In 2022, at least 80 percent of children diagnosed with cancer will be cured. This excellent outcome is often accompanied by long- term complications, or late effects, of therapy that occur or persist years after treatment ends. Fortunately, late effects can be anticipated based on a patient’s prior chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, and/or immunotherapy.

Four basic categories of medical late effects exist. These relate to growth and development; sensory and vital organ function; hormonal or endocrine issues; and second and subsequent malignancies. Psychosocial late effects reflect anxiety, depression, insurability, education, employment, substance abuse, and reduction in overall quality of life. Understanding late effects is important to promote physical health and well being as survivors move forward with their lives.

Our survivorship program employs patient navigators to ensure that survivors and/or their caregivers are given a personalized Treatment Summary and Care Plan. This informs them about which late effects they might expect over time. The Survivorship Care Plan empowers survivors to promote their health through exercise, proper nutrition, weight management, and other lifestyle choices.

Walking Miracles makes survivorship a little easier by providing an Apple iPad or Android tablet.

Each tablet is preloaded with helpful apps like, E Care 21, Anytime Telehealth, and the Reimagine Well platform that conveniently ties it all together.

The tablets also include:

• Online patient education resources, website links to hotels near your hospital or cancer center
  
• Apps such as Zoom, MY Chart and Uber
  
• Our immersive healing environment Reimagine Well you can use during chemo
  
• Survivorship care plan, when available
  
• Wi-Fi, video calling, email, contact storage
  
• Medication management, connection to our patient navigator, and more.
  
• Each recipient receives a tutorial from our navigators explaining the tablet and its features.

Personalized Education

Our nurse navigator can help you with personalized education and your treatments. She can connect with a survivorship clinic if you are not in one so you can do a self-referral or and help communicate that you need a Survivorship Plan which is the summary of your care so you can use it with your pediatrician or primary care doctor after treatment is finished. Your survivorship plan explains the late effects of the chemo, radiation surgeries or other medical procedures done you had during your cancer journey and what long term effects you need to be aware of or expect years after you’re done with your treatments.

Having a survivorship plan and our survivorship nurse navigator can help empower survivors so they can have a conversation with someone who understands their concerns. She can help get answers to any questions you have and at the same time educate you on your history and teach you how to advocate for yourself with your primary care doctors about your long term side effects and can still be available to help you when needed.

Our goal is to help take the stress off you, but at the same time educate you so you can have a great quality of life without any lingering doubts or questions and walk with you.

If you have a plan already but have questions about what it says and would like us to go over it and explain it to you, fill out the form below.