Voices of Hope

Finding Hope After Multiple Cancer Diagnoses: Elena’s Survivor Story

That helpful first conversation with a survivor has always stayed with me, and I wanted to find an opportunity to support another person going through a similar diagnosis and treatment.

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My Marathon Year: A Story of Cancer, Courage, and Community

During my cancer journey, I was blessed to be connected with people I didn't know who had walked the same path I did. These folks were my lifeline... Because of them, I searched for a way to give that same support to others.

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Welcome to our newest class of Cancer Hope Network Peer Mentors!

Cancer Hope Network's newest mentors are undeniably interactive, uplifting, and full of excitement.

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The Power of Presence: How a Mentoring Connection Became a Lasting Friendship

When Howie first connected with Jeremy through Cancer Hope Network, neither could have predicted the meaningful bond that would grow from their regular conversations.

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30 Years Living with Breast Cancer: Marilyn’s Inspiring Journey of Hope and Resilience

After three breast cancer diagnoses across three decades, I’ve learned one powerful truth: life is still beautiful, even while living with Stage 4 cancer.

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I’m Not Just a Survivor, I’m a Thriver: Jim’s Story of Identity and Multiple Myeloma

After undergoing chemo, surgery, and a stem cell transplant, I worked hard to reclaim my strength—and now I feel better than ever.

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From Fear to Empowerment: Bronco’s Sarcoma Journey and How Mentorship Changed His Life

Shifting my focus from fear to control wasn’t always easy, and it didn’t erase the doubts, but it helped me reclaim my power.

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Finding Strength After Endometrial Cancer: Marianne’s Survivor Story and Peer Mentorship Journey

While I was fortunate to have the support of family and friends, I craved connection with someone who truly understood what I was going through.

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Balancing Parenthood and Professional Life Through Cancer

This is the important lesson Lindsay hopes to impart to her daughter: the need to be resilient and to rebuild.

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Turning A Career-Changing Diagnosis into a Mission to Help Others

From Boxer to Peer Mentor: One of the biggest struggles of her life wasn’t in the ring.

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When First-Line Treatment Fails

I would strongly urge cancer patients to advocate for themselves in all situations. You are your own best advocate and you have the final say in your treatments.

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Today is the first day of the rest of your life

When you are faced with a life-threatening disease, you always look to see how others have done. I was lucky to be able to find survivors of this horrendous cancer that were thriving.

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My Journey of Hope & Wisdom Gained

I am very passionate about paying it forward through my patient advocacy efforts in sharing my message of HOPE, helping fellow cancer patients and caregivers as they navigate their journeys.

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Stress Awareness Month: Voices From Our Community

As we navigate through the complexities of living with cancer, whether as patients or caregivers, it's essential to recognize the toll it can take on our mental and emotional well-being.

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How I Met My Uncommon Diagnosis with Gratitude

The hardest time is between learning you have cancer and beginning treatment. Once you start you regain a sense of agency.

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A Masterclass in Cancer Survivorship

It’s said that experience makes the best teacher. If that’s true – Support Volunteer Julie is ready to teach a masterclass.  

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Eat the junk food – and take the walk. 

Life lessons and practical tips from a testicular cancer survivor.

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CHN trains new class of volunteers – and finds inspiration

Cancer survivors from Stony Brook Southampton Hospital share life lessons as part of peer mentor training. 

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Meet the New Class of Support Volunteers: The Few in a Million. 

Last week, we trained an exceptional group of new volunteers – including some with rare diagnoses and some with one-in-a-million cancer discovery stories.

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Parenting with Cancer: Real Talk from a Parent 

Having cancer or caring for someone with cancer is extremely hard. Parenting young children while navigating cancer can be nearly impossible.

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Meet New Class of Support Volunteers: Beating the Odds

This week, we trained an incredible group of new volunteers – All of whom had hope in their hearts and beat the odds.

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CHN Celebrates Cancer Survivor Month 

Each day, during Cancer Survivor Month and throughout the year, CHN’s cancer survivors and cancer caregivers create hope by providing peer support for people facing cancer across the nation.

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Cancer Caregivers Needed: Give help. Get Help  

Cancer Hope Network provides resources and peer support for cancer caregivers – and is looking for seasoned caregivers to serve as volunteer mentors. 

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Meet the New Class of Support Volunteers: Cancer knows no age. 

Last week, we trained an incredible group of new volunteers – including volunteers ranging in age from 26-79.

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Heroes of Hope: Cancer Hope Network celebrates Volunteer Appreciation Week

This Volunteer Appreciation Week, we celebrate the heroic cancer survivors and caregivers who serve as volunteers. Our superheroes don’t wear capes or have flaming arrows. But they do wield a mean phone to create hope.

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Meet the New Class of Support Volunteers: Caregivers Need Support Too 

Earlier this month, we trained an incredible group of new volunteers – including several cancer caregivers. The need for caregiver peer support continues to grow and we are grateful to this group of survivors and caregivers who have stepped up to help.

