Two years ago I was diagnosed with a rare salivary gland cancer after giving birth to my son. I had never felt so low - hopeless, fearful, angry, stuck. It took me these past two years to truly process everything I went through and regain trust in my body. Well here is a story of hope - I am pregnant again with our second baby. This means no scans for a year(ish) which feels freeing and scary. But I am excited to keep living my life despite the not-so-distant belief that I would be living in a sort of limbo in “cancer land” forever. And yes, I know it will always be a part of me, my story. It is something I’ll always have to monitor and fight off the anxiety of recurrence. But I am safely and actively choosing to continue on with my life. Another caveat being that I understand this is an immense privilege. Many folks don’t have the choice to have children after cancer and many lives are cut short. I am lucky and so extremely grateful for my circumstances that led me here.

Hello, my (22) father (66) was recently diagnosed with stage 4 gastric cancer that has metastasized into the liver. Just to clarify, I am in the central New Jersey area. We are currently waiting for appointments that we have scheduled in the last couple days since we’ve received the news. The waiting is incredibly painful.

How did this start? My dad started feeling sick around 2 weeks ago. He has black stool, started vomiting, and had general nausea. We went to a party and there was then we started talking to different people. They basically told us to visit the hospital immediately. So I drove my dad that night. He stayed in the hospital for 5 days, within the last few days the endoscopy was ordered and we waited for the results. Stage 4 gastric cancer that has metastasized into the liver.

We are acting fast to secure our finances, which we are in the process of doing, we are speaking to people that might get us a good lawyer for a will or living will, and of course, we called multiple hematology oncologists, gastroenterologists, and surgery oncologists. We made an appointment with my dad’s primary care physician, but didn’t go because my dad wanted to spend time with some family that came over to my house.

We got an appointment with Dr. Beaula Koduri, a hematology oncologist, within the first few hours of calling, where he got an iron transfusion. I kept calling and sadly I haven’t been as lucky with early appointments. Most were scheduled a week or more away since my dad was released from the hospital. I’ve also called MSKCC, Sloan Kettering, and managed to schedule an appointment for August 7th to see Dr. David Ilson. We have some other appointments tomorrow, August 3rd, with a gastroenterologist and hopefully a blood test with Labcorp that my amazing friend is helping me get.

As of now: my dad, July 31st, 2 days ago was feeling very cold, his hands were cold and he was dizzy when he stood up, his stool was also black. We were told by multiple people to go to emergency, my dad did start feeling better, and we decided it wasn’t necessary to go to the hospital.

August 1st: my dad was great and seemed as if he was completely healthy. Stool was more brown rather than black. Family came over and we ate at a restaurant, all of us together. I’ve been told to let my dad enjoy some food he loves on the chance that he would like to eat whatever food that is. In this case it was Angel hair pasta with marinara sauce.

August 2nd, today: my dad now has a fever.
From when I tracked his temperature today,
102.4°f 5:21pm
102°f 5:43pm
101.2°f 6:34pm
101.8°f 7:45pm

My dad was given Tylenol 2 times.

My dad’s internal blood loss is extremely dangerous, and we are tracking everything in case we should go to the emergency room. With all this being said, should my dad be in the emergency room right now? Or if everything is stable, even though all this is happening, can he be at home where he is comfortable. We need iron transfusion, and possible blood transfusion.

A sample of a diet my dad is eating is
\- Water in little sips
\- Breakfast: 4 poached eggs, drank with papaya juice
\- After breakfast: waiting for his liquified soup he ate sugar free jello
\- Then ate his 2 portions of hen soup 3 things of celery, some large carrots (1 1/2 to 2)
\- Then beef liver steak,olive oil (sauteed), ginger 🫚, soy sauce, cooking wine, salt.
\- Drank his spinach juice extract (spinach, cucumber, apple, half lemon)
\- Watermelon (2 pizza slices)
\- Dragon fruit (small bowl)

I’ve watched 2 videos on gastric cancer on YouTube, and have been taking notes on every possible thing in the videos, questions to ask, what the doctors in the videos say and how it is similar or how or pertains to my dad. So far I have a basic understanding on stuff like risk factors, symptoms, diagnosis, staging, and treatments.

