At Beyond Breast Cancer, Dr. Maureen Leia-Stephen guides women through the survivorship experience. Because monitoring for recurrence is no longer enough. Breast cancer survivors deserve support focused on wellness, recovery, and coordination of care.

The breast cancer experience irrevocably changes a woman’s perspective about herself and her life. The impact of breast cancer extends beyond the physical, ad affects an individual’s emotional, psychosocial, financial, and sexual wellbeing. It may significantly impact career, quality of life, and daily living. Most women don’t just pick up where they left off once their initial treatment is completed. Survivorship is the next phase, and it’s entirely different for everyone.

With early diagnosis and current treatment protocols, the reported survival rate at 5 years is 89%. Although this is reassuring, the statistic underplays the individual cost of the disease. Studies have shown:

• 100% experience sadness, grief, and 70% go on to have significant depression
• 61% have insomnia and other sleep disorders
• 43% experience a reduction in income and 30% attribute a lack of advancement in their career as a result of breast cancer
• Fear of recurrence can be paralyzing for some. Enough, that many request to have their other “normal” breast removed, even though, for the most part, there is no survival benefit
• All experience immediate, significant menopausal symptoms without the recourse of hormonal therapy
• Many describe cognitive/memory issues which affect their ability to work
• Many experience a low body image especially after mastectomy – some dress/undress in the dark and will not let their partner see them
• 2 years after treatment, 70% of women report difficulties with sexuality
  • 82% decreased frequency of sex
  • 47% decreased ability to orgasm

This is NOT a comprehensive list.

In the past, follow up simply involved monitoring for cancer recurrence. Now, there’s been a paradigm shift, and follow up has broadened to a concern for wellness, recovery, and coordination of care.

Beyond Breast Cancer Society is a survivorship program offered to anyone who has been diagnosed with breast cancer and has completed active treatment.

It addresses the 5 key areas of survivorship.

1. Education/Information

All patients within our program fill out an extensive questionnaire which is then reviewed with Dr. Leia-Stephen during their initial consultation. A treatment summary and list of survivorship issues is then created. Communication and assessment are ongoing. This provides the opportunity for women to have their questions answered and acquire a better understanding of the disease.

2. Surveillance for Breast Cancer Recurrence or New Primary Cancers

Regular physical examinations and appropriate imaging (including mammograms, MRI, ultrasound) are part of long-term follow up. Patients will also be monitored for new symptoms. Depending on personal and family history, the risk of recurrence may be increased.

3. Assessment/Management of Physical/Psychosocial Long-Term/Late Effects

There are many physical and psychological symptoms that women deal with post-treatment. The survivorship program offers patients with support and resources to best manage those symptoms.

4. Health Promotion – Modifiable Risk Facts

We are strong advocates for cancer risk reduction strategies like lifestyle changes and exercise. Obesity increases the risk of recurrence, therefore diet and exercise, especially resistance training, are important ways to reduce that risk, in addition to supporting general health.

5. Care Coordination/Navigation

As part of the survivorship program, Dr. Leia-Stephen coordinates referrals to specialists depending on need. This may include: plastic surgeons, physiotherapists, nutritionists, genetic counselors etc.

If you’re interested in participating in the Beyond Breast Cancer Survivorship Program, you can ask your doctor to send us a referral. In addition to your referral, please complete the registration form below and submit it to our office.

Looking for some fun holiday gift ideas? We’ve created some ‘pairings’ that nourish the skin and the mind! See how we have paired books from this year’s Giller Prize shortlist with an advanced skincare product from SkinCeuticals.

How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa + Clarifying Clay Masque (under $100)

Told with compassion and wry humour, Souvankham Thammavongsa’s short story collection How to Pronounce Knife honours characters struggling to find their bearings far from home. This book is a great gift for the tentative reader who isn’t sure where to start.

Clarifying Clay Masque pairs perfectly with the 2020 Giller Prize Winning novel. It uses the highest-quality earth clay to lift stubborn impurities and is enriched with botanicals and minerals to promote a healthier complexion. A thin layer can be applied and left on while the reader dives into one of the short stories.

Ridgerunner by Gil Adamson + Hydrating B5 Masque (under $100)

Set against the backdrop of a distant war raging in Europe and rapidly changing the landscape in the West, Gil Adamson’s Ridgerunner is a vivid historical novel that blends a Western novel with Gothic fiction. This novel is perfect for your loved one who enjoys historical fiction or who just wants to escape to a different time and place.

While getting lost in the pages of this novel, applying Hydrating B5 Masque will help to instantly restore radiance and maintain water balance in the skin. Formulated with hyaluronic acid to replenish lost moisture, it will leave the skin feeling supple and smooth by the time they’re ready to put Ridgerunner down for the night.

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel + Phyto Corrective Masque (under $100)

From the award-winning author of Station Eleven, comes The Glass Hotel, a captivating novel of money, beauty, white-collar crime, ghosts and, moral compromise in which a woman disappears from a container ship off the coast of Mauritania and a massive Ponzi scheme implodes in New York. This novel will appeal to the mystery reader in your family and those who just enjoy an engrossing, contemporary literary novel.

After all the excitement of The Glass Hotel, an intensive calming botanical masque is exactly what’s needed. Phyto Corrective Masque cools and comforts on contact while restoring the skin’s softness, smoothness, and radiance.

Polar Vortex by Shani Mootoo + Glycolic Brightening Renew Overnight (under $150)

Seductive and tension-filled, Shani Mootoo’s novel Polar Vortex is a story of secrets, deceptions, and revenge, when a couple’s marriage becomes unstable after someone from their past shows up at their home. This book is the perfect read for the loved one who enjoys fast-paced immersive novels.

Applying Glycolic Brightening Renew Overnight before cozying up in bed with this novel will promote cellular turnover to improve skin texture, reduce fine lines, and improve overall radiance for brighter and more youthful-looking skin.

Here the Dark by David Bergen + Tripeptide-R Neck Repair (under $200)

From award-winning writer David Bergen comes Here the Dark, a short story collection that explores faith, both in the way it unites us and isolates us. From the streets of Danang, Vietnam, where a boy falls in with a young American missionary, to a young woman in the Canadian prairies deciding whether or not to leave her Mennonite community, the short stories in Here the Dark chronicle the geographies of both place and heart. This book is a great gift for the busy reader in your life who just wants to read a bit at a time.

SkinCeuticals’ newest product, Tripeptide-R Neck Repair, is a corrective treatment specifically formulated for the neck’s fragile skin. It’s designed with 0.2% retinol to address signs of visible neck aging and helps to reduce horizontal neck lines and crepiness. This product is great for any reader who enjoys spending time with their head down in a good book.

You can create these ‘pairings’ for yourself or as a gift without leaving home! Purchase the books online through Chapters or Coles and get SkinCeuticals’ products through our online store.