What it means to be a cancer survivor

We celebrate our former cancer patients — but it’s important to recognize survivorship comes with its own challenges.

With treatment in the rearview, cheerleaders and formal patient support networks begin to fade away. Survivors face emotional changes while working their way back into old social dynamics.

Routine checkups don’t make adjusting any easier, triggering anxiety and paranoia of relapse. There’s even a name for this sinking feeling: scanxiety.

These emotional hurdles hit those who have already gone the distance, and may complicate physical hurdles like the lingering effects of chemotherapy — or puberty.

It’s an unexpected collision course that Tamara Chang, MD, knows all too well.

“Survivorship is a really big passion of mine,” she says. “It was one of the big reasons why I went into oncology.”

Dr. Chang, pediatric oncologist, hematologist and cancer camp counselor moonlighter, knows it can be a shock to hear that remission isn’t blue skies and rainbows. She says talking openly about common experiences can help survivors network and find a new normal.

“We need to support people to not only survive their cancer, but to also thrive in their lives afterward.”

To remission, and beyond

Drawing on her experience with oncology kids, and with the help of a gracious family donation, Dr. Chang helped shape the Panos Koumantaros Cancer Survivor Program at MultiCare Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital. The program aims to address the longer-term needs of child survivors as they transition into post-treatment life and plan for a future they can look forward to.

“I think that since there’s so much kindness and energy and support when kids and families are going through treatment for cancer, we don’t often recognize that so much work has to happen afterward,” she says. “And that often is the time when families and children and young people need even more support. So, I think that’s where this program is extremely powerful. We need to support people to not only survive their cancer, but to also thrive in their lives afterward.”

Dr. Chang and the Mary Bridge Children’s Survivorship team create a health plan for every cancer survivor and make sure patients receive consistent checkups and follow-up care. Most recently, they’ve added neuro-psychology screenings, connecting minors with mental health therapy or treatment when necessary.

Since 2015, the program has grown from supporting 16 survivors to over 400.

“I discovered a love of not only caring for on-therapy patients, but also pediatric cancer survivors, and creating a space to help survivors thrive in their lives after cancer,” Dr. Chang says. “Nothing brings me more joy than seeing kids, parents and siblings climb up a rock wall, scream and laugh down a zip line, and let loose on the dance floor with joy and abandon they thought could never be possible again.”