Surviving with Confidence is being your own advocate – arming yourself with information, speaking up, asking questions and participating in your treatment decisions and care. The program aims to help dispel many common misconceptions about chemotherapy and to empower cancer survivors to be their own advocates and seek the highest quality care.

Specifically, greater dialogue between people living with cancer and their healthcare professionals from the time of diagnosis throughout their survivorship will help survivors and their loved ones navigate treatment and inspire them to find ways to persevere.

Surviving with Confidence celebrates the strides in cancer treatment that are helping to extending survival and encourages people living with cancer to gather as much information as possible regarding their treatment options before making decisions.

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The Surviving with Confidence program was created in partnership with sanofi-aventis to dispel some of the misconceptions about chemotherapy reported in a new national survey of cancer survivors. The survey revealed widespread misconceptions about chemotherapy held by cancer survivors before they underwent treatment. Some of the key findings in the survey were:

Cancer Survivors Feared Undergoing Chemotherapy Prior to Starting Treatment

• About eight out of ten (83 percent) cancer survivors said they had been at least somewhat fearful before starting chemotherapy
• Seventy-six percent (76 percent) indicated they were most fearful of the potential side effects of chemotherapy, including hair loss, nausea and fatigue

The Reality of Chemotherapy Differed from Expectations

• 62 percent of cancer survivors felt that their fears about the treatment were unjustified
• Though 91 percent of survivors experienced side effects from chemotherapy, only 14 percent found chemotherapy to be very difficult and about a third (32 percent) had a somewhat easy or very easy experience with the treatment
• Most (61 percent) found their experience with side effects such as nausea, hair loss and fatigue differed from their expectations, and 87 percent of those who experience side effects said that their side effects were more manageable because of supportive care products
• About one third (35 percent) found treatment more successful than they had imagined Chemotherapy Provides Hope for Survival
• 87 percent of those who had side effects said that chemotherapy was worth undergoing
• 90 percent said chemotherapy gave them hope for survival
• Additionally, 94 percent would advise others to undergo chemotherapy if their doctor recommends it

Communication and Care Planning Play Essential Role in Cancer Care

• Only one third (35 percent) of survey participants received a written summary of treatment when care ended
• Of those who did not receive a written care plan outlining their treatment before it began, 78 percent said having one would have helped them ask appropriate questions about what side effects to expect from treatment
• Those survivors who had an easier experience with chemotherapy were more likely than those who had a difficult experience to strongly agree that their doctor tried to ensure they understood their treatment plan before beginning chemotherapy (76 percent easy experience vs. 54 percent difficult experience), and to agree that this discussion helped ease their fears about chemotherapy (94 percent easy experience vs. 79 percent difficult experience).