Skip to main content
  • Advertise
    Want to Advertise with Us?
    Conquer welcomes advertising and sponsorship collaborations with reputable companies offering high-quality products and services to people affected by cancer.
  • Affiliated Brands
    Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators
    The Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators (AONN+) is the largest national specialty organization dedicated to improving patient care and quality of life by defining, enhancing, and promoting the role of oncology nurse and patient navigators. Our organization of over 8,900 members was founded in May 2009 to provide a network for all professionals involved and interested in patient navigation and survivorship care services to better manage the complexities of the cancer care treatment continuum for their patients. We view our organization as one consisting of “professional patient advocates” and, to that end, we support and serve our members.
    Journal of Oncology Navigation & Survivorship
    The Journal of Oncology Navigation & Survivorship (JONS) promotes reliance on evidence-based practices in navigating patients with cancer and their caregivers through diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship. JONS also seeks to strengthen the role of nurse and patient navigators in cancer care by serving as a platform for these professionals to disseminate original research findings, exchange best practices, and find support for their growing community.
    The Oncology Nurse-APN/PA
    The Oncology Nurse-APN/PA (TON) provides coverage of the wide spectrum of oncology-related events, trends, news, therapeutics, diagnostics, organizations, and legislation that directly affect hematology/oncology nurses and advanced practitioners involved in healthcare delivery and product utilization. The scope and coverage include a unique presentation of news and events that are shaping the care of patients with cancer.
  • Healthcare Providers
  • Contribute

When Losing Is Winning

April 2019 Vol 5 No 2
Lisa Lurie
Cancer Be Glammed Co-Founder
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Breast cancer survivor

I am not an oncology nurse or a patient navigator. I am a student from the cancer school of hard knocks. The entry exam starts with a diagnosis, and if you are lucky, you graduate a survivor. In my case, my experience compelled me to become a patient advocate.

Like many people, advocacy often starts with a defining, life-changing moment. For me, it was a life-changing year. Ten years ago, I was diagnosed with invasive ductal breast cancer. I underwent a double mastectomy (removal of both breasts), an oophorectomy (removal of the ovaries), and chemotherapy. I became bald, breastless, and bewildered.

From the start, I struggled with basic problems, from how to dress now that my body was disfigured and scarred to coping with more complex psychosocial issues around my negative body image and feelings of low self-worth. It was devastating.

By the time I transitioned into survivorship, I was determined to improve the recovery experience for other women. Women coping with all forms of cancer.

Cancer Be Glammed

I co-founded Cancer Be Glammed, a company whose mission is to prepare women for the appearance-related issues and lifestyle challenges that they will likely face from surgery and treatment, and to empower them

to recover with dignity, positive self-esteem, and personal style. Over the years Cancer Be Glammed has grown from the spark of an idea from 2 moms to a company with global reach. Our platform includes:

  • www.cancerbeglammed.com. Our content-rich website provides women with easy access to lifestyle and product solutions for an informed, practical-yet-fashionable recovery
  • Cancer Be Glammed TV (CBG-TV). Our recovery lifestyle channel is accessible on YouTube
  • Cancer Be Glammed: Recover in Style. Our recently published one-of-a-kind guide enables women to prepare and manage body and lifestyle challenges resulting from cancer treatment; the guide is available for purchase on our website

Support Tool

In addition, Cancer Be Glammed: Recover in Style is an excellent patient-support tool for oncology nurses, patient navigators, and oncology social workers to educate, empower, and engage their patients to “take charge” of their recovery.

For patients like me, oncology nurses, patient navigators, and oncology social workers are the people we rely on to guide us through our personal cancer maze. Much like first responders, these professional people have the knowledge and ability to rush in and make an unmanageable situation manageable. I admire them greatly.

AONN+ & CONQUER 2018 Hero of Hope Nominee

This past fall, I had the honor (and opportunity) of a lifetime! The Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators (AONN+) and CONQUER: the patient voice named me a finalist for their Hero of Hope patient award.

I was invited to attend the AONN+ Ninth Annual Navigation & Survivorship Conference in November 2018. For 4 days, I got to immerse myself in their world and to explore how patients, nurses, navigators, and oncologists can work together to improve patient care.

Thank you AONN+ for working tirelessly to better the lives of people fighting cancer. Thank you AONN+ and CONQUER for recognizing efforts like mine and other patients who are determined to do the same. I did not win the award, but thanks to AONN+ and CONQUER magazine, I headed home a winner.

Patient Resources

Cancer Be Glammed
www.cancerbeglammed.com

National Patient Safety Foundation
www.npsf.org/page/patientadvocate

Patient Advocacy Foundation
www.patientadvocate.org

Recommended For You