How to Find Support When You Have Metastatic Kidney Cancer

Nearly two years after he’d been treated for kidney cancer and felt like he was in the clear, Chuck Stravin received the news that some nodules in both of his lungs were growing at an aggressive pace. When those were removed and biopsied, results confirmed that his kidney cancer had become metastatic. “Everything switched in that moment—the battle became completely different,” he recalls. “Before, we were focused on moving fast and being cancer-free, and then I had to flip a switch and slow down. I had to change my mindset, and I knew I couldn’t do that alone.” [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] When he was first diagnosed, Stravin had a few sessions with a social worker at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, where he was treated. But he knew that navigating metastatic kidney cancer would require a larger team to help him feel supported. “I’m a classic type A person who sees things as black and white,” he says. “But metastatic cancer is all shades of gray when it comes to how you respond emotionally. It’s hard to process that, especially on your own.” The American Cancer Society (ACS) estimates that about 82,000 new cases of kidney cancer are diagnosed each year. Around one-third of people affected will see their cancer spread to surrounding tissues or organs, which is called stage 4 or metastatic disease. The five-year survival rate fot these patients is around 15%, according to t...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Cancer healthscienceclimate Source Type: news