“You can be cured, but cancer never leaves you behind”: an interdisciplinary approach into the embodied cancer experiences among adult Colombian childhood/adolescent cancer survivors

Purpose: Childhood or adolescent cancer survivors (CACS) are an understudied population in Colombia and, in general, in Central and South America. Worldwide, studies typically focus on high-income settings while approaching CACS’ experiences from a biomedical or psychological perspective. However, both perspectives miss an important aspect of survivorship after childhood or adolescent cancer: the affected individual’s subjective experiences of having a disabled body. This qualitative study aimed to explore the embodied experiences of Colombian adults who survived cancer during their childhood or adolescence to better understand how CACS relate to their altered body and world. Methods: By integrating phenomenological insights and conducting comprehensive life-story interviews, we explored the various ways in which survivors’ cancer experiences affect their bodily sense of self—from the acute phase of the disease until well into adulthood. A total of ten life-stories interviews and one focus group were carried out with seven CACS. All participants were survivors of a different type of childhood/adolescent cancer. The results were analyzed thematically, focusing on the embodied aspects of participants’ experiences. Results: We developed three main themes regarding the embodied cancer experience among participating CACS: Firstly, participants’ body changes because of the cancer and its treatment, which makes them aware of their body. Secondly, they adapt to this experience in different bodily ways. Finally, they carry bodily traces of their cancer experience in the present as well as into the future. Conclusions: The CACS participating in this study report that their experience with cancer has been embodied throughout their lives, changing their sense of their body and how they relate to it, and leaving traces into the present and their imagined future.