Why Stories Like My 82-Year-Old Patient Shouldn’t Be the Exception.
I’ve had the privilege of caring for thousands of patients navigating cancer. Many of them remind me daily why integrative oncology is not optional if we want the best outcomes - it’s essential.
By integrative oncology, I mean caring for the whole person, not just fighting the cancer, but helping patients stay strong, recover faster, and hold on to their quality of life.
One story has stayed with me.
An 82-Year-Old Man Who Defied the Odds
Not long ago, I met an 82-year-old man diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. This major surgery was considered too dangerous. At his age, with his frailty, most physicians would never attempt it. He was told he was simply too old.
But he refused to give up. Together, we built a plan:
- Strengthening his muscle mass and endurance.
- Improving his nutrition to bolster his immune system.
- Preparing him mentally so he could face surgery with resilience.
When the day came, he not only made it through the operation, he was walking the next day. He left the hospital early. His surgeons were astonished.
For him, it wasn’t just about surviving surgery. It was about proving he still had strength, dignity, and a future.
This wasn’t luck. It was structured preparation - and it should be available to every patient.
Why Prehab and Lifestyle Therapy Matter
That patient’s story is not unique in its lesson. I’ve seen time and again how exercise, nutrition, and psychological support before and during treatment change outcomes. Patients:
- Recover faster.
- Spend fewer days in the hospital.
- Experience fewer complications.
- Preserve their dignity, confidence, and independence.
And the research validates what we see in a clinical setting every day.
- A 2025 NEJM trial showed supervised exercise reduced mortality by 37% and recurrence by 28% in colorectal cancer patients.
- A 2022 meta-analysis in Supportive Care in Cancer found prehabilitation shortened hospital stays and lowered complications.
- Across several cancers, regular exercise is associated with about a 30–35% reduction in mortality and up to a 35% lower risk of recurrence. (JNCI, PMID: 32337494; PubMed, PMID: 31913187)
The sooner we start, the better the outcomes. That’s not opinion - that’s evidence.
The Gap: Why Aren’t We Doing This for Everyone?
Here’s the challenge: even at a place like Cedars-Sinai, we can only serve a fraction of the patients who need this care. We have over six month waitlists for our Cancer Exercise Program. Probably fewer than 1% of our oncology patients can access our program.
And if this is the reality at a leading cancer center, imagine the situation in smaller hospitals, private clinics, or rural communities. At best, patients get a flyer, maybe a yoga class. Survivorship support becomes lip service.
That’s not good enough.
From Rare to Routine
Stories like my 82-year-old patient should not be rare exceptions. They should be the norm.
That means building models that are:
No surgeon would operate without preparing a patient first. Yet too often, we send patients straight into chemo, immunotherapy, or radiation with no preparation at all.
The Path Forward
The good news is that we now have the evidence, technology, and oncology ecosystem aligning to make structured lifestyle therapy accessible at scale.
What I’ve witnessed in my clinic can - and should - be available to every patient, not just the lucky few. Because survivorship doesn’t begin after treatment ends. It begins on day one, at the time of diagnosis.
If we embrace that, we won’t just help patients survive cancer - we’ll help them live stronger, longer, and with dignity.
At Cedars-Sinai, I’ve seen firsthand how structured survivorship reshapes recovery and restores quality of life. With Complement 1, we have a way to take that model beyond any single center - so every patient, everywhere, can benefit. - Arash Asher, MD.
