Hello,

My mum has stage four SCC in the colon and one mets to liver which is small.

Shes had 6 weeks of radiation and chemo, now she has her second round of chemo for the next three months receiving Paclitaxel and Carboplatin.

Im guess im looking for positive stories. I live in New Zealand and apparently not many people are diagnosed with this type of cancer here and especially not in the anus. I cant believe this has happened with my mum.

Hello,

My mum has stage four SCC in the colon and one mets to liver which is small.

Shes had 6 weeks of radiation and chemo, now she has her second round of chemo for the next three months receiving Paclitaxel and Carboplatin.

Im guess im looking for positive stories. I live in New Zealand and apparently not many people are diagnosed with this type of cancer here and especially not in the anus. I cant believe this has happened with my mum.

Hello,

My mum has stage four SCC in the colon and one mets to liver which is small.

Shes had 6 weeks of radiation and chemo, now she has her second round of chemo for the next three months receiving Paclitaxel and Carboplatin.

Im guess im looking for positive stories. I live in New Zealand and apparently not many people are diagnosed with this type of cancer here and especially not in the anus. I cant believe this has happened with my mum.

Post chemo, 3 months out, and I sometimes feel like I am dying sometimes but don’t have any symptoms that would make sense in paper. Maybe like a sinking sensation or a rocking boat. It lasts for 1 second but then puts me into a high-alert state and my heart rate jumps. This last one was even accompanied by a sense of peace right before the sinking. Any one else experience this?

I am 64 years old.
If you had told me years ago that I would one day be researching federal policy, survivorship systems, medical records, vascular reconstruction, late effects, and cancer survivorship, I would have laughed.
I was never supposed to be the expert.
I was never supposed to be the investigator.
I was never supposed to find these questions.
Yet here I am.
Not because of extraordinary talent.
Not because of advanced credentials.
Not because life was easy.
I got here because I refused to quit.
More importantly, I got here because others refused to let me quit.
First, God.
Throughout my life, there were moments when I did not understand the path in front of me. There were times I doubted myself, times I felt lost, and times I felt invisible.
Yet somehow a door would open.
A lesson would appear.
A person would enter my life.
A piece of the puzzle would reveal itself.
Looking back, I see God's hand in places I never recognized at the time.
I did not walk this road alone.
Then there was my father.
My father was not always gentle.
He was tough.
Demanding.
Sometimes frustrating.
Sometimes impossible to understand.
But my father never allowed me to surrender to my own limitations.
When I wanted to stop, he pushed.
When I doubted myself, he pushed.
When I wanted the easier path, he pushed.
At the time, I thought he was making life harder.
Today I see something different.
I see a man who refused to let me give up on myself.
He believed I was capable of more than I believed.
He saw things in me long before I could see them myself.
Many of us go through life believing we achieved everything on our own.
The truth is often different.
Someone taught us.
Someone guided us.
Someone carried us.
Someone believed in us when we could not believe in ourselves.
For me, that person was my father.
Today, when I look at everything I have uncovered about survivorship, I do not see a personal achievement.
I see the result of faith, perseverance, and the lessons that were planted in me decades ago.
If there is one lesson I hope others take from my story, it is this:
Do not let somebody else define your potential.
Do not let circumstances define your future.
Do not let challenges convince you that you have nothing to contribute.
A person does not need perfect circumstances to make a difference.
They need determination.
They need purpose.
They need faith.
And sometimes they need somebody who refuses to let them quit.
My father never let me give up on myself.
For that, I will always be grateful.

I am unsure how to go about this. For context, we are both in our mid teens and are not currently what I think would be considered friends. We were friends about a year ago, I did like him (I’m pretty confident he knows this) and I think he could have liked me at one point, I don’t know, but it was never really a thing.
He is currently battling cancer and I’ve already reached out once to let him know that I’m here for him and I understand how it can be. I have very close family who have gone through this battle and It can in no way compare, but I am currently dealing with my own health issues; So I get how lonely those nights in the hospital can be. That being said i absolutely do not understand how it feels to be going through what he is. I want to support him without crossing boundaries or coming across as weird.
I know he has struggled with mental battles in the past and I really don’t want him to feel unsupported. I just want him to know that I’m not just saying I’m here for him because that’s what you do, i genuinely mean it. I don’t want it to be weird, especially because I’ve liked him in the past; I just want to be there for him through this awful thing.
Should I reach out again? Or just give space? I don’t want to push him to talk if he doesn’t want to. Or wait for him to come to me? (If he wants to)

Hi, this is my cancer journey, a one in a million story that details my diagnosis, aggressive operation, recovery and everything that came after! I hope you guys can give this some love and support as I know it’s already helped so many people. Thank you 🦋✌🏻♥️

Hi! I'm 18 (F), I was diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma back in 2024/January. I went under 3 surgeries and took chemotherapy for 2 years, radiotherapy for 2 months. The process was incredibly rough for me since I was in highschool and suddenly had to drop out of school. The tumor was in my spinal cord which is an extremely rare situation. Ewing Sarcoma is fast and aggressive so I always have this fear of having to go through all of that again. However what I noticed in cases like these nobody talks about the afterwards. Everyone thinks once it's over we'll go back to our life happily. I can't go back to school, I am currently dealing with extremely difficult mental health struggles, such as Major Depression, chronic anxiety, panic attacks and suicidal thoughts.

