As an RN and disability claims leader, I can tell you: People with cancer need mental health support.
Clinically, I often share that a cancer diagnosis raises anxiety and can often result in depression. That is a fact, and yet it doesn’t fully communicate what living with cancer is like. As a leader of a disability clinical claim organization, I hear from our case managers that cancer patients routinely share how jarring it is to be diagnosed.
People with cancer have their lives change fast as they swap work time for treatment consultations, surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, trips to the pharmacy, and more. While they manage their treatments, which often come with unpleasant side effects, they become tired and stressed, and can struggle to keep the steady stream of “what if” scenarios in check.
October is breast cancer awareness month.
Both cancer.org and the CDC agree that breast cancer is the second most common cancer in women in the U.S., behind some kinds of skin cancer, representing 1 in 3 of all new female cancers each year.
