Survivorship. Living through a life-altering event

Survivors living with a life-altering event consider themselves to be ordinary people dealing with extraordinary situations. As survivors live through the continuum of events, issues emerge in the physical, psychologic, social, spiritual, and financial domains. Managing symptoms, accepting changes in functional status, confronting loss of control, sustaining social support, probing for the meaning of events, and maintaining affordable health insurance become daily challenges for survivors and their families. Through perseverance, survivors conquer the crisis, realizing personal strengths and abilities as a result of the conquest. Nurses play a pivotal role in assisting survivors and their families in learning how to live.