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Carmen Monge-Montero: The True Essence of Cancer Treatment

Carmen Monge-Montero/LinkedIn

Sep 5, 2025, 17:21

Carmen Monge-Montero: The True Essence of Cancer Treatment

Carmen Monge-Montero, Researcher and Global Cancer Advocate, shared a post on LinkedIn:

“11 years after cancer, a simple infection took me right back to the hospital, and to feelings I thought were gone.

Since Gold September started, I wanted to share some updates about the Can-Can books.

By this month, I had planned to be already writing the third book and have the second one on the editor’s desk. But life had other plans. A medical crisis reminded me of the true essence of this project, the challenges of every stage. As I’ve shared before, the Can-Can series is based on research about the three stages of a cancer journey:

Book 1 – Diagnosis “Can-Can and the Adventure of Ming Island”
Book 2 – Treatment and the end of it “Can-Can and the Yun Hills”
Book 3 – Life after cancer

A month ago, I suddenly got very sick: dizziness, nausea, hours of vomiting. For the first time in my life – even during cancer treatment – I asked to be taken to the emergency room.

I got hospitalised for Salmonella and a parasite, and the next morning, the doctor found me crying my eyes out. Not because of the diagnosis, but because it transported me back to my cancer treatment and to feelings I thought were gone:

Needing help just to move or go to the bathroom.
Painful IVs, tests and the boredom of hospital rooms.
Canceling plans and worrying my family.
Wanting to eat but not being able to.
The fear that maybe the treatment isn’t working, and the medicine side effects are worse than the illness or just bad.

You might say: “It was only Salmonella.” But it triggered so much more.

After leaving the hospital, grief over losing a cancer friend and my physical weakness brought new symptoms: night sweats, panic attacks, weight loss. And the haunting thought appeared again: “Is cancer back?” Even after 11 years, that fear never fully leaves.

The difference this time was that I had something I didn’t have years ago: support and knowledge. My family, friends with a lived cancer experience, and my therapist helped me through it.

And then I realized something important: the second Can-Can book needed to be re-written.

Even if it’s for children, treatments are not easy, physically or emotionally. My sister, who reviews my books, had pointed this out. After this experience, I truly understood and remembered two things:

I needed to add an extra chapter. Now the second book feels stronger and more authentic. The biggest challenge of the treatments.

The urgency of writing the third one. Life after cancer is like a roller coaster, although treatments may end, the emotional and physical side effects stay with us long afterwards.

Yes, I’m delayed with my personal deadlines. But I believe this happened for a reason: the book is more real, and hopefully, more meaningful for the children who will read it.”

Carmen Monge-Montero