‘Sometimes the side effects are worse than the cancer’.
A cancer diagnosis brings with it a kaleidoscope of challenges for a patient and their families, but these challenges often get worse at the time when active treatment ceases. For people with advanced disease, these challenges endure.
This session will offer a lived experience perspective beyond the treatment bubble where navigating fear, loss, grief, and confusion becomes a necessary pathway to recovery along with managing the impact of debilitating side effects.
In the context of optimal care, health service delivery needs to focus on the whole person rather than the disease.
In the context of living well, people impacted by cancer need to be supported to redefine the quality of their life rather than being defined by their prognosis.