Ask a Cactus: Clinical Trials and Patient Experience

This is our final video in our Ask a Cactus Series on Clinical Trials! Hear from Laura, a Nurse Practioner at UCSF who answers all sorts of questions about clinical trials! In this video, she’ll talk about the healthcare team taking care of you during a clinical trial and where to ask questions, the ethics governing clinical trials, the rights you have as a participant, how much is might cost, and more.

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How do stress, conflict, and isolation impact cancer outcomes?

Here at Cactus Cancer Society, we believe in the power of research for improving the lives of those who may be diagnosed with cancer in the future.  We’re always interested in amplifying the voices and experiences of young adults facing cancer, and making sure this population is represented in research. Check out the research opportunity below to see how you can use your story to help others!

The Young Adult Cancer Survivor Study

The purpose of this study is to understand more about how the world that teen and young adult lymphoma survivors live in affects the outcomes of their cancer treatment. We call this field of research social genomics, and it takes a close look at why and how different factors like social stress, conflict, and isolation can impact cancer diagnoses and outcomes.

This study for young adult cancer survivors is being run by a fellow young adult cancer survivor.  For more info, watch the research team’s informational YouTube video at https://youtu.be/xDlnWKvtkuU.

Am I Eligible to Participate?

You are eligible to participate if you:

  • Were diagnosed with Hodgkin or non-Hodgkin lymphoma between the ages of 15 and 39
  • Are currently between the ages of 18 and 39
  • Completed treatment within the past three years

What Will I Be Asked to Do?

You’ll be asked to complete an online survey every six months for two years and provide a blood sample every six months for two years.

Will I Be Compensated?

Participants will receive a $20 gift card each time they complete a survey and provide a blood sample (5 times for a total of $100).

How Do I Sign Up?

Learn more at https://youtu.be/xDlnWKvtkuU.  To sign up to participate, visit https://redcapproduction.umms.med.umich.edu/surveys/?s=ATKW4KFCEYHL9YR3

Pinky Promise: You Can Tell Us Your Secrets!

Holding on to a secret is hard. They can be complicated (love triangles!), emotionally fraught (feeling lost or scared), or just plain silly (craving kimchi every night during treatment). Want to let it off your chest, but not sure where to put it?

We have a brand new program at Cactus Cancer Society called Cancer Secrets! Here’s how it works. You write your secret on a postcard. It can be a beautiful, artistic rendering with your words on top, or it can be scribbled on the back of a receipt that you tape to a pre-existing postcard. However you choose to represent that secret is up to you! These are 100% anonymous. After you create your secret, you drop it in the mail to us at the address below:

Cancer Secrets
PO Box 282
Bordentown, NJ 08505

Once we receive your postcard, we will photograph it and share it on our social media accounts. Here’s where the magic begins: your secret is shared with other people. We’re willing to bet that folks to read your secret will feel a sense of connection, whether it is because they have the same or similar feelings, or because they are extending empathy to you. It’s way to let us laugh, cry, rage, or celebrate with you – anonymously, leaving nothing off the table.

So go ahead, grab that pen, and trust us with your secret. We can keep it: pinky promise.

Join Our Next Survivorship Series!

Our Late Fall cohort of our popular Survivorship Series has a few more spots remaining!

Not familiar with our Survivorship Series? You’ll get the best of our Cactus Cancer Society programming, all with the comfort of hanging the same group of young adults facing cancer each week.

Together, 25 young adults facing cancer (patients and survivors alike) will go through an 8-week, online program experience where you’ll hit the highlights of our workshops! You’ll form a tight-knit community and each week, you’ll take part in a different 2-hour program with the same group of young adults moving together through the series.

After our in-person workshops, you’ll have access to a private social media group for your cohort of 25 young adults where you can connect and communicate. Please note, when you sign up you are committing to take part in all 8 weeks.

Sound like your cup of tea? Sign up here!