On June 17th, people from all around the world came together to participate in activities for #WorldKidneyCancerDay, and we’re proud to share what KidneyCAN did in partnership with the IKCC and many other partners from the kidney cancer community.
Our goal each year on World Kidney Cancer Day is to raise awareness and bring together the kidney cancer community for education and support.
It’s important to keep kidney cancer in the spotlight. This year, approximately 76,000 people will be diagnosed with #kidneycancer and over 14,000 people will die.
We at KidneyCAN are dedicated to accelerating cures and helping patients and their families live their best life while on this journey.
This year’s WKCD theme was “We Need to Talk About How We’re Feeling.” We shared facts and stories about mental health and kidney cancer. Whether you’re newly diagnosed, in treatment, in recovery, or a survivor, kidney cancer can take a toll on your mental wellbeing, and it’s important to talk about these things.
As a way to get folks talking about kidney cancer and mental health, we shared a video panel that we created in partnership with National Kidney Foundation.
In this video, which we streamed live via Facebook, KidneyCAN president Bryan Lewis speaks to Dr. Cristiane Bergerot, PhD, Psycho-oncologist at Centro de Câncer de Brasília in Brazil, and Dr. Adam SternMD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and kidney cancer patient. Topics range from being proactive about your mental health and strategies for getting support when you’re struggling.
In these times especially, you have to take care of your mental health in addition to your physical wellbeing. Thank you to National Kidney Foundation for partnering with us for this event, and thank you to the IKCC for making World Kidney Cancer Day an educational event that benefits us all.
We know that awareness of kidney cancer and its impact on many lives leads to a sense of urgency, a desire for solutions. Awareness leads to advocacy, and advocacy — joining to speak as one voice — leads to funding and research. That’s how we get to cures.
