One of the most difficult parts of the cancer journey is perhaps at the very beginning: the diagnosis. It leaves patients and their families facing choices, decisions, and feeling overwhelmed. They want answers, reassurance, empathy and compassion. But are these things all healthcare professionals are able to provide? And what happens when even friends and family withdraw from them, unsure of what to say or how to help?

In this first episode of Burning Questions, host Bhairavi Madhusudan Shibulal speaks to cancer survivors and caregivers about what went through their mind when they were told they had cancer, how they felt, what they asked and what they didn't.

She also has a candid conversation with her friend Dr Shobana Ramasamy about the role clinicians can play to empower their patients with the right information and make the cancer journey a little more bearable. Finally, Bhairavi sits down to talk to her father, and they look back at how they got the news of her own mother's cancer diagnosis and what they decided together as a family in the days that followed. For more information visit https://solis.health .

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