Families Facing Cancer

Coping with the problems and possibilities together

by David Treadway

Lost At Sea

It’s the nightmare all of us ocean sailors have had: being lost at sea. Last weekend a good friend, Ned Cabot, was thrown overboard by a rogue wave and drowned. Read More

For Better and for Worse and for Butt-Ugly

Sometimes caregivers, spouses, family, and friends don't get enough appreciation for all they go through when a loved one has a medical crisis. Read More

Good Grief

A reflection on how our shared vulnerability and grief connects us all if we share it with each other. Grieving together heals. Read More

Dis-Ease of the the Heart: Part VI

This is the concluding entry on my emergency heart crisis. I hope it will have been useful for you. I am am very grateful to be here. Read More

Dis-Ease of the Heart: Part V

This series on my heart crisis unfolding as it happened hopefully will be helpful for all fellow patients as well as giving care-givers a sense of one patient's experience. Read More

Dis-ease of the Heart: Part !V

Reporting an unfolding heart surgery Read More

Dis-ease of The Heart: Part III

In midst of unfolding health drama. Double by-pass surgery tomorrow. Read More

Dis-ease of the Heart: Part II

This is my story of my emergency heart situation as it is unfolding. I will be posting as regularly as I can. I hope it will be helpful to others going through a health crisis and informative for the walking well. Read More

Dis-ease of the Heart

Dis-Ease of the Heart

I thought I was in great shape until I flunked my stress test last week. Catheterization this week and who knows, stents? By-pass surgery? Yikes. Read More

"We're All Going To Die"

"We're all going to die," is what my wife Kate used to say with both humor and anxiety as we sailed into heavy weather with our young children. It was mostly funny back then. Now, having come very close to my own death from cancer and having opened my clinical practice to couples and families dealing with cancer, I am living with our mortality daily. It's not getting easier. Read More

Grieving Alone Lasts Forever, Grieving Together Heals

A few years after miraculously surviving stage 4 non-Hodgkins lymphoma, I felt a strong desire to give back to others like many grateful cancer survivors do. I decided to begin working with couples and families dealing with cancer. I wanted to be able to utilize my own terrifying and transformative experience." Read More

Surprised by Love

Surprised by Love So that morning I was seeing my clients which was a god-send because bearing witness to the complexities and griefs of their lives thoroughly distracted me from my self-absorption with my chemo and cancer. I felt buoyed up by the privilege of taking care of others. Read More

“Hell, you’ve got to have hope”

Alice looks scared and brave. Her bright multi colored scarf is wound elegantly around her head. She is carefully made-up with pencilled in arched eyebrows. Despite the bronzer, she's pale, drawn. But she's smiling as she says, "I have stage four ovarian cancer. I know that's not good. I have been reading about it in on the Internet. Read More

Some Things Cancer Taught Us

No one wants to be schooled by cancer. As we frequently said ruefully in our cancer support group, "we're in the club nobody chooses to join". But the reality of cancer is a harsh teacher for the patient and the whole family. Read More