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Meet the New Class of Support Volunteers: East Coast to West Coast 

Our three new cancer survivor and caregiver volunteers come from all over the US, from San Francisco to Wyoming to New Jersey! They also bring with them a vast array of experiences and expertise.  

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Wigs be gone! Hodgkin’s survivor Melanie celebrates her cancerversary as Cancer Hope Network volunteer

One year cancer free, the 28-year old is sharing her inspiring outlook and raising money to support Cancer Hope Network

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Cancer survivor finds meaning and purpose helping others. 

As a cancer survivor I find meaning and purpose in helping others.

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Meet our newest class of Support Volunteers

There’s power in numbers and comfort in details – while many aspects of a cancer journey are shared, each survivor or caregiver’s individual journey is uniquely their own.

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Practicing gratitude, finding hope

Diagnosed at a time when the internet was in its infancy and support groups were unavailable for cancers as infrequently diagnosed as her, Donna is committed to ensuring no one faces mycosis fungoides alone.

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CHN Trains a New Class of Volunteers

We are excited to welcome this new class of volunteers and are inspired by the overwhelming sense of caring and devotion they bring.

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Lucky, hopeful 13

Longterm ovarian cancer survivor Dee reflects on more than a decade of hope-filled service.

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CHN trains new class of volunteers

New volunteer trainings are one of our favorite events. We love getting to know our new volunteers and learning about journeys they have been on.

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Reasons Behind the Rage: How to help when cancer patients lash out

Cancer survivor mentors share tips on managing difficult conversations and creating hope.

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Faces of Love: caregivers

Cancer caregivers deal with a lot. Connecting with someone who understands can help.

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CHN Trains New Class of Volunteers

Caring and being cared for. Fishing and knitting. Our newest class of survivor and caregiver mentors is pretty amazing.

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Accepting help. Lessons from an Ovarian Cancer survivor

Support Volunteer Ann finds meaning and hope as she accepts – and now shares – help.

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CHN Trains New Class of Volunteers

What do a foodie, a gamer, a librarian and a laker have in common? They’re the newest members of the CHN volunteer community.

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Looking back, looking forward: four lessons from 2020

Support Volunteer Lenny recently sat down to share reflections and lessons from the extraordinary year that was 2020. We are pleased to share those reflections here.

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In Celebration of Modern Magic: Clinical Trials

Celebrating the brave clinical trial participants who make hope a reality.

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Fifteen Years Cancer Free

15 year Hodgkin's Lymphoma survivor expresses the many emotions of survivorship through poetry.

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Adenocarcinoma Survivor Ellen on the importance of helping others.

“Everyone is sympathetic, but unless you’ve been exactly in that same place, you don’t really grasp it.”

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A Different Trajectory: Journey to Hope

Two-time survivor Stef shares her journey to "making lemonade out of my lemons."

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A mother’s fight

Breast cancer survivor Bhawna shares her experience facing cancer as a mother to small children.

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Talking hope with tongue cancer survivor Ed

Bypassing online horror stories, finding hope and healing, providing perspective.

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“Triumph Begins with U” Finding hope and healing after carcinoma of the pharynx

Mona P is finding hope, life and healing after carcinoma of the pharynx.

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Surviving On Hope: Letting go of uncertainty

Finding a way through when cancer upends everything.

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Gratitude and growth: Spotlight on Bill M.

Talk with Bill M for five minutes, and you’ll probably want to clear your calendar for the rest of the day. He’s that interesting. And that inspiring.

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How to get over the pressure to be over cancer

Welcome to SURVIVING ON HOPE our new, monthly column from Support Volunteer Debbie Woodbury. Debbie blogs honestly about the emotional realities of life with cancer – loneliness, grief, anger, uncertainty – and the strategies that make surviving on hope possible – gratitude, support, humor, and joining with other survivors at her  blog WhereWeGoNow. In addition to […]

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Unstoppable Susan

Support Volunteer Susan won't let metastatic kidney cancer, brain surgery or even immunotherapy get in the way of life well lived.

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Surviving On Hope: Working through cancer anger

Welcome to SURVIVING ON HOPE our new, monthly column from Support Volunteer Debbie Woodbury. Debbie blogs honestly about the emotional realities of life with cancer – loneliness, grief, anger, uncertainty – and the strategies that make surviving on hope possible – gratitude, support, humor, and joining with other survivors at her  blog WhereWeGoNow. In addition to […]

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From belly dancers to Bermuda: finding hope after cancer.

37 years after cancer, Edna is inspiring a new generation of survivors.

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Educator, amputee, survivor

Middle school special education teacher Emily Parker shares lessons and inspiration from her fight with melanoma.

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Get up. Dress up. Show up. Smile.

Ice cream, lipstick and joy - Bridget shares the lessons of hope she's learned while living with metastatic breast cancer.

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I am a survivor: Sandra Mosley

My name is Sandra Mosley. I am senior citizen and a three time cancer survivor. I was diagnosed in 2003 with Colon Cancer. In 2011, I was diagnosed with a Carcinoid Cancer of the stomach and Renal Cell Cancer of the left kidney. I had surgery to remove the cancers, and I am now in […]

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Wedding. Cancer. Divorce.

