People V. Cancer: The New Movement to Make Human Touch Part of Cancer Care

When Kate Bowler, author of Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I’ve Loved, was told that she had a 30% to 40% chance of survival due to her stage 4 colon cancer, she said at the talk, the doctor delivered the news in a cold and detached tone, she told the audience. “I grabbed his hand and said, ‘You better hold my hand if you’re going to say something like that,'” she said. What she needed at such a profound time, she said, was someone with empathy.

Dr. Sunita Puri, Author of That Good Night: Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour, and medical director of Palliative Medicine at the Keck Hospital and Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center at USC, told the audience that she tries to address this issue every day with her medical students who are training in palliative care. As a medical student herself, Puri said, “I became so focused on disease and outcomes that I lost the ability to relate as a human.”

As a part of that training, Puri said, she spent a lot of time working with her students on simply slowing down. “Slowing down conveys compassion,” she said.

When it comes to making patients feel more comfortable during palliative care beyond bedside manner, Puri said, her goal is always to understand how each patient individually defines quality of life. She gave two example. One patient, Puri said, told her that they didn’t mind sitting in a hospital bed “if [they] could feel the touch of [their] grandchildren and hear the voices of the people they love, that works.” In contrast, another patient told her, “If I can’t be independent in [certain] ways, it won’t be quality of life.”

It’s important, both said, for palliative caregivers make clear to the patient their specific role, how they can be useful, and why they are there. This understanding, both women explained, helps people feel more at ease with receiving such care, while coming up with more neutral, “safer”-sounding words does not.

The talk was one of many during the conference to focus on the way that the so-called "war on cancer" is evolving to focus on living more comfortably during and after treatment.

Marcia Cross: I Hesitated Before Having Twin Daughters Get Vaccinated for HPV

In another conference highlight, Marcia Cross stepped-up her brave campaign to remove the stigma and shame around HPV and anal cancer. Cross, 57, was treated for anal cancer and has become a powerful advocate in the last year.  Even as a survivor and a parent, Cross said she did initially hesitate before ultimately having her twin daughters, Savannah and Eden, now 12, get vaccinated for HPV.

 

"I definitely grappled with fear about the HPV vaccine [for my daughters]," Cross, who was diagnosed with anal cancer two years ago, said before a large crowd of attendees, emphasizing that while she knows the vaccine helps prevent the strains of the virus that can cause cervical, anal, testicular, oral and other cancers concern and fear of the unknown are part and parcel of being a parent.

"It's easy to be of two minds about it," Cross said on stage.

Cross made a strong argument that people of all ages, not just teens and young adults, need to be aware of the health risks posed by HPV. Anal cancer is one of the disease that can be caused by the virus.

Patrick Dempsey Moves the Crowd

Patrick Dempsey spoke powerfully about his mom, who passed away from ovarian cancer, tearing up when he shared that before she died she told him stories about her life. "Tell [your family] about your life," Dempsey urged. You want to know about your mom, and your kids want to know about your journey and your childhood.”

In 2017, Dempsey founded the Dempsey Center in his mother's honor. The supportive cancer facility in Maine offers free quality-of-life care to patients, family members and caregivers. Services range from massage and acupuncture to counseling services and bereavement groups. Located in Lewiston, Dempsey's hometown, and South Portland, it treats some 2,500 patients a year.

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