A cancer diagnosis can often make you sit up and notice all the less than ideal health habits you’ve acquired over the years. Fortunately, Cancer Lifeline offers many classes and programs that are aimed to help you on your path to a healthier lifestyle including gentle exercise, nutritional, artistic expression, improving sleep, and practicing mindfulness...
What is it about being in nature that makes us feel better? Looking at a vibrant blue sky, hearing birds chirp, and smelling flowers or salt water undeniably improves our mood. Research now tells us that the environment we are in not only impacts our mood, but our nervous, endocrine, and immune systems. “The stress...
Cancer Lifeline Volunteer Nancy Werner (center) cuts the cake with former staffer, Mary Ellen Shands and Cancer Lifeline Community Program Manager, Basha Brownstein when the gang was finally reunited at the Dorothy O’Brien Center in April 2022. When I was diagnosed with cancer, I had never been healthier, more fit, or happier in my career....
Most people have an innate desire to be helpful and supportive, especially when someone we love and care about is having a difficult time. When a friend or family member has cancer, we instinctively want to do whatever we can to help. However, few people have caregiving experience and, despite our best intentions, helping someone...
Whether in the beginning stages of a diagnosis, during treatment, or after treatment, many people living with cancer experience higher levels of stress and anxiety in the days or weeks leading up to or after a scan, MRI, or x-ray appointment. This experience has been termed ‘scanxiety.’ This is no surprise, given that scans are...
There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called Yesterday, and one is called Tomorrow. So Today is the right day to love, believe, do and mostly live. ~ Dalai Lama It is not unusual, while living with a cancer diagnosis, to feel like you have to make...
Many people say they feel as if their lives were turned upside down as soon as they received their cancer diagnosis, leaving them feeling a loss of control. Days are suddenly filled with clinic appointments, tests, and treatment visits. Feelings of stress, fear, worry, can dominate one’s thoughts. Then there are the more subtle changes...
Anyone who has been in the position of being a long-distance caregiver will attest to the fact that this is a unique and oftentimes challenging role. The term long-distance is relative; one does not need to be hundreds or thousands of miles away to be considered a long-distance caregiver. If it takes an hour’s drive...
We are creatures of habit. When things go as planned, we feel in control. However, when unexpected events occur, such as a being diagnosed with cancer, they remind us that there is only so much we can control, and that life’s uncertainty is inevitable. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a lot of uncertainty about our...
“I define connection as the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship.” ~Brené Brown We humans are social beings at the core of our existence. Yes, we all need our ‘alone’ time...
