What if surviving cancer was just the beginning of the real fight?

In this episode, we dig into the dirty little secret of cancer care: post-treatment survivorship is often a medical no-man’s-land. Once the last scan is clean and the bell is rung, patients are left to figure out what “getting back to normal” even means—if that’s possible at all.

We hear from patients and pioneers who pulled back the curtain on life after cancer, exposing the physical, emotional, and financial wreckage that doesn’t make it into the brochure. From debilitating fatigue, chemo brain, and fertility loss to job discrimination and bankruptcy—survivors found themselves told they should be grateful... while falling apart.

Leading the charge is Dr. Patricia Ganz, one of the first physicians to say out loud that survivorship is a medical specialty—and a broken one at that. We follow her 40-year journey advocating for quality of life research, survivor rehab, and the creation of actual survivorship clinics, not just exit paperwork and “good luck” wishes.

Matthew Zachary brings it home with his own brutal reality check after treatment: no support, no rehab, no roadmap. Just the question: now what?

This episode is a wake-up call. It’s not about beating cancer. It’s about what comes after—and why most of us weren’t ready for it.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Survivorship doesn’t end with the last round of chemo—it often starts there
• Dr. Patricia Ganz pioneered survivorship as a field, pushing for real research into long-term effects and quality of life
• Survivors face lasting trauma, cognitive issues, sexual dysfunction, and financial devastation—with little clinical recognition
• "Chemo brain" is real, and many patients had to convince their own doctors it wasn’t “just aging”
• Survivorship clinics, where they exist, are rare—but vital
• Society celebrates survival but often ignores the cost of staying alive

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