What it's like to have lived through rectal cancer

“Over the 18 months since the surgery, I’ve been getting steadily better. So the body does heal. It just takes longer than a person would think.” –Scott Traviglia, a pseudonym*

Between September 2020 and February 2021, 20 people who’d had rectal cancer picked up the phone or joined a Zoom call and talked about their feelings. Some spoke of their immense sadness during diagnosis and treatment, others of their lingering anxiety and fear of their cancer coming back. A few felt lucky to be alive. A few wondered if death would have been better.

These nuanced reflections were continuing a conversation started a few months earlier, when the patients submitted photos that illustrated important aspects of their rectal cancer journey. It was the first time researchers had used a method called photo-elicitation, in which photos chosen by the participants are used as a stimulus and guide to examine the psychological impact of rectal cancer and the coping strategies patients employ.

“As many as half of United States cancer survivors report that their physicians never discuss their social and emotional needs after cancer therapy, even though we know that distress is highly prevalent among cancer survivors and that patients with rectal cancer specifically are likely to report unmet emotional needs after treatment,” said Pasithorn A. Suwanabol, M.D., M.S., an assistant professor at the University of Michigan Medical School, a colorectal surgeon at the Ann Arbor Veterans Affairs Healthcare System and the senior author of the study. “As part of a program that is nationally accredited for rectal cancer care, we felt compelled to start exploring those narratives.”

Below is  a selection of these images as well as quotes from the interviews that followed to give a glimpse into what it’s like to be on the other side of rectal cancer.