Having cancer may feel like running a hard race toward a finish line. People with cancer may keep the line in mind as they do their best to power through cancer’s challenges. Finishing treatment, however, may not always mean they’ve crossed it.

Some people are cancer-free after their initial treatment but don’t feel free from cancer. Other people still see the finish line, but they keep running into cancer. For others, the finish line they reach is very different from the one they expected.

That’s where cancer survivorship comes in. Cancer survivorship programs carry people through cancer, helping them to live as long as they can and with the best possible quality of life.

Most of time, people are relieved to complete cancer treatment. Some people, though, got used to planning their days around treatment sessions and having regular contact with their healthcare providers. They’re thrilled to hear the “all-clear” but at a loss without their routine.

Many people — including people with cancer and their friends and family — assume the end of cancer treatment means the end of cancer-related concerns. Understandably, they and their families want to move on from cancer. More than anything, they want to get back to the lives they had before cancer.