“The worst club with the best members.”

What is survivorship?

According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), survivorship starts the day someone receives a cancer diagnosis. It continues during and after treatment and on through the end of life.

What are common challenges for survivors?

Depression in end-of-life patients has increased by 26% over the past two decades. Meanwhile, cancer survivors are 57% more likely to develop depression, 29% more likely to develop anxiety, and 56% more likely to develop psychotic disorders in the years following treatment compared to their siblings or healthy members of a control group.

Here are some common challenges survivors face:

Medical trauma
Depression and anxiety
Loneliness
Shame
Intimacy challenges
Fear of recurrence
Fear of resubscribing back into life
Fear of mortality
Grief
Financial hardship

How many cancer survivors are there?

There’s no debate about the growing need for cancer survivorship support. According to the NCI, as of 2022, just over 18 million people in the United States are cancer survivors, meaning they have or had cancer. An estimated 8 million people are living 10 or more years after diagnosis. Over the next 10 years, experts anticipate a 24% increase in the number of people living with cancer.

Learn why the number of cancer survivors is increasing and more.

Is survivorship the same as palliative care?

Survivorship and palliative care can overlap. Palliative care is specialized medical care that focuses on providing relief from pain and other symptoms of a serious illness. It also can help you cope with side effects from medical treatments. The availability of palliative care does not depend on whether your condition can be cured.

What are the phases of survivorship?