Living with Cancer
Cancer is more than just a bunch of cells that have run riot. Behind the test findings in every case is a person who has to deal with the illness and its impact on all the other facets of one’s existence, including work and relationships. Meet three people who have adapted their lives to cancer’s everyday reality—and learned about themselves in the process.

By Claire Sykes

    From diagnosis to treatment and beyond, cancer is a challenging road. Formerly a near-certain death sentence, the disease is often now more of a detour. The five-year relative survival rate for all cancers diagnosed between 1996 and 2003 is 66%, up from 50% in the period between 1975 and 1977, according to the American Cancer Society. (The rate compares survival among cancer patients to that of people of the same age, race and sex not diagnosed with cancer.) The improvement in survival reflects progress in diagnosing certain types of cancer at an earlier stage and advances in treatment. Factors such as behavior are difficult to gauge in survival, though the selflessness and determination of the following three survivors, and the emotional support they received, appears to have played a role in their endurance...

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