Publications
Unveiling New Survivorship Internet Site
Volunteer Voice - Spring 2008
Once cancer care ends, many patients have the same question, “Now what?” To help answer this and many other concerns, M. D. Anderson has launched a new survivorship Internet site. Through this site, our survivors can learn more about cancer, cancer treatment and survivorship.
Thanks to early detection and improved treatments, millions of Americans are surviving cancer. There are more than 10 million survivors in the United States and more than 20 million worldwide. For those in the health field, survivorship is an up-and-coming issue.
“I think we are entering a new phase in the medical chronicles of cancer care,” says Alma Rodriguez, M.D., vice president of medical affairs. “Today many types of cancers are either curable or chronic, and patients will live through the cancer or with the cancer for years.”
There are three stages of survivorship: living with cancer, living through cancer and living beyond cancer.
“Anyone who is living with and through and after the cancer is a survivor,” Rodriguez says. “There are just different problems to deal with at each of these stages.”
The site has facts for every stage of survivorship. You may also search by disease or cancer-related topic for more specifics. To access the Internet site, go to http://www.mdanderson.org/topics/survivorship/ or to the intranet under “S” for survivorship. Not only is the site a learning tool, it sends a message of hope through patients’ personal stories.
For easy use, the site has five sections:
- Patients’ stories
- An online survivorship guide
- Medical survivorship services at M. D. Anderson
- Social, psychological, spiritual and educational resources at M. D. Anderson
- News and articles about survivorship
“The survivorship Internet site will benefit patients by directing them to services available at M. D. Anderson,” Rodriguez says. “It provides published and updated information from various literature sources, as well as updated policy and advocacy concerns that may be relevant to patients with cancer and patients who have been treated for cancer. Through links, such as to the Anderson Network, it also connects patients to other survivors, who may be able to share their experiences and provide support. It is a one-stop shopping site for those who are seeking various types of information.”
With over 40,000 survivors at M. D. Anderson alone, this site will continue to grow to give the most up-to-date survivorship information available at M. D. Anderson.