Coping with relapse and facing hard decisions (Renée’s story)

March 1, 2011

In this video, Renée talks about being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s follicular lymphoma at the age of 32 and dealing with recurrence

Watch as Renée talks about being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s follicular lymphoma when she was 32-years-old and dealing with its recurrence only six months after completing chemotherapy.

She also talks about telling her friends and children, feeling fear, dealing with relapse and leaving work for good.

Renée lives in Goulds, Newfoundland. Before her diagnosis, she worked in retail management. She is married and has two young children.

When I relapsed that was probably… that was worse for me because then I limited who I told. I did. And then word of mouth went, “Renee’s not well, she relapsed.”

I know little of the conversations that went on but I told… I took control of my first and I told a lot of people, but my second I didn’t. I just told the immediate and then let everybody else do the work.

Watch the video of Renée talking about coping with relapse and hard decisions

The Partnership’s Person-Centred Perspective initiative is committed to improving the patient experience. We are working with partners across Canada to find the best ways to offer a person-centred perspective throughout a person’s cancer journey and to help information flow throughout. The impact of a cancer diagnosis goes far beyond the physical disease. It affects every aspect of a person’s life. The initiative has focused on reporting about the patient experience, and giving health-care providers patient-centred tools and resources, which have been validated and standardized.

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