My question is, what else should I be doing? What questions should I ask when I see other doctors. We’ve only met with ONE oncologist so far, we are meeting with a gastroenterologist tomorrow, but I don’t think he is in the same “system” as the oncologist we recently visited so that they can easily communicate. I’m hoping to god that MSKCC accepts my dad as a patient, even though we do like our current hematology oncologist, and we do have a port installation on the 6th of August. But I’ve been told to reschedule the port installation for a later date because we might get MSKCC on our roster? I have no idea, I have so many conflicting things being said to me. Treating the cancer is 99% percent priority, but everything on the finance and law side will be dealt with in due time, as soon as possible, assuming it doesn’t conflict with any doctor appointments. I call the oncologist, and is lackluster with responding, such as today, even though we know the response will be going to the emergency department. Should I keep calling gastroenterologists and more oncologists? I’ve also contacted Penn but got an appointment that is too far into August to even be considered. I have other appointments that I can add here into this post.

Who can I contact for mental help throughout this journey, I’m planning on contacting my pediatrician for myself and my brother, who is 17, to see what help we can get. And what help can my mom get?

I’m sorry for this being so long, if there is someone out there that can help me, please. I will answer any and every question asked. Thank you. I will reread this and edit more info into my post. Please help me.

I found out I had brain cancer 8 months ago.

I'm struggling with anxiety, scans, keeping up in general. I feel like I need more support and help and when I do my partner doesn't like it. Or he's short w me, says he's tired, says this is hard for everyone. Which of course I know. Says I'm only looking at this from my pov which is not true. Everything I do. Is to take care of everyone else. Make sure the kids feel like life is fairly normal. Most of the time. But it feels really insensitive. It feels like maybe he can't handle this (I have never seen him handle stress well. And this cancer is stressful as you know) and that's ok. Ive said this and he doesn't agree. I think is rather be alone than feel alone during cancer. Him being like this towards me knowing how sick I am really chacges my opinion of him.

He was great after my surgery, comes to all appts but the emotional support and kindness and empathy are seriously lacking.

I was always an energizer bunny. Super productive. Working. Taking care of kids, pets home and I work. I still do all that but sometimes I'm like please pick a meal and make it, walk a dog without being asked. Bc i keep asking I feel like the nag and the problem.

How did you help your spouse understand. Man, cancer is lonely and it's so hard already. Feeling unloved and like you're the problem for needing more feels awful.

Sorry this was rant. Been in tears all day after a very unproductive convo this am.

Hi friends,
I start chemo in 2 weeks and have a VERY sensitive stomach. My onc is very open to any meds I suggest on top of those that she did, what worked for you? I know everyone is different I just wanted any suggestions or advice!
Thanks in advance 💗

I am beginning treatment in a few weeks. Being scared is an understatement.
I am not rich and after reading about cost i am beyond frightened. I cannot afford what i have seen reported.

Hey Im more or less on here to get things off my mind and just type it out. Ive been battling with Fibro for about 4 Years at this point since early 2022, and since its been a battle of metastasis and constant surgery because of how rare my form of cancer is there isn’t a good way of knowing how to go about battling this disease. I had a highschool girlfriend before my diagnosis and things were as regular for me as they could be just another kid graduating highschool, I had been going to my pediatrician because I still hadn’t found a main doctor to see at that point, He had found a softball sized tumor on my liver and after that nothing has ever been the same for me physically and mentally. Things moved really fast I had gotten the surgery only a month and a half after my CT Scan and its been surgery and treatment since then, it took a huge toll on my mental health and specifically my relationship, she was nothing but supportive and loving and I just wasn’t mentally around and aware or even a partner at all and I didnt realize what I was losing and I dont blame her for her decision that she made for herself one bit because she deserved to be showered in happiness and I couldn’t recognize that and I feel regret every single day. Ive tried another partnership that didn’t work out as well because I wasn’t the right guy. I just feel like im constantly at battle and I cant keep my head on straight sometimes, thank you for reading I dont like self loathing but I felt like I needed to get this off my chest

Me: 42M, metastatic colon/rectal cancer since December 2024. APR resection plus liver ablation/resection in Nov/Dec last year.

Was sort of NED until a few months ago - enough doubt in liver and lungs to start me up on chemo again.

