Many cancer victims beat the dread disease but the psychological challenges often prove to be another mountain to climb.
The MUHC has attempted to help with those challenges by launching a dedicated program to help with the intense anxiety, which often includes an intense fear of recurrence. “Some people deal with depression, getting back to work, dealing with your wife and kids,” said Dr. Genevieve Chaput of the MUHC.
Chaput said that family doctors are also part of the training. “We teach the family doctors about the common issues that cancer survivors can have and the surveillance needs, so that they're always up to date on what's going on.”
Patient Tristan Williams has been intimately acquainted with the psychological pressures wrought by cancer since first being diagnosed with thyroid cancer at age 12.
“I've been through the depression, the darkness, the suicidal thoughts, the deep, dark depression where I felt like a left my body. I was just absent from life,” said Williams. “I was my own support system. I had family and friends but the deep emotional pain that I had I couldn't express it.”
There are about one million cancer survivors in Canada, a number expected to double within five years.
