“A cancer as a gift” by Sophie Reis: responding to the challenges of cancer

MISE À DAY

At 38, Sophie Reis was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer, discovered incidentally, with no symptoms or family history. She traces the stages of her oncological journey and highlights integrative medicine techniques and complementary care to conventional treatments, inviting patients to actively participate in treatments in her book A cancer as a gift . She tells her story, her resilience and offers many avenues to overcome the trials and challenges imposed by cancer.

His book – a brick of 600 pages – recounts his approach and all the interviews carried out with numerous specialists to present complementary care to conventional treatments. There are many avenues to explore.

“Basically, this book, I made it for me. For two years, I have been observing, listening, searching, searching. I often say, jokingly, that I am doing my honorary doctorate in oncology… But when I had this diagnosis, on December 4, 2020, I knew immediately that I was going to do something with it” , shares Sophie Reis in a telephone interview.

“I don't know if it's a way to protect myself or if my brain has been in a compensation mechanism, but with my background in communications, I saw it as the start of a great survey. There were so many questions I was asking myself, as a patient, and so many no answers in the doctor's office, that I began to write down all my questions, from A to Z, and find answers.

Partnership

Sophie Reis strongly believes in the importance of the partnership between the patient and the medical team. “To be able to speak as equals, you have to understand. […] In 2023, post-pandemic, often patients are diagnosed with cancer and the doctor has little or no time for it. All the resources around are almost non-existent. It's crazy as well.”

The author notes that her “brothers and sisters with cancer” tell her, on social networks, that they had between five and 40 minutes with all the staff. “After five minutes, you go home, and you have no idea what's going on. How do you want to understand?” she asks.

She adds that her journey, which she recounts in the first chapters, is also interesting for caregivers, since it allows them to slip into the skin of patients. The other side of the coin.

“For a person accompanying someone who has been diagnosed with cancer, it helps to better understand the situation.”

Understand

The second part of the book offers information to allow patients to understand what is happening, in order to participate fully in the treatment.

Health professionals have been very open to his project. “I had an extraordinary enthusiasm for all the tops in Quebec, it’s amazing. They are all luminaries. They all said yes. Not one said no. As soon as I wrote to them, they said yes, because they recognize that it is a need.”

Building Bridges

Sophie Reis sat down with these experts to get all sorts of important points explained to her. She then undertook to popularize the information to make it accessible.

“I'm here to make life easier, to help, to build bridges between the patient, the caregiver and the clinician. Everyone has the same goal: for people to be healthy. It's just that we all have limited means. My biggest dream would be for this book to become a support tool.”

• Sophie Reis is a communicator and lecturer.
• She has over 20 years of experience in brand management, strategic alliances and advertising.
• She also published the Guide for Traveling Parents in 2018.

EXTRACT

“My first instinct was to contact a good number of of women around me affected by breast cancer in order to sound them out. Already, on the first day, their testimonies were at the heart of my quest for information and allowed me to have different faces of cancer. Above all, they allowed me to gather enough information to ask the first good questions of the speakers I was going to meet.

This sorority is the first gift that this tumor brought me, as did the sincere new friendships I quickly developed with my breast sisters.”