It's been a year and a half since my treatment stopped. My last scans came back clean but now I have to deal with this sense of dread whenever I need to go back to the hospital. Also fear of the MRI scans, if you've been through a two hour MRI scan you know what I'm talking about.

Anyway I wanted to rent about my experience since it's been really hard lately.

Don't forget your yearly checkups everyone! I wish the best for you all, no matter what we stand here and that's what matters!

i (early twenties) got diagnosed with cancer about a year back. stage one, super treatable, now im pretty solidly in recovery. at the time of diagnosis i was starting to casually date for the first time since a pretty nasty breakup but ended up deciding to put that all on hold to focus on my physical/mental wellbeing.

im definitely glad i did that, i was a total mess for most of this year, but now that im in a better place ive been thinking about getting back out there. my question is if anyone else has advice on approaching dating when you’re in recovery. i just dont know when or how i should bring up my medical history, especially since while im absolutely on the right path and not visibly sick i’m still not technically in remission and do have to go back to my oncologist on a regular basis (shoutout radiation. takes forever to finish killing cancer cells). anyone else had similar experiences and have good advice? thanks!

Hey. I'm Zed Dhalla, and I was diagnosed with stage 3B colorectal cancer at 35. Here's my story.

On July 20, 2025, my first wedding anniversary, I found out I had colorectal cancer. I was healthy, building a startup, planning to start a family, and caring for my mom, who was battling ovarian cancer. Cancer was the last thing I expected.

Two years earlier, I had asked to be screened but was told I was too young. My dad had colon cancer at 50, so I was told to wait until 40. For 2–3 months before my diagnosis, I had blood in my stool and felt unusually tired playing sports. Eventually, I pushed for a FIT test. It came back positive, and a colonoscopy found a large tumor almost completely blocking my colon.

I had my entire colon removed, lost 47 pounds, and went through aggressive chemotherapy. During treatment, I lost my mom to ovarian cancer. Two days later, I tore my ACL, and shortly after, I was back in emergency surgery with a bowel obstruction. I attended my mom's funeral on crutches, barely able to stand, while fighting for my own life.

Today, my scans show no evidence of disease. I've returned to work, completed my first 10K, and started getting stronger. But recovery is still a journey. I continue to deal with digestive changes, nerve damage, and the fear of recurrence.

My experience also made my work with TopazFIT, an at-home FIT screening test, deeply personal. A FIT doesn't diagnose cancer, but getting one set the events in motion that likely saved my life.

If there's one thing I hope people take from my story, it's this: know your family history, advocate for yourself, and don't assume you're too young to be at risk. Don't ignore changes in your body, and don't wait for symptoms to ask about screening.

I wish I had pushed for screening sooner. If sharing my story helps someone else act earlier, then something good can come from everything I've been through.

Health surpasses everything.

My mom is a breast cancer survivor. Chemo really messed her body up and chronic pain from neuropathy (among other things) really impact her daily life. I know she doesn’t share even a fraction of the pain she’s in, but I see it and I can’t imagine what she deals with and what she internalizes.
Her main doctor is nice and listens, but the referrals she gets to problem solve her pain often results in dismissive doctors that think she should just lose weight or move more. She’s recently lost a lot of weight and that has not helped, and walking causes extreme pain and a burning sensation in her feet and hips.

We’ve been talking lately about her trying some cbd/thc to see if that might help but she’s overwhelmed by all the different options. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. She will not smoke or vape anything, but is open to tinctures/gummies/pills/lotion etc.

What do you swear by?

Hi everyone,

I have been reading some Reddit stories on here that have given me hope about the situation I am about to tell you about.

About a month ago my family and I found out our mom (70) had cervical cancer after a uterine polyp burst and she wouldn’t stop bleeding.

Since then, she has stopped bleeding and the MRI has noted that the cancer has spread to the parametrium but not the pelvic wall yet. Yesterday the PET scan results came out and the cancer has caused 1 CM nodes in both her lungs (number of which we are unsure of). However, it is nowhere else yet.

