Health After Cancer Trailer

Lidia Schapira:

I am Lidia Schapira. I'm medical oncologist and professor at Stanford Medicine and the director of the Cancer Survivorship Program.

Elle Billman:

I'm Elle Billman, a researcher at Stanford Medicine and soon will be a medical student at Mount Sinai in New York City. And I'm also a cancer survivor. I was treated for leukemia as a young child, so I'm now a 20-year cancer survivor.

Natasha Steele:

And I'm Natasha Steele. I'm a medical resident at Stanford and about to join the faculty. I was diagnosed with cancer just weeks after I started working as a doctor during the COVID-19 pandemic. My daughter was 3 months old at the time and despite being a physician I found myself suddenly a patient, navigating so many complex issues at once.

Lidia Schapira:

And fortunately for all of us, we found each other.

Elle Billman:

I found the program through my research on how childhood cancer survivors learn about their cancer histories as adolescents and young adults.

Natasha Steele:

And I found the program through a medical oncologist who said to me, "You just have to meet Lidia."

Lidia Schapira:

And I was so lucky to have met Elle and Natasha. When I heard their stories and how they are looking at survivorship, I invited them to join our design team. We were following results of a course we developed in 2018 to create awareness and trained primary care clinicians to look after cancer survivors. And now it was time to create a helpful resource for survivors themselves.

Natasha Steele:

And we thought, wouldn't it be cool to offer the patient version of this? A course teaching patients and their families how to think about their health and how to navigate the difficult transitions we face at the end of active treatment.

Elle Billman:

I was tasked with finding all the educational content that already exists and I found some valuable tools. We invited cancer survivors to tell us what they wanted and needed to learn. What we heard is that people found meaning in connecting with other survivors and that they wanted to hear stories and learn about the tricks and strategies that others found useful to stay healthy after cancer.

Lidia Schapira:

So we decided to make a new show. We called it Health After Cancer.

Natasha Steele:

Lidia, I like how it sounds, but what about Healthy after Cancer or Healthful after Cancer?

Elle Billman:

Or maybe even Finding Health after Cancer?

Lidia Schapira:

All of those are great guys, but we're going to stick with Health after Cancer for now.

Elle Billman:

It's a show that is honest about the challenges faced by cancer survivors and their care partners and families.

Natasha Steele:

A show where we tackle how hard it is to live with the future that is uncertain and the lingering effects of cancer treatments.

Lidia Schapira:

It's an interview show where you'll hear people share their cancer story, individual stories of living with and beyond a diagnosis of cancer. We'll interview top researchers and experience clinicians too, ask them how best to cope with the challenges of cancer survivorship.

Natasha Steele:

We'll talk about the unwritten curriculum of survivorship, things like the physical challenges of relating to a new body after cancer and living with long-term and often permanent effects of our treatments.

Elle Billman:

We'll learn why it is important to communicate openly in families and learn tips for parenting with and after cancer.

Natasha Steele:

You'll appreciate a candid conversation about the cost of cancer treatment and how it feels to receive a bill for hundreds of thousands of dollars just as you're trying to get on with your life.

Lidia Schapira:

As your hosts, we'll bring you interviews with cancer survivors and care partners, mental health professionals and advocates, and we'll tackle many practical aspects of survivorships, what to tell your doctor, what to share with your family, how to deal with the emotional overload that persists even years after the last treatment.

Natasha Steele:

Oh, and guys, one more thing. We have a website where you can find the transcript of the podcast and more information about the speakers as well as resources they've helped us create. You can find that at www.healthaftercancer.com.

Elle Billman:

We hope you'll find their stories inspiring and informative. We'll bring you a new episode each week.

Lidia Schapira:

And our first episode is out on June 4th. Join us. Thanks, Elle. Thanks, Natasha.

Elle Billman:

It's good to be here.

Natasha Steele:

It is so good to be here.