Walking Through the Cancer Storm: Support for Families and Caregivers
A comprehensive guide to providing holistic support in terms of mind, body, spirit, society, and information, offering in-depth understanding of the needs of cancer patients and caregivers.
Free cancer support
The Reality of Cancer in Hong Kong
Cancer has remained the leading cause of death in Hong Kong for many consecutive years. According to the Hong Kong Cancer Registry, over 30,000 new cancer cases are diagnosed annually. With an aging population, poor dietary habits, smoking, and insufficient physical activity, the incidence continues to rise.
For patients, cancer is more than a medical diagnosis—it is a long battle affecting the body, mind, and spirit. For caregivers, it is an invisible burden that often lasts longer than anyone anticipates.
Although Hong Kong’s medical system provides world-class cancer treatment, most therapies are delivered in public hospital day wards. Patients receive a few hours of chemotherapy or radiotherapy in hospital, but the rest of the journey takes place at home, under the care of family members. This means the real “battlefield” of cancer is not only the hospital — but the household.
Challenges Faced by Cancer Patients
1. Weight Loss and Malnutrition
One of the most common problems among cancer patients is malnutrition. Surgery increases nutritional demand for tissue healing, while chemotherapy and radiotherapy often cause nausea, loss of appetite, vomiting, mouth ulcers, and gastrointestinal discomfort. Some patients develop cancer cachexia, where weight and muscle mass continue to drop despite adequate nutrition. Research shows that malnourished cancer patients are more likely to discontinue treatment and have poorer survival outcomes (Moses et al., 2004).
2. Inflammation and Treatment Side Effects
Cancer treatment commonly triggers systemic inflammation, which worsens fatigue and reduces appetite, immunity, and treatment tolerance. Clinical evidence shows that EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) from fish oil can help reduce inflammation and improve treatment tolerance (Murphy et al., 2011).
3. Psychological and Emotional Burden
A cancer diagnosis often feels like life has been abruptly rewritten. Fear of recurrence, physical suffering, and worries about the family can trigger significant anxiety or depression. Cancer is therefore not only a physical disease, but also a psychological trial.
The Invisible Pressure on Caregivers
1. Multiple Roles and Responsibilities
In Hong Kong, most primary caregivers are family members. They coordinate transportation, prepare special meals, manage medications, monitor side effects — while still balancing work, childcare, or eldercare. Many carry multiple identities at once, leading to immense pressure.
2. Emotional Exhaustion
One caregiver shared: she prepared a nutritious meal after much effort; the patient forced himself to eat, only to vomit shortly afterward due to chemotherapy. Both felt helpless — the caregiver heartbroken, the patient guilty. This cycle leads to fatigue and psychological burnout. Studies show over 40% of long-term caregivers of cancer patients in Hong Kongexperience anxiety or depressive symptoms (Chan et al., 2021).
3. Lack of Guidance and Support
Despite good hospital treatment, caregivers often lack structured caregiving knowledge. They do not always know how to manage side effects, emotional breakdowns, or financial stress. These challenges remain largely invisible to society.
The Information Gap in Hong Kong’s Healthcare Setting
Public hospital consultations are short and medical manpower is limited. Patients and families rarely have enough time to fully understand treatment options, side effects, or home-care strategies. Online resources exist, but are fragmented or inconsistent. What they need is clear, integrated, and practical guidance that can be implemented in everyday life.
Clinical studies also show that patients and families with adequate medical education have better treatment adherence and outcomes (Rock et al., 2012).
The Hong Kong Context: Integrating Chinese & Western Medicine
In Chinese communities, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) remains a common part of cancer care. Some patients take herbal medicine or undergo acupuncture for strength-building or symptom relief — but without informing oncologists, which may cause harmful drug interactions.
Hong Kong’s advantage lies in collaborative models, where oncologists and registered TCM practitioners co-manage cases, ensuring treatment compatibility and respecting cultural beliefs.
The Importance of Emotional and Spiritual Support
Cancer affects not only the body but also meaning, hope, and identity. Patients fear death, relapse, and burdening their families; caregivers fear losing their loved one while losing themselves in the process. Spirituality — religious or non-religious — provides emotional anchoring.
Studies show that psychological and spiritual support significantly improves both quality of life and treatment adherence (WHO, 2020). Cancer care must therefore include mind–body–spirit support, not just medical intervention.
