CANCER REHABILITATION
Memorial Sloan
Kettering
Explore MSK’s rehabilitation services, including physical therapy, occupational therapy, and rehabilitation medicine during and after treatment.
Explore MSK rehabilitation
YOUR STORY IS STILL UNFOLDING
Still you.
Still becoming.
Life with and after cancer. Life with a prosthesis.
A whole world of possibility ahead.
LIFE, IN EVERY DIRECTION.AI-created illustrative scene
INDEPENDENT GUIDANCE.
Trusted places to turn.
Resource links,
not affiliations.
01 / YOUR STARTING POINT
No single way forward.
Just a place to begin.
You don’t need all the answers today.
Choose what feels closest to where you are.
A LITTLE CLARITY
Start with the questions.
You don’t have to rush.
If cancer treatment may affect a limb, ask your team to explain the options for your specific diagnosis. Limb-preserving surgery and amputation are different paths; a specialist can help you understand what each may mean.
Explore MSK’s bone surgery guideBRING TO YOUR NEXT CONVERSATION
- What are my options, and why are you recommending this one?
- What might recovery and everyday life look like for me?
- Can I meet a rehabilitation specialist before treatment?
A conversation starter, at your own pace.
Possibility starts
in the everyday.
02 / PROSTHETIC POSSIBILITIES
Made for a limb.
Chosen for a life.
Start with what you want to do. Then explore the fit, technology, and support that could help you get there.
Your experience of the fit matters.
Tell your prosthetist what feels comfortable, what changes through the day, and what gets in the way. Your care team can discuss the socket, liner, and follow-up support with you.
ASK YOUR PROSTHETIST
“What should a comfortable fit feel like, and when should I contact you?”
A prosthesis is one option. Mobility aids, adaptations, and choosing not to use a prosthesis belong in the conversation too.
03 / REAL LIVES, MANY POSSIBILITIES
A diagnosis is a chapter.
A person is the whole story.
Two published stories from MSK.
Different experiences. Individual lives.
No one else’s timeline to live up to.
LIFE AFTER AMPUTATION01
ALEXANDRA’S STORY
Finding community.
Imagining a future
in medicine.
After losing her leg to osteosarcoma as a child, Alexandra found connection through skiing and amputee camp. MSK’s account follows her path to medical school in 2018.
A LIMB-PRESERVING PATH02
GRACE’S STORY
Back to learning.
Back to dreaming.
Forward to college.
Grace’s osteosarcoma treatment included surgery that preserved her leg using an internal implant. MSK shares her experience returning to school and earning a college scholarship.
These are historical accounts published by MSK, not predictions of another person’s treatment or recovery.
THE STORY ONLY YOU CAN TELL
You lived it.
Tell it your way.
When life is turned upside down, there is so much more to your experience than the appointments, the treatment, or the prosthesis.
There are the moments no one saw. The people who stayed. The things you grieved, rediscovered, or began to hope for. That personal story matters.
For some, sharing can feel healing: a chance to put experience into words, feel heard, and help someone else feel less alone. You choose what to share, with whom, and when.
Start with a conversationYOU DON’T HAVE TO START AT THE BEGINNING
Start with one
honest moment.
A few invitations for a journal, a conversation, or a story you might one day share.
01What changed for me
“The part of my life that changed most was…”
What did that change mean to you, beyond what others could see?
02What helped me through
“One person, moment, or small thing that helped was…”
It doesn’t have to be a turning point. An ordinary kindness belongs in your story too.
03What I want someone to know
“If I could sit beside someone going through this, I would say…”
Your experience can offer company without needing to offer answers.
04 / YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THIS ALONE
People. Knowledge.
Your next connection.
Go directly to the people who can help.
Explore each organisation’s services
and eligibility on its own website.
Memorial Sloan
PEOPLE WHO UNDERSTAND
Amputee
Coalition
Connect with a trained peer volunteer who has lived experience of limb loss or limb difference, through the free Certified Peer Visitor Program.
Find peer supportLIFE WITH & AFTER CANCER
National Cancer
Institute
Find information on follow-up care, the physical and emotional effects of cancer, and navigating the next part of your life.
Explore survivorship resources05 / WORLD MEDIA
The story, in
other rooms.
A film to watch. Three pictures to linger on.
A deck of fifteen plates, turned at your pace.
