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Survivorship
Over 75,000 people are newly diagnosed with cancer each year in Australia. Almost half will survive 5 years or more.
This is called 'survivorship' by researchers (the state in which someone lives after apparently successful treatment). The Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine, University of Sydney has researched this since 1996. Researchers identified that many people have serious difficulties in living their lives after cancer. Survivors identified that they continue to wear a cancer label (usually for life), that their bodies are fallible and mortal and that their experience cannot be communicated to friends and intimates.
Most people adapt to the stresses of life after cancer fairly successfully, but there are those whose lives contain real unhappiness. They feel sadness, a sense of isolation and diminished self-respect. Understanding what is happening, recognising that it is normal to have these feelings, realising others are experiencing something similar, being given ways of talking about their experiences, and being offered opportunities to talk about them helps many people. Find out more
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