Financial and Social Barriers
Cancer care in Hong Kong is also an economic challenge. Some targeted therapies and immunotherapies remain partially self-financed. Many families exhaust savings to continue treatment. Although charity funds and government subsidies exist, many do not know how to apply, leading to underutilization of resources. Improving transparency and accessibility is essential.
Patient Perspective
For Hong Kong cancer patients, treatment is often “a once-in-a-lifetime battle.” If malnutrition or side effects disrupt treatment, prognosis worsens. For caregivers, the journey is long, emotionally draining, and often lonely.
Three priorities stand out for patients:
- Maintain strength and nutrition to complete treatment.
- Reduce inflammation and infection risk.
- Seek psychological and social support — do not battle alone.
Cancer is not just a medical issue — it is a family, social, and system-level challenge.
Why Caregiver Support Is Essential
Caregivers are often the “silent second patient.” Without proper support, they experience caregiver burnout, which negatively affects the patient’s treatment progress (Given et al., 2012). Caregiver support is therefore not optional — it is a critical component of successful cancer care.
1. Caregiver Health Directly Influences Patient Outcomes
Research shows that highly stressed or depressed caregivers transmit their emotional state to the patient. Caregivers and patients function as an “emotional resonance system.” If caregivers collapse emotionally, the patient loses treatment morale.
2. Rebalancing the Family System
Cancer disrupts family roles and finances. Support must be family-based, not just individual-based. Some Hong Kong charities now run family-based support groups, a model worth expanding.
3. Structured Training and Education
When caregivers receive proper training, stress decreases significantly (Hudson et al., 2015). Hong Kong could benefit from a “Cancer Caregiver Academy” or e-learning platform offering structured guidance.
4. Mobilizing Community Resources
Compared to medical care, community-level caregiver support remains insufficient. International examples show that formal caregiver allowances can help sustain household stability and acknowledge caregiving labor.
5. Emotional and Spiritual Care
Long-term caregiving creates loneliness that is not always visible. Religious communities, peer groups, and counseling all provide emotional grounding.
6. A Strategic Blueprint for Hong Kong
To advance cancer care sustainably, Hong Kong must:
- Build caregiver allowances and family support funds.
- Strengthen integrative care teams.
- Expand district health center roles.
- Create an integrated caregiver digital platform.
Conclusion: Caregivers are the “Invisible Patients”
In cancer care, patients and caregivers are two sides of the same coin. If caregivers collapse, patient outcomes deteriorate. Therefore, the future of Hong Kong’s cancer care model must treat caregivers as core stakeholders, not background supporters.
Only when both patient and caregiver receive adequate support — medical, psychological, informational, economic, and spiritual — can they truly walk through the cancer storm together.
Want to know how to choose the most suitable adjuvant therapy for cancer?
Contact our professional team now
References
- Chan, C. W. H., Wong, F., Chow, K. M., & Lo, R. S. (2021). The burden of cancer caregivers in Hong Kong: A cross-sectional study. Supportive Care in Cancer, 29(5), 2405–2413.
- Lam, W. W. T., Tsang, J., Yeo, W., Suen, J., Ho, W. M., Yip, A. L., … & Fielding, R. (2018). Identifying Chinese breast cancer survivors with high psychological needs in the first year after treatment. Psycho‐Oncology, 27(4), 1260–1266.
- Moses, A. W., Slater, C., Preston, T., Barber, M. D., & Fearon, K. C. (2004). Reduced total energy expenditure and physical activity in cachectic patients with pancreatic cancer can be modulated by insulin treatment. British Journal of Cancer, 90(5), 996–1002.
- Murphy, R. A., Mourtzakis, M., Chu, Q. S., Baracos, V. E., & Reiman, T. (2011). Nutritional intervention with fish oil provides a benefit over standard of care for weight and lean body mass in patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer receiving chemotherapy. Cancer, 117(8), 1775–1782.
- Rock, C. L., Doyle, C., Demark-Wahnefried, W., Meyerhardt, J., Courneya, K. S., Schwartz, A. L., … & Gansler, T. (2012). Nutrition and physical activity guidelines for cancer survivors. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 62(4), 243–274.
- World Health Organization. (2020). Diet, nutrition and the prevention of chronic diseases. WHO Technical Report Series, No. 916. Geneva: WHO.