What Is Survivorship in 2010?

December 29, 2009

"What is survivorship?" This is a philosophical question that I deal with on daily basis; asking it, quite frankly, drives my passions and informs my career. More importantly, it drives what 11 million cancer survivors in the US do every day, whether they know it or not. Here at the CT Challenge, we hope that survivorship is an increasingly positive experience for those 11 million American survivors, especially the 120,000 cancer survivors in CT.

Survivorship is an emerging science
Today, December 29 2009, I searched the US government’s database of medical and science research for papers involving the search term “cancer survivorship.” The search returned 328 papers. That may sound like a lot of research, but consider that when I searched for “cancer,” the search returned 2,334,493 papers. The science of cancer survivorship is still in its embryonic stage. Indeed, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) did not open the Office of Cancer Survivorship (OCS) until 1996. The national office serving survivors is just 14 years old.

The emerging nature of the information in cancer survivorship promises frustration to interested parties (e.g., survivors, loved ones of survivors, caregivers for survivors; even medical professionals). Very little information we have is robust, detailed, or exact. In fact, researchers are still learning what questions are the right questions to ask. In other words, it is the rare case in which we can say, “yes do that (e.g., exercise) because it will benefit your health and quality of life” or “no don’t do that because it will be bad for your health (e.g. smoking)”. What are we to do with all of this? It would be easy for anyone concerned with cancer survivorship to feel like a deer in headlights. The good news is that survivorship research is being funded more and more, and we are learning much about survivorship, survivors, and long-term cancer care.

Survivorship is a guiding principle
My good friend and CT Challenge Advisory Board member, Scott Capozza, has been a survivor for a decade. I am always intrigued when I hear Scott talk about the gift of survivorship or “cancer as an opportunity.” Because I am not a survivor, it is difficult for me to imagine cancer as anything but evil, but many survivors have explained to me that cancer has been a gift to them. I think the point these survivors are trying to make is that cancer was a wake-up call, and because it put a strain on their health, cancer forced them to make conscious healthy choices. Hopefully, survivorship is about the continuation of those healthy choices. At its best, survivorship calls the survivor to examine how best to live life physically, emotionally, spiritually, organizationally, and relationally.

Survivorship is a tool

Because survivorship calls survivors to live healthier lives and because we are learning more about exactly what healthy survivorship is, survivorship can be a tool. Survivorship is both the motivation and the information to live a healthy life. The CT Challenge is committed to providing you with the latest information in survivorship, but the onus of following through is on you. And while the CT Challenge is, well, challenging survivors to make those healthy choices, we are committed to helping with that too. As the new year unfolds, pay close attention to the CT Challenge; we are rolling out new ways to help survivors, to enhance survivorship.

Happy New Year!

Christian McEvoy, MPH
Director of Suvivorship Information

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