Cancer Hope Network Celebrates Cancer Survivor Month

As an organization built and grown by dedicated cancer survivor volunteers, celebrating Cancer Survivor Month is part of CHN’s DNA. Survivors are part of our everyday – from newly diagnosed survivors beginning treatment to long term survivors they’re connecting with.

Cancer survivors face myriad challenges as they adjust to their new normal. There’s a new language (Are you a survivor? A thriver? Are you beating cancer? Do terms like “fight” and warlike metaphors bouy your spirts or make you want to throw something?). There are thoughtless questions from well-meaning colleagues, friends and loved ones (READ: What do I say? Keeping your foot out of your mouth when a loved one is facing cancer). There are longterm side effects from life saving treatments and the fear of recurrence (READ: Wisdom of the Crowd: Five Tips for Battling Fear of Recurrence).

Through these and many other challenges, the cancer survivors (and caregivers!) who serve as peer support volunteers at Cancer Hope Network are finding and creating hope. These survivors have turned one of life’s worst experiences into the starting point of a new chapter. They’re creating hope for their own healing – and hope in other survivors, still undergoing active treatment a little earlier in their cancer journeys.

I recently marked my seven year anniversary at Cancer Hope Network. It was a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the incredible work that our survivor volunteers are doing each day. Over the past few years, Cancer Hope Network has seen an enormous jump in the number of services we’re providing (more last year than any time in our 41 year history!) and nearly doubled the number of individual clients that are receiving support. That is a lot of hope – created one cancer survivor conversation at a time.

This month, and every month, the Cancer Hope Network team is proud to join friends, volunteers and colleagues across the nation in celebrating survivors.

STORIES OF HOPE: Cancer Hope Network Celebrates Cancer Survivor Month