Initiative offers participants a roadmap for becoming active and improving health.
Sylvester’s Cancer Survivorship program reached an important milestone in Oct. 2022 with the launch of “Believe in You – You Are Living Proof,” an 18-week training program created to help cancer survivors live a healthier lifestyle.
“The challenge for many cancer patients is they don’t know where and how to safely start a lifestyle program, and, perhaps because of that, many survivors do not meet recommendations for physical activity and nutrition,” Tracy E. Crane, Ph.D., R.D.N, director of Lifestyle Medicine and Digital Health for Cancer Survivorship. There is strong evidence in published studies by Sylvester researchers and others that meeting these recommendations can reduce risk of cancer recurrence and mortality and improve survivors’ quality of life.
The first undertaking of the program was to prepare survivors to take part in a future Dolphins Challenge Cancer (DCC) XIII, that took place on Feb. 25, 2023. “The DCC provided the perfect goal to strive for with this 18-week training program, which offered structured, individualized training sessions designed to safely increase their aerobic capacity, strength and improve their overall diet. Believe Survivor Iliana Suarez and her husband are program participants training for the DCC. in You program participants received complimentary training specifically to prepare for walking or running five miles or riding 15 miles in the DCC,” Dr. Crane explained.
The Believe in You program included survivors who had committed to doing the DCC, as well as those who did not signed up because they were unsure if they could do the walk, run, or bike, said Paola Rossi, M.D, M.S., the manager of clinical operations for lifestyle medicine in cancer survivorship at Sylvester. Dr. Rossi co-designed the Believe in You training program, along with members of the CRANELab research team, and coached participants through it.
Sylvester faculty and staff conduct baseline physical activity and nutritional assessments on each of the program’s participants, to tailor the program to them and their goals. The group met twice weekly, including an in-person meeting every Saturday for a group exercise and nutrition class and by Zoom through the week for strength classes. Also, each participant was scheduled to complete a follow-up assessment the week before the DCC to monitor their health and potential progress, according to Dr. Rossi.
“Through this program, we’ve generated an amazing bond with our survivors and their caregivers,” Dr. Rossi said. “We started out with a limited group but want to expand and grow the program each year.” Look for Believe in You to start up again in August 2023 welcoming survivors and caregivers to train for the DCC XIV in 2024.