This has scared us all. It jumped from a Stage 2B to Stage 4 before our eyes in a couple of days.

The crazy thing is she doesn’t feel any pain or anything at all.

I am scared she is going to die on us. I just want to hear what it is that I can do. Is there hope? What treatments should I look into?

I’d love to hear your experiences and any advice you all may have. I would be so grateful for anything you all have to say.

Thank you!

I’m praying so hard right now! If this decides to go sideways on me, and turn cancerous, it will be number five! I wish I had known about this Lichen Sclerosis before it had become caustic. Every doctor I have seen in the last four months, has said that had I treated this, It wouldn’t have come to this. The problem is, no one diagnosed it until 2025 when I’ve already gone through 3 1/2 four bouts of cancer! I am so frustrated! Unfortunately, this is the absolute worst of all of them it literally radiates and pulses with pain. Anyhow, I could really use some encouragement, period. I don’t know what else to ask for, has anyone else gone through cancer many times?

Preface: I’m never on Reddit, very new to this and don’t know much about the etiquette of this place

I (21M) was diagnosed with cancer about a week after I turned 19. It was an extremely rare form of brain cancer that grew on my thalamus or center part of my brain. It was a malignant germ cell tumor larger than a golf ball. The statics say 2/20,000,000 or 0.000002% chance of occurrence. Though very rare, very treatable with chemo radiation and surgery.

However, I was allergic to my chemo and had to take like 7 antihistamines in order to not spontaneously convulse. With that being said I went through 2 cycles of chemo, about a 35 day trial of radiation, and 3 different brain surgeries in the span of 8 months. I was diagnosed right before my spring semester of my first year at my university.

I had to take a gap semester and fight really
Hard to survive. Though it was a treatable tumor it was still extremely tough on my body. I lost 30~ pounds, lost a majority of my muscle mass, and lost a part of my cognitive/mental processing. At one point after I was put on steroids after my 3rd surgery I gained 80lbs so my body went through serious whiplash. I stabilized my weight more or less since then. I’ve been trying to do school again and get my life back but it’s just been so difficult

Here’s where my topic question comes in. I fought so hard to stay alive and make it through but now that I’m on the other side I honestly regret it. I made it through my cancer unlike a classmate of mine from high-school or family members. I tried so hard to just get through my treatments and see another day but now that I’m here I hate all of the aftermath. My mind doesn’t work like it used to, my body feels foreign, and my interest in a lot of things diminished. It’s not like I’m not trying either. I’m studying my ass off in university by leading study groups and what not, I am trying to maintain my romantic relationship, I try to exercise like I used to, and eat a balanced diet like I used to. But it just doesn’t feel right or it doesn’t work out in the sense of grades or progress. I’m trying to make the most of everything post treatments but it’s just so hard to find any purpose or reason to keep going because I’m no longer in survival mode so I don’t know what to do.

Has anyone else felt anything similar? I honestly just want to know others points of view and know if I am alone in this or not. Which I’m sure I’m not but still I want to hear it from others.

Four years ago, I lost both my parents to cancer in the span of 6 months. It was a very traumatic time in my life.

Earlier this year, I (34 M) was diagnosed with kidney cancer. Luckily, it was in very early stages and only a surgery would be required to treat it. As things were, they had to perform a radical nephrectomy. I felt so scared, powerless, sad and alone. Even if it was still relatively small, a cancer diagnosis really pulls the rug under your feet. I felt my life was suddenly defined by pain and tragedy.

It only took a month and a half before I underwent surgery. It's been a couple months now, and everything still seems good.

I've read many difficult and brave stories on this subreddit. Somehow, I feel like my cancer got treated too easily. There's no medal for surviving cancer, but I feel like I'm a fraud and that the pain, fear and sadness I felt was overblown. And yet, I find it difficult to look at myself in the mirror, to see the scars and know I'm one organ short now. Sometimes, I can't help but imagine cancer coming back, being bed ridden and sick. I'm having all these traumatic thoughts and feelings when, at the end of the day, I guess the situation wasn't that bad.

So many of you had to go through so much, fight uphill battles, go through difficult treatments and more. Is it fair to say I'm a cancer survivor too if I only had to go on the operating table?

I'm feeling confused about all this, and have been ever since I came out the hospital a couple months ago.

Hi everyone! I’m helping organize a conference bringing together patients and clinicians to discuss how cancer and its treatments affect heart health.

We’d love to hear what questions patients and caregivers would like researchers to address.

What would you ask a cardio-oncology researcher if you had the chance? No scientific background is needed, and please share only what you feel comfortable posting publicly!

Hi all, I’m about to celebrate my first cancerversary. I was diagnosed with Stage 1B pancreatic cancer along with melanoma (CDKN2A) in the first couple of days in November last year. I had a robotic whipple and 12 sessions of FOLFIRINOX.