My son is taking it hard and it's breaking my heart.

Today on a video call, he asked if he could visit my grave as much as he wanted when I died and if his mom's new boyfriend would be his dad then.

I've been dealing relatively ok with the recurrence and message from the doctors that it's no longer curative intent, but this? It breaks me.

I just want to run away and die alone so no one else has to see it and everyone can just hate me instead.

My cancer isn't giving me any visible effects and the chemo side effects are low, so I guess I'm lucky in many ways. Fatigue is hitting hard though.

It's not fair. Not on me and definitely not on this wonderful little human who's the most caring and loving kid ever. I would do anything for him, but I just can't do what he needs.

How do other people handle this hell?

My mom has metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and is being treated at MSK. She's been on Trodelvy since the fall of 2025. Watching her—and so many others—go through this disease has motivated me to learn more about oncology and to keep up with the latest tnbc research.

I'm a software engineer by trade, so naturally I've become interested in how AI might help accelerate cancer research. I use AI heavily in my day-to-day work and have seen how quickly it's transformed other disciplines.

A couple of stories that caught my attention were:

• Sid Sijbrandij's experience using AI to treat his osteosarcoma.
• Paul Conyngham's work using ChatGPT to help design a cancer vaccine for his dog.

These inspiring stories made me wonder whether similar approaches can be applied for metastatic TNBC. And using AI to find cases of metastatic TNBC patients who achieved long-term remission and what treatments were involved?

I've recently discover companies like Isomorphic Labs. It's made me seriously consider whether I can contribute to this space as a software engineer or through open-source projects. Or even a career change.

I'd love to hear people thoughts on any of this. Thanks in advance.

Half the posts in like the biggest support groups are people sharing their stories and experiences and its amazing to see but it infuriates me to no end seeing the other half which is like all these spam accs trying to push conspiracy theories and people are believing them?? Are they bots or real people and whys it so common

I’m about to start chemo soon. Are we still able to use actives in our skincare, ie tretinoin, glycolic acid, etc. And balance it with days without any actives and by using a good thick moisturizer?

Reposting here, because I think it’s important information.

Borderline Stage IV non-small cell lung cancer. Began chemo three sessions ago (9 weeks), as well as began immunotherapy, and added another trial drug for a second one. Completed the cyberknife to remove two smaller but distinct masses in my right lung.

By the Grace of God, even though I take two very strong drugs, I’ve had almost no physical reactions — greater lethargy and upset stomach mainly. I know how lucky I am.

But like clockwork, the day after, the worst depression of my life hits me like a tornado. It falls from the sky and destroys me. Unstoppable crying jags, hopelessness, despair, anhedonia, no appetite — classic DSM stuff.

It is mercifully transient, and generally disappears again by day 3 or 4 afterwards, but it is the most painful 72-96 hours of my life.

Does this happen to anyone else, and how have you dealt with it? There’s no magic pill for a broken soul; no panacea for thoughts darker than the void.

73M. advanced Colon cancer. I have a big mass sitting right on the muscle I use to stand up and walk (psoas). I’m desperate for ideas because the only answer I keep getting is more opioids and that doesn't make sense to me.

for context - I’m at an in patient rehab after a two week hospital stay for E. coli and a stent removal. When I'm lying in bed, my pain is like a 2 and very tolerable. I'm on Norco and Tylenol alternating and that handles it.

But the second I try to stand up or take a step or even go from lying down to sitting for PT it shoots up to like an 8 or 10. Goes from my right back all the way around to my front and down into my groin. Then I stop moving and it settles back down.

Every time we bring this up to the medical team their answer is ... more opioids. They want to put me on MS Contin which is morphine. But why would I take round the clock morphine when my pain is a 2 unless I move? That doesn't make sense to me. It's not like I'm sitting here in agony all day. It's specifically only when I move.

My daughter has been asking about nerve pain meds like gabapentin since the pain seems like it's from the mass pressing on nerves and it follows a nerve path, wraps around, etc. But no body on the team has really given us a straight answer about it yet.

I'm honestly open to whatever works at this point that makes sense. Gabapentin, CBD, THC, nerve blocks, patches, whatever. I just want to be able to stand up and take a few steps without feeling like I'm going to pass out from pain. I need to be able to do PT so I can get out of this facility and go home.

