Why a Cancer Journey Takes a Village

Jace Yawnick knows that it takes a village to support a patient who is in the midst of a cancer journey.

Yawnick, who is now 27-years-old, was 25 when he received his diagnosis of non-Hdgkin lymphoma. Documenting his experience with the disease and treatment, he amassed an online following of hundreds of thousands of supporters, and launched the non-profit organization Jace Beats Cancer.

He sat down for an interview with CURE to explain why having a support system is so essential for patients with cancer.

Transcript

Why does it take a village, as the saying goes, to support a patient with cancer?

This is a phrase that's used commonly with oncologists. My oncologist, the first thing he said was, “You need to make sure that you're near your family. It takes a village,” and there are so many reasons for that. Very plainly put, when you're going through cancer treatment, your body becomes completely weakened in so many ways, and it's challenging to navigate it. It's challenging to stay on top of everything. I would say, even if I was of perfect mind while I was getting chemo or starting chemo, just the sheer volume of paperwork and information you're receiving can't be received by one person. It's a lot to deal with. They don't teach you about this in school.

So, I would say it takes a village for so many reasons, for the paperwork, for just getting to appointments, and then also the emotional side of it. Nobody wants to deal with any hardships alone, let alone something as challenging as cancer. So having that resource system, as many people as you could, is so incredibly important, and it's a definite need for everybody, as much as they can get it.

And unfortunately, not everybody has as much of a village, but people tend to rally around somebody when they're going through cancer, especially because they know somebody who's gone through it, or they have a family member who's going through it. So the community is very strong. There are villages out there, everywhere.

Transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

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