Ask any cancer survivor and there’s a good chance they can name the friend (or friends!) who bailed after diagnosis. A quick search for “losing friends after cancer” returns 192 million results, with titles like “When My Cancer Returned, My Friends Disappeared.” Google “abandoned during cancer” and you’ll find more than 50 million results, with […]

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Addicted to the “yeah, but…”

“I’m addicted to the “yeah, but…” ~Dr. Ryan Gustus “Yeah, but…” is where the Support Volunteers of the Cancer Hope Network community thrive. For them, “Yeah, but…” means finding the hope and possibility in any circumstances. It’s pushing past the challenges of treatment and the pain of recurrence to find hope and healing.  Like entrepreneurs, […]

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Friendship doesn’t run away.

When blood tests showed slightly elevated PSA levels, Joe Borzacchiello’s doctors were cautiously optimistic, telling him that few patients with similar levels had cancer. In fact, the chances of him having cancer were only 20 percent. So he was hopeful. “In Vegas, 80% is great odds,” he laughs. “But I didn’t want to gamble with […]

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A bag of FU and hope.

Michael Korb was 59 when he was diagnosed with colon cancer. He had no family history of cancer and had been putting off the colonoscopy he knew that he should get. After two days “with the worst gas pains ever,” Mike decided it was time to check colonoscopy off his to-do list. Unfortunately, the scan […]

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Puppies, puking and hope.

Jenn’s diagnosis with leiomyosarcoma was as unexpected as the disease is rare. “I was in my last year of medical training, getting ready to be married,” she recalls. “I’d dropped ten pounds, was doing boot camps, but I noticed that my legs would hurt after walking up even a small hill.” After one day with […]

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Hopelight Spotlight: Jeff Scott

“I don’t think of cancer as a death knell for people. There are so many treatments. I try to let people know that they can do it. They can work their way through it.” These words of wisdom and encouragement from cancer survivor and caregiver Jeff Scott are born of hard-won experience. A survivor of […]

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Christmas in July

There’s a reason Christmas is often known as the “most wonderful time of the year.” For that one day, it seems everyone is just a little nicer, a little kinder and a little more gentle. If the kids misbehave, well no one really wants to yell at them on Christmas Day. If your spouse gets […]

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Art and healing after cancer

“If we are ever to enjoy life, now is the time, not tomorrow or the next year . . . Today should always be our most wonderful day.”—Thomas Dreier I’m entering my 14th year since my cancer diagnosis. It began in 2004…An incredible journey traveling along life’s road, taking me from anal cancer patient to […]

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Embracing our scars

Life after mastectomy: finding patience, power and purpose.

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Caring and loving when cancer comes back to stay.

Forty years ago, a friend introduced Hugo to the neighbor girl who lived three houses down. His life has never been the same.

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Being lucky isn’t easy

Cervical cancer survivor Ellen shares an honest look at the complications and challenges of life after treatment.

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Define your purpose; live your reason

Lessons from widowhood: life beyond resolutions. Finding and achieving your purpose.

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Father. Grandfather. Survivor.

Life and love as a survivor of esophageal cancer.

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My attitude adjustment

Ditching the bad attitude when cancer comes calling.

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One butt at a time: Providing support, creating sisterhood for women with anal cancer.

AnalCancer Chat provides a safe, informative community for anal cancer patients around the world.

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Love that won’t quit

Leukemia survivor Paul (Princeton Class of 1961) on clinical trials, blast counts and support for classmates facing serious illness.

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From coma to chemo to recovery

Transforming crisis into purpose.

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Facing an “easy” cancer

Two amazing women facing a fight that's anything but...

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Escape from fear: life after treatment

Colon-cancer survivor Karen on the gut-wrenching terror of life after treatment.

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Not consumed by small things: life as a survivor.

27 years after his testicular cancer diagnosis, Kevin is living life to the fullest.

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A bit of advocate in all of us

Advocacy advice from ovarian cancer survivor, patient advocate, volunteer Dee.

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The human side of cancer

"What all cancer patients share is the human experience with all our thoughts, feelings and emotions."

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Hopelight Spotlight: Ann’s Story

Bladder cancer survivor, caregiver, Support Volunteer Ann shares her story.

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Hopelight Spotlight: Mary’s Story

Outdoorswoman & breast cancer survivor Mary shares her story.

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Teres’ Journey: From patient to Support Volunteer.

“Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.”

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Surviving Vanity

Support Volunteer Robin shares the hard lessons she learned during her fights with ovarian and facial cancer.

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Lessons from a tongue cancer survivor.

Tongue cancer survivor & CHN Support Volunteer John shares his story.

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Hopelight Spotlight: Elaine’s story

CHN Support Volunteer Elaine uses her experience as a squamous cell vaginal carcinoma patient to help others.

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The Power of Positive Thinking

When someone first receives a Cancer diagnosis, the news is devastating.

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The Four Questions

Today I read about four other questions which Native American cultures ask of those who come to be healed.

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