After Treatment: What does it mean to be a Survivor?

According to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the number of cancer survivors in the United States increased to 11.7 million in 2007. To put that in perspective - consider the fact that there were 3 million cancer survivors in 1971 and 9.8 million in 2001. Since 1999, the rate of cancer in the U.S. has dropped .5 percent each year. The death rate of adult cancer patients has also annually dropped by about 1.5 percent since that year, according to the Annual Report to the Nation on the Status on Cancer, 1975-2008.

More good news that accompanies those numbers... Study findings indicate:

• Breast cancer survivors are the largest group of cancer survivors (22 percent), followed by prostate cancer survivors (19 percent) and colorectal cancer survivors (10 percent).
• Among all survivors, 4.7 million received their diagnosis 10 or more years earlier.

All three of those of those cancers in the first bullet point are able to be found with a cancer screening. What this information tells us is that those screenings we keep encouraging you to have are working. And not only are people surviving - they're surviving longer, which can be attributed to increasingly effective treatments. Those treatments are discovered through research trials - valuable, but under-utilized tools in the fight to rid our world of cancer.


Of course, more survivors mean an increasing need for support after the battle. Survivors often deal with long-lasting effects of their treatments that can be uncomfortable, annoying, or even physically debilitating. When a patient and their family is in the middle of their treatment, it's hard to think past what they are doing right then, so the work that comes after - staying healthy, recovering and maintaining pre-cancer activity levels, and learning to accept the limitations that they may have to live with - is often nothing they want to discuss or even consider.

Support groups and information focused on survivorship are in demand more and more by patients and their families. We work to meet that demand in the support groups we facilitate and also with our licensed Social Workers on staff. They work with individuals to determine specific emotional needs, and find sources of information and support to make sure that transitioning into the new life post-cancer treatment is as smooth as possible. If you or someone you know needs some assistance and information about being a cancer survivor please contact us at 479-361-5847.

More information about cancer survivorship can be found on these websites:

• National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has information, podcasts, and even the ability to send an e-card here.
• The National Cancer Institute lots of information grouped by survivorship topic here and a long list of publications and resources here. 
• American Cancer Society covers a lot of information about being healthy survivors here.

Some of the information in this posting was found in this press release on the National Cancer Institute website.