It is the story of oncologist, Dr. Rob Rutledge, and psychology professor-scientist, Dr. Gabriela Ilie, experts in different but complementary fields, both professionally distinguished, and extraordinarily kind and compassionate health professionals.
After a cancer diagnosis, people’s first response is often anxiety and fear of the unknown. CancerPEP brings them out of this paralysis of fear by giving them real things they can do every day to have a real impact on their health. With this program, they have created something so ground-breaking for its participants that it’s almost difficult to describe. There’s just no other program out there for people on a cancer journey that compares to CancerPEP. It is unique, yes. But better than that, it works.
CancerPEP is a six-month integrative program that empowers people affected by cancer to take control of their own health and well-being by concentrating on the things they can control.
It includes physical, mental, and interpersonal components, and in doing so, often meets needs of participants that have not been met before. It takes the evidence Rob and Gabriela uncovered in the trial phase of the program, and translates it into a daily practice that promotes healing. The program takes a unique and deeply personal approach, focusing on the person, not the diagnosis.
Its integrative approach makes use of daily, weekly, and monthly tools designed to improve participants’ physical and mental resilience. It teaches them to focus on activating their own role in their own care while they go through any other cancer treatments, they choose to participate in.
It offers structure in the form of email and video touch points, check-ins, group activities, one-on-one conversations and a buddy system that helps participants focus on what they can do to help themselves, namely sleep, diet, exercise, state-of-mind, stress-reduction, and improving personal relationships.
It does all of this while creating a loving community, within and between groups that might be across town or around the world, where participants support and empower one other.
CancerPEP is a program that could only have come from the minds of these two very different but complementary scientists. It was built on a foundation of love for people impacted by cancer, and commitment to the science that underpins their work – to help those people believe that they have it within themselves to positively impact their cancer journey.
