Life on Pause

What happens to the usual milestones like graduation when you throw cancer into the mix?  Seven 2021 graduates reflect on cancer’s impact on this milestone—some of the graduates were treated as young children and others more recently.  No matter when their diagnosis, cancer played a role in shaping who they are today.

What is Ewings Sarcoma?  In this episode, three young adults describe it from the inside out while Dr. Joe Drabick provides the medical description.  Special thanks to University of Florida for partnering with Penn State Health to make this episode possible.

Four young adults with amputations due to their cancer treatment reflect on their experience. They share what it was like to come to terms with the limb loss, adapting to the new reality, interacting with the public and much more. You won’t want to miss this episode of Life on Pause.

You finish cancer treatment and then what? Suleika Jaouad's memoir, Between Two Kingdoms, beautifully captures the young adult cancer experience. Traveling through diagnosis to discovering and creating a life after treatment, her words provide the springboard for a rich discussion amongst the Life on Pause crew.

What is life like twenty years after a cancer diagnosis?  Does life ever return to ‘normal’?  The Life on Pause crew talks with three different cancer survivors, who are twenty years post-diagnosis.  Does scanxiety ever go away? How did treatment impact fertility? These questions and more are covered.

A bone marrow transplant can be life-saving and changing for some oncological and non-oncological conditions.  Terry Shapiro, CRNP, with 30 plus years of experience, talks with four young adults about their experience with the ‘boot camp’ of bone marrow transplant. From a review of what the procedure is to its impact on daily life, this episode covers it all.

What to post? What to share? Social media can be tricky enough without a cancer diagnosis.  Listen in as Sarah Daniels, AYA Child Life specialist and social media researcher from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, facilitates a lively discussion with a group of young adults about the choices they made regarding social media and their cancer experience.

How do you continue to connect to friends, keep your mind engaged and yet distracted from dark thoughts and pass the time in the infusion room?  Through video gaming, of course.  Three teens share their cancer experience and how their video-gaming provided needed support through treatment.

Cancer treatment impacts greatly impacts the physical treatment.  This podcast begins with young adults sharing their experiences of physical deconditioning, regaining strength and exercises role in helping cope with cancer.

(13:30) Natalie Burse, cancer exercise researcher and breast cancer survivor.

(18:40) Dr. Pooja Rao and Jared Heitzenrater discuss the AYA UNITE exercise and oncology study.

(25:58) Drs. Katie Schmitz and Maxime Caru outline exercise’s benefits for cancer patients and the upcoming PAPAYA studies.

(34:00) Questions and answers.

For more information about the ONE Group, visit www.research.med.psu.edu/oncology-nutrition-exercise or email [email protected]

Joined by Julie Larson, clinical social worker with a focus on cancer patients, the Life on Pause crew discusses cancer’s impact on body image. From the moon face from steroids, hair and limb loss to changes in body capabilities, the young adults review how they navigated their relationship to body image in the midst of the physical changes that cancer treatment brings.

To learn more about Julie, visit: https://www.julielarsonlcsw.com/