Caregiving

The holidays are a time to celebrate, but they can also be a time of stress as we try to create that perfect celebration. Bringing together family and friends, decorating, shopping, cooking, hosting—the list goes on! 

After a lung cancer diagnosis, it’s easy to feel like you can’t keep up and that your holidays will never be the same. They can be special; just remember to take care of yourself first before taking care of the holidays. 

Being a caregiver to a parent is different for everyone, but finding success is about the roles and strengths of each person.

Navigating a lung cancer diagnosis can feel overwhelming not only to the patient but to their caregiver as well. It’s normal to feel lost or confused and not know where to start or what resources to ask for. Because a cancer diagnosis is a family diagnosis, LUNGevity wants caregivers to know they don’t have to go through it alone. There are resources available to help caregivers take care of their loved ones as well as themselves. Here are 5 important caregiver resources to help with your loved one’s lung cancer diagnosis. 

Caregiving may be the most challenging role a person can take on, but also one of the most valuable. In some instances, providing physical and emotional care to a loved one can become a round-the-clock job that may shift other priorities like career or relationships.

In the spring of 2021, Myra’s husband Kelvin had COVID-19. After, he had a lingering cough and shortness of breath. His chest hurt a bit when he breathed. They assumed it was pneumonia or at least COVID-related. They never guessed it would be lung cancer.

Being a caregiver for someone with lung cancer can be rewarding, but it can also be challenging. This is because a lung cancer diagnosis is life-changing for both the person with the disease and their caregiver.

The day my wife Heather found out she had lung cancer was the day that everything changed. In that moment, our plans for the future disappeared. Our focus for the present became just lung cancer.

I had just graduated college in 2013 when my dad was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. Like most people diagnosed with advanced lung cancer, the discovery of his disease was a fluke. His car was rear-ended, which led to an x-ray, which showed a mass in his lung. He was given a 50% chance of living six months.

Caregiver is a funny term to me. There have been times in this process I’ve felt like one, but most of the time, I haven’t needed to take that role. My husband, who is an advanced stage lung cancer survivor, doesn’t need care. He isn’t bedbound or sickly; he’s out biking and golfing on the weekends.

“Couples who have cancer together, stay together,” says Kristina Burke, a breast cancer survivor who is also primary caregiver to her husband Jim, who has stage IV EGFR lung cancer. “It’s hard to be in a family where two people have cancer. But we’re in it together and that’s what gets us through.”