Entries by Marie Ennis-O'Connor

Ten Things You Should Never Say To A Person With Cancer…And One Thing You Should

September 28, 2021 in , /by

I get it. People so often just don’t know what to say to someone with cancer. It’s a shock when someone you care about has received a life-changing diagnosis. Our […]

12 Best Practice Tips To Design Helpful Patient Information Materials

August 31, 2021 in , /by

As a patient advocate, you may be asked to help review or co-design patient information materials. Or you may wish to create the information yourself because you’ve noticed a gap […]

Patient Advocacy: 7 Ways To Access Medical Journal Articles For Free

July 29, 2021 in , /by

Has this ever happened to you? You come across a tweet with a link to a new study in your disease area and you eagerly click on it only to […]

These Gift Ideas For Newly Diagnosed Cancer Patients Will Show How Much You Care

June 30, 2021 in , /by

Do you have a friend or family member who is newly diagnosed with cancer? Chances are you’d like to get them a gift to show you’re thinking of them. While […]

What Do You Do When Your Doctor Tells You Not To Google?

May 26, 2021 in , /by

What do you do when your doctor tells you not to Google?  A recent Twitter conversation prompted this question, so I set out to answer it with the help of […]

Patient Advocacy: Ten Tips For Twitter Success

April 26, 2021 in , /by

I love Twitter. It’s one of my favorite places on the Internet, and one of the few sites I visit more than once a day. I’ve been a Twitter user […]

Patient Advocacy: 21 Tools To Help You Achieve More With Social Media

March 29, 2021 in , /by

Recently I had the pleasure of taking part in an Ask Me Anything #patientchat about social media (If you missed it you can catch the transcript here). I had forgotten […]

Nourishing Your Body and Mind: Nutritional Advice For Cancer Survivors

February 24, 2021 in , /by

There are few things more confusing to those of us who have had a cancer diagnosis than dietary advice. From conflicting recommendations from well-meaning friends to advice in magazine articles […]

12 Actionable Tips For Social Media Success in 2021

January 29, 2021 in , /by

2020! What a year it was for all of us.  In the advocacy world, we saw an unprecedented shift towards online activities.  We relied on zoom calls, webinars and social […]

9 Tips to Help You Build a Better Advocacy Blog

November 23, 2020 in , /by

Do you blog about your illness? Many patients find blogging about their condition is not only therapeutic, but is also a great way to connect with others going through similar […]

Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Its Many Shades of Pink (and Blue)

October 21, 2020 in , /by

We are more than half-way through Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM) – impossible to miss given the pink ribbon avalanche that arrives each Fall. While there is no denying that […]

Patient Empowerment Revisited: Part 2

October 5, 2020 in , /by

Welcome back to the second part of this discussion on patient empowerment. In Part 1 we looked at self-advocacy and the importance of having access to information which allows us […]

Patient Empowerment Revisited: What Does It Truly Mean To Patients?

September 22, 2020 in , /by

Language is constantly evolving in our everyday lives. This is also true of the language we use to describe patienthood. The words we use color how we view our world […]

Quotation Inspiration: 10 Quotes to Inspire, Motivate and Uplift Cancer Patients

July 24, 2020 in , /by

This month, I thought we could all do with a little quotation inspiration. When you’re dealing with cancer, some inspiring words can be just the thing to give you a […]

Music as Medicine: The Healing Power of Music

June 29, 2020 in , /by

The late neurologist, Oliver Sacks in his book “Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain,” argued that music is essential to being human in ways that we’ve only begun to […]