New Beginnings: Facing the Challenge of Cancer

Additional Info

• Segment Number: 2
• Audio File: healthy_talk/1520ht2c.mp3
• Featured Speaker: Bill Aron, PhD
• Book Title: New Beginnings: The Triumphs of 120 Cancer Survivors
• Guest Bio: Bill Aron, PhD, is an internationally renowned photographer and author. Aron's photographs have been exhibited in major museums and galleries internationally including the Museum of Modern Art, the International Center for Photography, the Chicago Art Institute, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
  
  His books include From the Corners of the Earth, Shalom Y'all: Images of Jewish Life in the American South and his latest book New Beginnings: The Triumphs of 120 Cancer Survivors.
  
  Aron lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two sons, where he is quite possibly the only photographer with a PhD in sociology (from the University of Chicago).
• Transcription: RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: May 12, 2015
  Host: Michael Smith, MD
  
  Healthy talk with Doctor Michael Smith MD and now, here's the country doctor with a city education, Dr. Mike. Anti-aging and disease preventing radio is right here on radio M.D. Here's author, blogger, lecturer and national media radio personality, Dr. Michael Smith M.D. with Healthy Talk.
  
  DR MIKE: Now, you've seen the challenge of cancer, new beginnings, in speaking with Bill Aron he's a PhD. He's a renowned photographer and author. He's been in many museums with his art work and he wrote a book titled, New Beginnings: The Triumphs of 120 Cancer Survivors.
  Bill, welcome to Healthy Talk.
  
  DR. BILL: Thank you Dr. Mike. It's good to be here.
  
  DR. MIKE: Thank you for coming on. So, you mentioned, too, before we started, the website you have is, Bill Aron and that's Aron with one R. BillAron.com
  
  DR. BILL: One A. One R. yeah.
  
  DR. MIKE: I'm sorry, one A, you're right. You know, it's funny, Bill. I had a friend, his name is Aaron Bartenstein, when I was growing up in California, and he spelled his name with two A's. Is that the more common way of doing it? I don't know.
  
  DR. BILL: It is much more common
  
  DR. MIKE: So, Bill Aron, with one A dot com. Is the book available at that site?
  
  DR. BILL: No, the book is available at Amazon and if people send me a message, I can send them a book. I think it's much easier to get it from Amazon or Barnes & Noble or even their local bookstore.
  
  DR. MIKE: Okay, awesome. So if you want the book, New Beginnings: The Triumphs of 120 Cancer Survivors, go check it out on Amazon and then if you want to just learn more about Bill and his story BillAron.com At the break, we were talking about better outcomes. We are improving outcomes, people are surviving cancer. The cancer deaths continue to drop and there's probably honestly a lot of reasons for that, early diagnosis, better treatment but what do you think? I asked you the question, and I'm asking this to you just from your own experience, you know, writing the book. If we did a better job of helping people with the emotional pain, especially after what we call post treatment, do you think we could even do a better job with outcome?
  
  DR. BILL: I think the psychological states definitely affect a person's quality of life and I think that's what we can help people with. Whether or not a good quality of life, a sense of peace, a sense of being centered affects the outcome of the disease, we don't know that, but we do know that a person's quality of life is affected. They feel much better and they can enjoy moving forward with their lives. Let me also say that New Beginnings is about this question, not about the diseases that we call cancer, but it's about the psychological states that a person goes through and dealing with their cancer.
  
  DR. MIKE: What is it that you want to, based on that, what was your goal? Was it to highlight some of those psychological phases? What's your goal with the book? I mean, what are you hoping somebody really takes out of it?
  
  DR. BILL: Well, with cancer, it's not that they're cured anymore. It's learning to live with cancer and that's a very different mindset and many people need help to figure out how. Most people arrive at a sense of a new normal, a sense of a new beginning. Becca Gifford, one of the people in the book who was diagnosed at age 22, she said that "Life is so much more than traditional success. It's about joy, about living our soul's purpose and about contributing to the greater good." I live every moment with that in mind. When treatment's over, many people, including survivors themselves, feel, "That okay. Life can get back to normal now."
  
  And that's the expectation and survivors, I believe, go through this transition of realizing that there is no more old normal; that they have to develop a new normal. And once they accept this then they can move forward with their lives. Some people change careers, most reorder their priorities, some people just reaffirm that the path they've chosen is the right one for them. Other people change their lifestyles making it more healthy, but what most people do, and I think this is crucial, they explore ways to give back to the cancer organization, to the cancer community. Some visit treatment centers and just sit and hold people's hands others raise money. Some found survivor organizations. Some reach out to others who have been diagnosed and some even feel that they're living for those people they had known who had died and their motivation is the belief that they could make a difference.
  
  DR. MIKE: That's really interesting. Knowing what you've gone through, the amazing people that you met obviously writing this book, this idea about helping others getting involved with support groups, would you make that suggestion to somebody who is just getting into that post treatment phase? Is that something you encourage them to look into it immediately or does everybody kind of have to go through their own process here? Like, there's no absolute way of helping through that emotional pain.
  
  DR. BILL: I think people need to move at their own pace. When I speak to people who have been diagnosed, I try and figure out where they are and I wouldn't make suggestions. I think the most important thing in speaking to people who have been diagnosed is just to listen, sit and hold their hand. They don't need to be told what to do but when they're ready and they ask "Well, how do I move forward? What do I do?" At that point, I think it's very useful to suggest things. People talk about angels in the book. Angels are people that they define as people who come to you at your worst time of life, and they help you. One person even said that the goal of his life is now to become someone else's angel.
  
  DR. MIKE: That's awesome.
  
  DR. BILL: Tiffany Grazi had this amazing experience where she totally broke down in treatment when she was getting chemo. She felt lousy, she was crying. What she described as this beautiful woman, came over and was also in treatment, sat down next to her and just held her hand. And they became best friends and they had all their treatments together, they talked, they shared stories and this other woman, who Tiffany described as "her angel", didn't make it. She passed away and Tiffany says that she felt that she had a duty to teach what this angel had taught her: "to listen to others and not to my pain. Be kind, not selfish. Everyone is battling something. I realize that I am not a lone soldier". I think in other words, being with someone combats, what it works at doing is, it lets the person know that they're not alone and that's the first step.
  
  DR. MIKE: That's probably really important to the person who was just diagnosed because let's be honest, Bill. There's probably a couple of my listeners who probably just got diagnosed with cancer. How important is it for that person, who's listening to now, to get connected quickly with a support group or with what you're calling an "angel"? I mean, for you that seemed to be a very important part of your journey. Is that something you encourage all people when they're diagnosed with cancer to do? To reach out?
  
  DR. BILL: Yes, I think it's the first step in developing the new normal, and that's a good way to put it, to find out that they're not alone.
  
  DR. MIKE: Bill, we're going to have to leave it there. The website, BillAron.com. The book, New Beginnings: The Triumphs of 120 Cancer Survivors. Go check it out on Amazon. This is Healthy Talk on Radio MD. I'm Dr. Mike. Stay well.
• Length (mins): 10
• Waiver Received: No
• Host: Mike Smith, MD