USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center
USC University Of Southern California

USC Norris Cancer Survivorship Advisory Council (CSAC)

Blog

Believe In Your Journey

By Matt Reagan

 

I’ve known several people who have died from cancer, recovered from it, or lingered somewhere in between for what I can only describe as an embarrassingly long time. I’ve also been fighting cancer myself, with the help of all of my tireless heroes in the medical profession, for four years now......Read More



Survivorship in the Time of Coronavirus

By Monique Robinson

 

Not much prepares you for a cancer diagnosis. At age thirty-two, I was in a great place in life. I had just celebrated my fourth wedding anniversary to my high school sweetheart and recently started a new job in the public sector after weathering the brutality of life as a law firm associate.....Read More



Lead With Love

By Cyndi Tomlinson

 

You could say that cancer has been the uninvited guest to a big portion of my life. It has played an overwhelming part in who I am, yet it taught me how to live my life fearlessly.....Read More



Patient First, Cancer Second

By Guest Blogger Dr. Afsaneh Barzi

 

“How can I help you today?” is a question that I ask all of my patients at their first clinic visit. In response, they often look at me as if I must not have reviewed their records, nor spoken to my colleague who referred them, nor even spoken to my physician assistant who met with them before me and briefed me on their clinical issues!....Read More



Partner With Me

By Graciela Santillan

 

My cancer diagnosis came as a painful reminder of the past and brought back fearful unknowns. For twenty-five years, I had buried the hurt I experienced as a child. I grew up, hoping to forget about the fragility of life, but with cancer, the anguish came rushing back into my consciousness. Once again, I felt betrayed, helpless and vulnerable. Betrayed by the hope that my genes, relative youth, and healthy choices would safeguard my life. It can be heartbreaking to face your mortality....Read More




Hold Fast To Joy

By Lisa Chakrabarti

 

I am first and foremost an artist and have identified as such since childhood. I do not recall a time in my life when it was otherwise. I live in a house full of art materials. Cabinets packed with myriad kinds of paper, more cabinets crammed with collections of pigments, brushes. Notebooks, sketchbooks are stacked about. And my desk! Where is my desk? It’s there, just underneath the organized chaos....Read More




Falling Down Two Times, Getting Up Three

By Phuong Gallagher

 

Cancer can happen to anyone. Even those of us with no family history, who exercise regularly, and who eat a very healthy diet. I was only 29 when diagnosed with colorectal cancer. As a young patient, fertility was and probably always will be the most devastating loss for me. My oncologist gave me three weeks to look into harvesting my eggs before starting a treatment regimen that would launch me into early menopause. We saw an infertility specialist and were told that it would cost us anywhere from $10,000-$25,000 to begin the process and even then, nothing was guaranteed...Read More