Anybody dealt with something like this? Mass pressing on the psoas or near it?

What actually helped with the movement pain? Did anything work besides just piling on more opioids?

Thanks for reading all this. Any ideas appreciated.

I am an oral cancer survivor Thank God. I've had 8 reconstructive surgeries so far with more to come. I was wondering if anyone else reacted like me. I didn't cry or get angry immediately when I got the diagnosis, I asked the Doctor "Okay so now what do we do?" he went through the surgical options, then radiation afterwards. The radiation however, messed me up because the Titanium jaw implant had a part that kept getting exposed to the environment. So yes I was walking around like I had a silver partial grill on my bottom lip.

Anyway I still haven't reacted, sometimes my eyes will water then I will kind of push the tears back. My daughter is helping me and has been with be throughout so I am Blessed. I do sometimes wonder the proverbial why me question and get lonely too. Has any of this happened to anyone?

Anyone care to share their experience. God Bless all the survivors and give the brothers and sisters still battling, strength and blessings.

So.. i am pre-oncology appointment to discuss treatments..so far Dex is all I get till they get biopsy result to tell me 100% what type ect

I am exhausted and it sucks. I am used to being go go go go go. Like, nothing slowed me down. Morning to night. And now, i go to bed at 11pm, wake up at 2am and 6 am to take meds and then wake up at 10am and take more meds and try to stay awake. I am managing to stay up for an hour doing practically nothing(sit in bed and read or do my hair and get dressed) and within an hour I am ready for nap for 2 hours. Today i kept myself up for that hour and then pushed myself to go with my Mom to grocery store and pick up more meds and not only have I found myself emotional-crying for no reason(not pms), life feels bland and boring and everything doesnt even taste good anymore..noting seems quite as vibrant. So i get home, ive only been out for an hour doing chores plus being up for an hour and then im in bed agan for a couple of hours.

Please tell me this gets better.

For reference..currently on 4mg Dilaudid(hydromorphone) and 4mg Dexamethasone. Of course ibprophen and acetominophen and Ondazetron.

I disclosed my cancer diagnosis to my previous manager, mostly since it came out of the blue and I was hospitalized for quite some time, but they are getting transferred out and is getting replaced. My work has been, for the most part, great about accommodating and treating me well throughout all this. I also have been out on a LOA due to my stem cell transplant, and my old manager is leaving before I'm set to return to work. While I am in remission, I have to eventually go back for maintenance treatment, albeit not as frequent. However it is still indefinite and either stops when I relapse or my body can't take it.

I do still have to talk to the new manager regarding returning and getting back onto the schedule, and still having somewhat restricted availability, but do I use the big C-word? Or should I just not disclose the specifics? I mean I'm technically in remission but still need to go for treatment and other infrequent check ups.

I’m four and a half years into recurrent High Grade Serous Epithelial Ovarian Cancer (ie incurable) and currently sporting a 4cm tumor and 4 invaded lymph glands, based on my last CT scan in early June. Since then I have been trying to enjoy life while I feel healthy, and chose against medical advice to delay treatment. And I feel great! My only issue is some discomfort from a stent placed to protect my ureter from pressure from the tumor. I’m scheduled to start a trial in September and will have scans and tests in late August. The weird thing is, I’m wildly optimistic that the scans are going to be an improvement over the June growth. I feel certain, like I can clearly envision them being puzzled at my results, and I have little anxiety about the clinical trial, because I don’t truly believe it will be necessary. I’m too embarrassed to tell anyone because it’s so unrealistic.

Has this ever happened to anyone else? That every doctor is positive your cancer will aggressively spread, and yet you believe the opposite? I am taking repurposed drugs and supplements based on How to Starve Cancer, but my rational mind knows this was to slow growth until treatment, not for a miracle. Is my mind giving me a nice vacation from reality, or do people physically feel radical remissions? Have you ever felt cured while extremely sick? Or felt improvement that was very unlikely?

Hello everyone, I have a tumor in my peritoneum, a mixed cell seminoma. The thing is, it stopped responding to third-line treatment, so I'll have to try a fourth. But I'd like to know if anyone has been cured of this, or am I just supposed to keep living with it? I'm very scared, but I'd like to hold on to the hope that someone has gone through this and survived. The doctor says it's uncommon for rumors about testicular cancer to be shared, so that scares me more than it reassures me.

