Trish Boh/LinkedIn
Jun 23, 2025, 08:38
Trish Boh: Reflecting on National Cancer Survivors Day and the Strength of Survivorship
Trish Boh, Executive Secretary to the Executive Medical Director of Oncology Services and Directors at St. Elizabeth Healthcare, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“Our National Cancer Survivors Day celebration has been a passion project of mine for the past 4 years, as a breast cancer survivor myself, and as someone deeply committed to making the day special for our patients and their caregivers. We start planning 6-8 months ahead of time, down to the smallest detail. Every year we learn how to make the next one a little bigger and better. This year was the smoothest yet thanks to our incredible team, Maggie Biesinger, Michelle Snell, Tonya M. Thompson, Dwinelva Zackery, Caroline Delph, and our many other volunteers.
Our family has had to do quite a bit of “adulting” so far this year. Driving in to work the other day as the sun was rising ahead of me, I found myself having a little pity party, replaying the many events of the past few months that we had no control over, and being brutally honest, just downright sucked. In a moment of prayer, I had the epiphany that it could be so much worse. The inconveniences we have been going through are minuscule in the grand scheme of what some of our patients have to endure every day.
Helen Keller said “Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows. It’s what the sunflowers do.” I made a purposeful decision in that moment to FROG (Fully Rely On God) and flip the switch on my thinking. Instead of wallowing in the negativity, which itself can spread like cancer, I am going to focus on the things that I can control and keep in the sunshine.
The Yung Family Cancer Center at St. Elizabeth Healthcare has been a cornerstone of my journey from it’s groundbreaking in August 2018. As I stood there and heard Douglas Flora speak, I proclaimed to my friend, “one day I will work for that man!” In June 2019 I signed the final beam that was placed atop this building, not knowing what it would later come to mean to me.
My secret message for anyone touched by cancer, became a message to myself in December 2020, 3 days before my 46th birthday, and it will forever be a part of this center. My life was irrevocably altered on that day. Once you hear the words “you have cancer”, you never un-hear them, and they live in the shadows. Honestly, most days I have felt less like a survivor, and more like a survivor living with a constant fear of recurrence.
Then on that same drive, after my epiphany, I realized that through the immense challenges, I have discovered a profound strength, resilience, and support that has carried me through. Our team here is nothing short of inspirational. Their unwavering dedication to uplifting both patients and staff creates a ripple effect of hope and encouragement. Their compassion and expertise have been a constant source of strength, reminding us all that we are not alone in this fight.
Let us honor this month by celebrating the triumphs, acknowledging the struggles, and continuing to support one another with empathy and strength. And don’t forget to keep in the sunshine.”
-
Challenging the Status Quo in Colorectal Cancer 2024
December 6-8, 2024
-
ESMO 2024 Congress
September 13-17, 2024
-
ASCO Annual Meeting
May 30 - June 4, 2024
-
Yvonne Award 2024
May 31, 2024
-
OncoThon 2024, Online
Feb. 15, 2024
-
Global Summit on War & Cancer 2023, Online
Dec. 14-16, 2023
Jun 23, 2025, 07:59
Jun 23, 2025, 07:42
Jun 23, 2025, 07:30