Category: Survivorship

Sylvia Huang, Ph.D., director of UAB Medicine’s Psycho-Oncology Program, shares some tips for embracing the holiday spirit with gratitude and mental well-being.

Michelle Taylor answers why she chose the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB for her cancer journey and more in this Q&A.

Amy Linville, 43 – a resident of Chattanooga, Tenn. – had several difficulties on her way to being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Learn more about her story as she shares her emotional treatment journey.

Kelly Klehm learned that early diagnosis can empower you to take charge of your health. As a younger-than-average patient with breast cancer, she faced each breast cancer treatment milestone at the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB during a one-year period while also managing motherhood, work, and wellness.

There are over 4 million breast cancer survivors in the United States, more than with any other type of cancer. Patients undergoing treatment usually have frequent appointments with their oncologist and other members of the care team, but they may not see them often once treatment is complete – despite the benefits of long-term follow-up care.

Emilee Dabbs answers questions about her cancer journey and experience as a patient of the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB hosted its inaugural O’Neal Iron Strong Awards July 28, 2023, in the Barbara and Edward Partridge Atrium at Wallace Tumor Institute. The ceremony celebrated nine cancer survivors who benefitted from clinical trials and helped advance the knowledge on cancer care.

Tight-Knit is a new knitting group open to all patients of UAB Medicine Oncology. Starting July 31, it will meet every Monday from 3-5 p.m. in room 101 of the Wallace Tumor Institute.

Ridley Brown answers questions about her career journey and experience as an employee of the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center.

At the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB, our Supportive Care Clinic connects patients with a wide range of programs to enhance their well-being during treatment and afterward, including UAB Medicine’s Arts in Medicine (AIM) program.

Cancer can put a person’s health at risk, but it also poses challenges to physical, social, emotional, and mental well-being. In response, the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB has integrated the UAB Supportive Care Psycho-Oncology Program into patient care, to promote a culture of caring for the emotional impact of cancer.

Emily Lombardo answers questions about her cancer journey and experience as a patient of the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Joseph Thompson was an average 22-year-old college graduate. He enjoyed hanging out with friends on the weekend, going to work, attending music concerts and watching every sport that was on his television screen. But on March 3, 2022, he received news that would change life as he knew it.

The O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB is offering our community an opportunity to join the AMPLIFY clinical trial, a study funded by the National Cancer Institute that is designed to advance research by helping cancer survivors get healthier.

The O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB’s Cancer Rehab Plus program anticipates and responds to patient needs at every stage of the cancer journey. It’s an approach to cancer rehabilitation that recognizes the complex challenges of cancer and how needs vary from person to person.

Rashad Hayes answers questions about his cancer journey and experience as a patient of the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center.

In November 2020, retired Chief Master Sergeant Patrick McCrocklin visited the medical center at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala., where he assumed he would be treated for a hernia. He actually had two hernias, but doctors also found two mysterious spots on his liver. MRI and PET scans revealed stage 4 colorectal cancer that had spread to his liver, and he was given just six months to live.

Providing comprehensive care for patients during their cancer journey includes helping them maintain their mental well-being – before, during, and after treatment. To help meet that need, the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB (OCCC) hosts online support groups for patients with specific types of cancer, as well as a new group for those with any type of cancer.

In 2014, Edith Surles Lonon of Montgomery, Alabama, noticed swollen lymph nodes along her neck. She was recovering from shoulder replacement surgery, following doctor’s orders for physical therapy. Little did she know she had a far more serious journey ahead.

The summer before Cameron Monistere started his senior year, he felt a lump in his throat. This was not the anxiety-induced, metaphorical kind. It was a physical one on his lymph node.

When Beth Curles was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer in 1997, she notified only her close family. As an elementary school teacher in a small town in Georgia, she worried her community might stigmatize her diagnosis and treat her differently. For more than 15 years, she quietly battled her disease, until she was brought to the Center for Clinical and Translational Science’s Clinical Research Unit based at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.  

Nearly 32 years ago, Jeana Nesmith Russell was beginning her dream career as a nurse in one of the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s hospital units while pursuing her graduate degree.

National Cancer Survivors Day was Sunday, June 5. As frightening as a cancer diagnosis most certainly can be, the good news is that survival rates continue to improve, the number of cancer survivors continues to grow and the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham has resources to help patients even after they are cancer-free.

On Dec. 19, 2019, Jennifer Hanna, M.D., Clinical assistant professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Hospitalist with UAB Hospital Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, was diagnosed with breast cancer after a biopsy for abnormal calcifications.