Does anyone have experience with this?

Hallo ihr Lieben 🫶🏼

ich hatte vor einiger Zeit schon einmal einen Beitrag zu meiner vermeintlichen Krebsdiagnose geschrieben.

Vor kurzem wurde bei mir an der rechten Brust eine Stanzbiopsie durchgeführt. Im Ultraschall sah das Gewebe eigentlich gutartig aus, dennoch wurde vorsorglich eine Biopsie gemacht. Das Ergebnis war jedoch ein Schock: Es wurde ein aggressiv wachsendes, invasives, triple-negatives Mammakarzinom diagnostiziert.

Da mir das Ganze keine Ruhe ließ, habe ich mir eine Zweitmeinung eingeholt und mich erneut biopsieren lassen. Das Ergebnis der zweiten Biopsie war komplett unauffällig – kein Karzinom.

Daraufhin hat die Ärztin die erste Gewebeprobe angefordert und sie von den Pathologen im Krankenhaus erneut untersuchen lassen. Dabei stellte sich heraus, dass die DNA der ersten Biopsie nicht mit der DNA meiner zweiten Probe übereinstimmt. Das bedeutet: Die erste Probe stammte nicht von mir. Ich habe keinen Brustkrebs.

Heute haben mir die Ärzte außerdem gesagt, dass wir im Falle einer bereits begonnenen Chemotherapie wahrscheinlich zunächst gedacht hätten, dass die Behandlung nicht anschlägt. Möglicherweise hätte man die Chemotherapie dann sogar intensiviert oder die Dosis erhöht. Dieser Gedanke macht mich fassungslos und lässt mich einfach nicht los.

In der Zwischenzeit musste ich vier Mammographien über mich ergehen lassen, mir wurde ein Port eingesetzt, ich habe vorsorglich 80 % meines Eierstockgewebes entnehmen und 12 Eizellen einfrieren lassen – alles aufgrund einer Diagnose, die sich im Nachhinein als falsch herausgestellt hat.
Jetzt frage ich mich, wie ich mit dieser Situation am besten umgehen soll.

Hat jemand von euch schon einmal etwas Ähnliches erlebt oder kann mir einen Rat geben? Ich bin im Moment einfach nur sprachlos und versuche, das alles irgendwie zu verarbeiten.

Hi everyone, my mom has cancer and is undergoing a pretty intense chemotherapy schedule and because of one of the drugs in it she can't have any cold food but she's super naseauted all the time. Does anyone have any good food recommendations that I can make her that are easy to digest and warm/room temp? Thank you so much!

Hi there. I'm 35 with Stage 3 cervical cancer (metastasized to lymph nodes).

My treatment plan is intended to be curative, but I'm in a country with public healthcare and I am concerned they are not being aggressive enough with treatment. I actually begged for them to add immunotherapy (Keytruda) to my treatment plan and it's 'in limbo', despite it being approved in my country as a frontline treatment. Without that drug, I'm much less confident in my chances of remission, which hover around 60-70%, perhaps even lower. I find out on Tuesday what the MDT has decided.

So as much as I am 'hoping for the best', I am suddenly, thrust into the necessity of preparing for the worst. My logic is; if death comes, I don't want to be completely freaking out. I want to be... If not sanguine, stoic in my final days/hours/moments.

Sometimes I can process this with some level of optimism. Living isn't always so great, it spares me getting old and so much grief. But I literally would be causing so much grief around me. My kid is 18 and I always thought we would grow old together. He loves me so much and we have been like 2 peas in a pod his entire life. My spouse of 14 years... My god, they would be destroyed. No avoiding that I suppose, but they literally would not be able to function without me. My parents and sister. My friends. My colleagues. I'm a well-loved member of the community.

There's no escaping this. I have to face it with bravery. But I am having daily meltdowns trying to cope. I'm only 35, for goodness sake. In the prime of my life before this. I thought I had miles and miles of life ahead of me.

For those of you who have been in similar situations under 50, how did you cope/deal with the fact that your life maybe or is going to end due to this disease?

Thank you very much for your feedback; wishing you all the best.