Welcome to the Physicians Cancer Network

A 501(c)3 organization

I’m an orthopedic surgeon who was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer.   Going through the treatment process, I have been through quite a lot including chemotherapy and multiple surgeries.  I’ve had side effects and complications and it’s been a rough road.  Early on, I had a slew of emotions and the mental side was very hard to endure, often harder than the physical.  I had family and friends to lean on, but something else was missing.

Someone shared a story with me on another physician they had seen who also had stage IV colon cancer.  He was in the same region of the country as me and we were close in age.  With a little work, I was able to contact him and we began to text and got to know each other quite well.  It was a life changing experience.  We essentially created our own little support group.  Many of the ones I’ve seen around at local hospitals and such were for breast cancer and fairly nonspecific.  Being a physician, I felt awkward in attending one of these meetings.  However this relationship we established proved to be invaluable.  We would talk to each other about our chemotherapy treatments, side effects, surgeries, doctors, second opinions, family, work, benefits, vacations, and just life in general.  

Unfortunately, he recently passed away and I feel like I’m missing something.  Even though he’s gone, I’m grateful for having been able to get to know him.  It made going through this process much easier.

I’ve spent some time in looking around, and there’s no good network for physicians who have serious medical diagnoses to meet one another as we did.  This led me to create this network for doing so.  I can’t say enough how amazing it was to have one another to lean on.  I want others to be able to have that opportunity.

Please explore the site, share with patients, friends, colleagues, and family members.  This is certainly not a finished product, and I encourage feedback to make this better for everyone.  With a little luck we can reach as many people as we can to help our fellow physicians in their battles against these horrible diseases.

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Please email me with any questions or concerns and I will personally respond.

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