Dec 2024-Jan 2025 | Rest, Breathe, and Receive

#SpreadTheHope

I have an amazing patient who drops roses off every week (not store-bought but from her garden); there is nothing quite like the fragrances from a spring garden. So, I regularly “Stop and smell the roses.” This common idiom, meaning to relax and take time out of your busy schedule to enjoy or appreciate the beauty of life actually is about practising self-care; read Self-care in the cancer journey.

Along this theme would be Staying healthy during cancer treatment. Thanks Liz for helping us adopt Louise Hay’s saying, “I choose to make the rest of my life the best of my life.”

Our Super Survivor, Julieth Motsomi’s story, There is life after loss and cancer, reminds me of the saying, “The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all.”

There is no question the management of early-stage HER2 positive cancers shows us that “Where flowers bloom, so does hope.”

When those cancer-fear-tentacles-creep-in-like-a-vine, remember Luther Burbank’s quote, “Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.”

I looked at The Addams family of cancers (cancers in the breast that are not breast cancers) and what can I say, “What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered.”

When we see the germination of better treatments, smaller surgeries, and more personalised care, I’m reminded of three sayings: “The love of gardening is a seed once sown that never dies”, “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow”, and “Gardening is a work of a lifetime: you never finish.”

Your Buddie For Life
Prof Carol-Ann Benn

Click here to view a PDF of this issue

Cover by Mandy Steenkamp Photography | Follow @mandysteenkampphotography

SUPER SURVIVORS

Julieth Motsomi – There is life after cancer

Breast Health Foundation News Dec 2024

The Addams family of cancers

Your tailor-made breast

How safe are salad bars during cancer treatment?

Destination surgery

Self-care in the cancer journey

Staying healthy during cancer treatment

The noises in the dark: carcinophobia

Early breast cancer: optimising treatment for high-risk patients

Lizelle Knott – This Is Me

Cold plunging in cancer survivorship

If you have seen the cover, you will know that this Oncology Buddies issue exceeds magically beauty and real-life inspiration. When we look at our two Cancer Warriors, Nonhlanhla Ramuhala and Alastair Armstrong, our hearts can only beam with pride and tears well up in our eyes. Sharing both of their stories is such a privilege. Read how Nonhlanhla is Coming out of hiding after losing her nose to skin cancer, and how Alastair’s Heart of Steel attitude pushed him to get back on a bike and race as a paraathlete.

The 2025 Big C Survivor’s Guide: How is it diagnosed?
This year we have focused on the diagnostic procedures of various cancers (solid tumours, blood cancers, and childhood cancers) to help you understand what tests will be done, why they are done, and which doctors are likely to do them, as well as the referral pathway. Our hope is that this will outline what you can expect.