At the end of treatment young people living with cancer often face soul-searching questions like, ‘What difference has cancer made to my life?’, ‘What does it mean to survive a life-threatening disease?’, ‘ How does one actually survive cancer?’ and ‘ Does surviving cancer simply mean physically recovering from cancer?’

Lance Armstrong describes it well when he asked, ‘What does survivorship mean?’ ‘Once you finish treatment the doctors say, “You’re cured, so go off and live. Happy trails.” But there is no support system in place to help you deal with the emotional ramifications of trying to return to the world after being in battle of your existence. You don’t just wake up one morning and say, “Okay, I’m done with cancer, and now it’s time to go right back to the normal life I had.”…What shape was my life supposed to take? What now?’

Figuring out what to do after cancer treatment is one of the hardest things for young cancer survivors. Many feel a need to take time out after treatment to rethink life and to figure out what they want to do. Some survivors expect to immediately return to ordinary life after treatment and when their expectations are not met they often experience confusion and self-doubt. These thoughts may be heightened for survivors that have long-standing physical or emotional reminders of their cancer treatment experience. Friends, family and the rest of the community may also think that life should return to normal immediately after treatment ends.

Young people living with cancer often hear discouraging statements like ‘You’ve got to move on’, or ‘Get over it’ from their friends and family members. Contrary to common belief though, surviving cancer is not as simple as healing the body and getting rid of the disease. Surviving cancer involves curing the disease as well as managing the fears and challenges that come with a cancer diagnosis. Years following cancer treatment, cancer survivors and their families can continue enduring a lot of change, loss and grief. A lot of us think that grief only occurs with powerful losses like death, but grief is also felt for near death experiences and losses associated with life such as illness, disability, loss of independence, dreams and relationships.

It’s times like these that young cancer survivors will need support and reassurance that their feelings are natural, considering the amount of adversity with which they have had to deal.