Caregivers Can Experience Compassion Fatigue
websitebuilder • March 7, 2020
"Compassion Fatigue is a term used to describe a state that is experienced by all types of caregivers, after giving to the point of exhaustion and debilitation."
Compassion fatigue is a term that is finally being discussed in the caregiving community. It impacts both family caregivers and professional caregivers. Though we all want to be there for those we love who are going through cancer therapy, it's important to also take care of ourselves in order to avoid burnout and compassion fatigue.
Symptoms of Compassion fatigue may be exhaustion, anger or irritability, negative coping behaviors, a reduced ability to empathize or sympathize and a diminished ability to derive enjoyment from activities that normally felt enjoyable.
If you're feeling like this as a caregiver, please talk to your physician and get some support.
If you are San Bernardino or Riverside County, and if financial worries are wearing you down during cancer treatment, please contact us
to learn more about how we can help.

Alex Trebek, must loved host of Jeopardy!, has stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Earlier this month he spoke candidly about how he has been doing since he diagnosis a year ago. He also talks about how happy he is to have reached the one year survival marker, which only 18% of those who are diagnosed reach.

"I never think of you as someone who had cancer" was said to Liza Bernstein after multiple cancer diagnoses. Later, during her third experience with cancer, in a haze of exhaustion and despair, she realized that it was impossible for cancer not to be a part of her identity. She asked herself, "Why should I cower in the denial of my experience because it inconveniences others?" From that moment, Liza decided to use her experiences and her identity for good, to help others. And she has continued to do just that since that moment in time.