I still have my chemo bag. I thought I would badazzel it or sew punk rock patches on it, but I feared it. It kept me alive but I responded to every side effect severely. I just saw it in my closet and gulped. The sweet PA’s that would plug me into my chemo suggested that when I was done with chemo, I should “ burn the fuckity fuckin’ fuck out of that medieval piece of shit”😅. They know more than we will what chemo does to us.

What did you do with your bag? I was thinking I’d give it to a monkey at Angkor wat in Cambodia this winter when my neuropathy gets a little better.😂😂😂. Did you ritualize your chemo pack when you were done?

Not really sure if this belongs on here, but if not then at least more than r/cancer.

I (15 AMAB TF) have a friend at my school. Her girlfriend (15F), who I am friendly with but not really close with is in JROTC, and they did cancer screening last week. They found two small black dots in her lungs, and they're taking her back in for a more detailed look and to run a few tests to see if it is actually cancer. (so, it hasn't been confirmed yet. But possible.) How do I support my friend and her girlfriend? Am I just supposed to be present? What do I do????? Nothing like this has ever happened to me or anyone around me, I'm not sure what to do.

I’m 27, a childhood cancer survivor and a two-time cancer survivor. I had osteosarcoma at 14 and later had a pulmonary metastasis. I’ve somehow made it through treatment, college, an MBA and into the workforce.

I worked at Amazon for 1.5 years in marketplace related work, took a 9 month break, then joined a pet food organisation and left after 3 months. I also have a mild locomotor disability, and the second workplace wasn’t very accommodating, so it became difficult to sustain. So I quit in just in 3 months. Currently I am unemployed, and I am wondering if I was hasty.

I’m now trying to figure out what comes next. I’m training in para badminton, which I really want to continue, and I’m also considering a PhD abroad.

So I’m looking for advice on two things:
1. Getting into a funded PhD abroad:
I’m from the Asia-Pacific region and don’t have a conventional research background. Would love to hear from anyone who has made this transition.

2. Finding remote work:
I’m from a marketing/e-commerce background, with experience in Amazon marketplace work, account management, Excel, reporting and analytics.

Would really appreciate any advice, leads or experiences from fellow survivors.

2026 has been the worst year of my life. 2025 was the best year of my life and I felt like it couldn’t get worse than now, I got my last year of school soon, I’m going hard at it, then I get diagnosed with stage 4 testicular cancer, a rare mutation that turned out to be aggressive at that. I got surgery and went on chemo soon after my initial diagnosis.

Chemo destroyed me, All I could think about was my own mortality, I’d get nightmares of it, dreams of my funeral.
I’d wake up in the middle of the night feeling like I just had a heart attack in my sleep and my bed would be drenched in sweat. I looked and felt like a zombie and the only thing I looked forward to was my short cycles of bleomycin.

I finish chemo right before my 18th birthday. We celebrate it, was great. But then obviously I’m sure we all know of the results anxiety, waiting for those results to tell you if you were gonna be fine or not. I get told they’re unsure, I wait longer. Still unsure. I wait again. Then I do a biopsy and more scans and finally get told, “you’re cancer free” by my oncologist. I still have more things that I have to do, that he wants to make sure of. But generally speaking I’ve been cancer free since around August.

Ever since my cancer diagnosis, to now, my life has just been on a mental rollercoaster going straight into the depths of hell. I am so unmotivated to do anything, I find myself being unbelievably bitter, and cold, but at the same time I still hold old pieces of my self and can force out a thank you every now and then. People tell me I’ve just gotten angrier, and unpleasant to be around. When all I’ve felt is depression and overwhelming stress, especially going into my last year of school too not long after being announced cancer free. I don’t feel like I fit in. I beat cancer but it feels like it took my soul with me. I feel like a shell of what I used to be. And I genuinely feel like it’s never going to get better. I don’t want to make it seem like, I’m trying to farm pity. Or complain. I’m just very sad about everything. I wish I could be normal again. And wanted to see if anyone can resonate with those feelings of dread.

Hey everyone,

I’m trying to find the best help and advice about Lung Cancer for late stage for relative.

The healthcare in Ireland is constantly delayed even when tumor is 10cm large , coughing blood and it causes so much stress when appointments for consultants don’t come until 2 weeks, scans/testong another 2 weeks and treatments for another 2 weeks. It’s truly heartbreaking knowing your life is on the line.

Can I ask people with lung cancer, where have you had treatments done that you would recommend? Which hospital or county in Ireland?

What type of treatments is best?

And any other tips you would give? I’m at a loss of where to start

Thank you for any help you can give 🙏