode is part of our special series “Young and Diagnosed” which focuses on the unique challenges and experiences of young adults facing a cancer diagnosis. Jacqueline Smith and Evan Ruggiero are living proof of just how quickly and randomly life can change. As they’ll tell you, their new paths are in many ways more rewarding than anything they could have imagined--or might have chosen--before their lives took an unthinkable detour. “Young and Diagnosed” is brought to you by Genentech.

“Cancer always catches people by surprise and will always be someone else’s problem...we are all terrified that one day, the someone else will be us.” Those are the words of oncologist and caregiver John Marshall in the new book Off Our Chests, a memoir he has co-authored with his wife Liza who was diagnosed with stage 3 triple negative breast cancer in 2006. Now 16 years past this life changing experience, Liza and John call their story “a candid tour through the world of cancer.” Honest and unafraid to be vulnerable, the Marshalls share in this episode what it’s like for a doctor to learn humility as a caregiver and a woman to face many levels of loss with courage and grace.

In this episode, we take a close look at advanced non-melanoma skin cancer. With advances in detection, diagnosis and treatments for both melanoma and non-melanoma, these cancers are being discovered at earlier stages and treated with a much more personalized approach. With us today to talk specifically about advanced non-melanoma skin care are two experts in the field: Dr. Gregory Biedermann and Dr. Christos Papageorgiou.

Have you ever wondered why you may have had to wait for your insurance to authorize your medicine or procedure or why you may have not be able to get the medication first recommended by your doctor? Chances are that you may never have heard the term utilization management practices (UM) before, but it can impact the recommendations made by your health care team and what your insurance plan will cover. In this episode, we take an in-depth look at how UM plays out in everyday life, how these practices can increase health disparities and how you can advocate for yourself and your loved ones. Our guest is Phylicia L. Woods, Executive Director of the Cancer Support Community’s Cancer Policy Institute.

Thanks to advances in research and several new treatments, people diagnosed with multiple myeloma are living better and longer than ever before. The disease is treatable and can be managed like any other chronic condition. Today, we’re going to talk about the knowledge and tools that can help manage the physical, emotional and practical impact of living with multiple myeloma. Our guests are Dr. Sikander Ailawadhi and Jan Miller, a licensed professional counselor.

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, doctors and other healthcare providers were being tested by a number of stressors that impacted their emotional well-being and, by extension, patient care. Thankfully, with the help of our guests, Joseph Stern, MD and Dan Shapiro, PhD, the situation is changing. This episode focuses on the challenges faced by the doctors who care for us and new approaches and programs helping address the burnout that they experience.

Our special series “Young and Diagnosed” focuses on the unique challenges and experiences of young adults facing a cancer diagnosis. In this episode, we meet Suleika Jaouad and Jonathan Sommers. Suleika is the author of the NY Times bestseller Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted and Jonathan is a filmmaker who serves on SWOG Cancer Research Network’s Digital Engagement Committee. “Young and Diagnosed” is brought to you by Genentech.