No one truly understands what cancer patients go through, physically and emotionally, unless they have walked that path themselves. Which is the reason Patty Turkal is the ideal person to operate Brian Joseph’s, a retail store selling creams, lotions, shampoos, wigs and protheses to cancer patients.

Dr. Jeremy Geffen and The Seven Levels of Healing ®

Dr. Jeremy Geffen thinks of his father -- who died in 1985, just four months after being diagnosed with advanced gastric cancer -- every single day.

“Going through a cancer journey with a loved one is an indelible experience that makes an imprint on your heart and mind that never goes away,” Dr. Geffen said. 

Eating is an important part of our culture. It should be a sociable, enjoyable experience, but when a diagnosis of cancer is given, the pleasure of eating is lost. That’s frustrating for patients, especially since this is the time they need good nutrition most.

“The better a patient’s nutrition status going in, the better the treatment will work,” said Dillon Dreher, clinical dietician. “Muscle mass is extremely important because it will deplete during treatment, and since protein supports the muscle mass, a high protein diet is beneficial.”

No one likes to be a pain. But talking about the pain you feel as a cancer patient is the first big step toward feeling better. Much better.

“Cancer patients put all sorts of barriers up,” said Dr. Melanie Simpson, pain management specialist. “They are living normal, healthy lives, and all of a sudden this beast comes along that changes everything. Getting them to tell us how they feel is sometimes really difficult, but once they talk about it, we can help them.”

Cancer is exhausting. One of the many negative side effects of treatment is extreme fatigue. Chemotherapy breaks down the muscles and many patients are emotionally and physically drained, causing them to remain sedentary because it is simply too difficult to get up and move around.

“Trying to exercise when they have already been through so much is overwhelming to cancer patients,” said Sami Papacek, a cancer exercise specialist. “When you have cancer, you have a plan for everything- this is the day of my surgery, these are my dates for chemo and radiation. But no one has a plan for after all those things. And they just don’t know where to start.”