While a cancer diagnosis may trigger a person’s worst fears, it also can bring about a new perspective and a shift in priorities. “For so long, we had focused exclusively on the stressful, disruptive side of cancer and no one was paying attention to the fact that the illness sometimes brings positive life changes as well as negative ones,” said Dr. Allen Sherman, director of the Arkansas Cancer Research Center’s Behavioral Medicine Program and
associate professor in the UAMS Department of Otolaryngology.

For many people, a cancer diagnosis is something of a wake-up call, giving both the patient and her family members the chance to focus on what is really important. That’s exactly what Diane McBride discovered following her diagnosis with a rare medical condition known as Castleman Disease.

While undergoing treatment in 2004 by Dr. Frits Van Rhee, associate professor of medicine in the UAMS Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, McBride spent several weeks bedridden at her home in Alabama. It was during this time that she says she grew closer than ever to her husband, Rodney, and two children, now 18-year-old Dominic and 8-year-old Meghan. “We had a lot of time to spend together at the house. We’re so close now, it’s unbelievable,” she said.

McBride also said that her condition, from which she is now in remission, gave her a new outlook on life, including a stronger sense of spirituality and a renewed awareness of what is truly important, side effects that Sherman said are common among many cancer patients. “For some people, the experience provides an opening to make contact with what is meaningful and gratifying in life,” he said. “Having cancer is awful and debilitating, but it doesn’t negate the fact that some individuals discover positive changes as well.”