When medicine meets movement, miracles happen. Here’s why the wellness community must champion exercise oncology—and how my 40-year cancer journey proves it works.
I’ve spent four decades in cancer’s shadow—first supporting my mother through breast cancer at age 13, then my sister, then facing my own triple-negative diagnosis at 54. But here’s what shocked me most: the medical establishment is only now discovering what the wellness industry has known forever—that movement is medicine.
As someone who built a 25-year career in Silicon Valley before becoming an executive coach and cancer survivor advocate, I’ve witnessed transformation at the intersection of innovation and human potential. Nothing prepared me for the revolution happening in oncology today, where exercise is evolving from supportive care to actual treatment protocol.
The Research That Changes Everything
The American College of Sports Medicine now calls exercise “Exercise Is Medicine” in oncology, noting that a drug with similar benefits would likely be prescribed broadly. Exercise is medicine in oncology: Engaging clinicians to help patients move through cancer – Schmitz – 2019 – CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians – Wiley Online Library Yet most cancer patients still hear “take it easy” instead of “hit the gym.”
This represents a massive opportunity for wellness professionals to lead where medicine lags.
The latest ASCO guidelines now recommend regular aerobic and resistance exercise during active cancer treatment with curative intent Exercise, Diet, and Weight Management During Cancer Treatment: ASCO Guideline | Journal of Clinical Oncology—a seismic shift that the wellness industry helped create but isn’t yet capitalizing on. Research confirms exercise can reduce tumor growth, mitigate treatment side effects, and enhance survival rates—benefits so significant that scientists are calling for exercise to be integrated as standard cancer care. Frontiers | Impact of exercise on cancer: mechanistic perspectives and new insights
When Friendship Meets Fitness: My Cancer Lab
For seventeen years, my friend Jessica and I have met three times weekly in garage gyms, throwing medicine balls at each other’s faces in the name of fitness. When I was diagnosed in January 2023, I worried this ritual might end. Instead, it became my lifeline.
Throughout twelve weeks of carboplatin and Taxol chemotherapy, we maintained our Monday-Wednesday-Friday sessions. My oncologist marveled that my labs looked like those of someone not even receiving treatment. Each workout was defiance incarnate—proof that cancer hadn’t claimed my power.
The Warrior Who Pedaled Through Poison
Irit, a 34-year-old hospital program manager in Canada, understood this instinctively. Diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer while managing two toddlers, she made her Peloton her weapon of choice. “Exercise isn’t just movement; it’s my rebellion against cancer,” she told me.
Her Sunday ritual became legendary: steak dinner before Monday’s bloodwork—nothing would postpone her battle. Through eight rounds of chemotherapy, she pedaled through fatigue, transforming even medical setbacks into opportunities for resilience. When cellulitis complications required hyperbaric treatments, she turned those sessions into mental training grounds.
The Science Behind the Revolution
Scientists are now studying exercise as an actual cancer treatment across nine distinct clinical scenarios Frontiers | Exercise as cancer treatment: A clinical oncology framework for exercise oncology research—not merely supportive care, but active therapy. Research shows that exercise and nutrition interventions can improve maintenance of lean body mass, reduce adverse events, and decrease hospital stays. Exercise and Nutrition to Improve Cancer Treatment-Related Outcomes (ENICTO) | JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute | Oxford Academic
The mechanisms fascinate researchers: Exercise boosts immune function, reduces inflammation, improves blood flow to tumors, and may enhance chemotherapy effectiveness. What the wellness industry has promoted for decades as prevention, medicine now recognizes as treatment.
The Innovation Gap That Wellness Must Fill
Here’s the tragedy: Despite recognition of exercise benefits, many healthcare providers remain skeptical about integrating exercise into patient care, creating a disconnect between research and practice. Implementation barriers to integrating exercise as medicine in oncology: an ecological scoping review | Journal of Cancer Survivorship Oncologists prescribe chemotherapy protocols with precision but tell patients to “rest” instead of providing exercise prescriptions.
This represents an unprecedented opportunity for wellness professionals. The 16 million cancer survivors in the United States need what we offer—but delivered with the same precision and personalization that medicine demands.
Why This Matters to Global Wellness
The convergence of exercise oncology and wellness represents more than market opportunity—it’s moral imperative. When I launched my podcast “Kicking Cancer’s Ass” and wrote Crushing the Cancer Curveball, I discovered thousands of patients desperately seeking what wellness professionals naturally provide: movement as empowerment, community as medicine, and hope as protocol.
The fitness industry can transform cancer care by developing specialized programs, training certified professionals, and creating environments where movement meets medical necessity. The wellness sector’s emphasis on mind-body connection, community support, and individualized approaches aligns perfectly with emerging oncology needs.
The Double Happiness Tripwire
What research calls “improved quality of life metrics,” I call the double happiness tripwire—friendship plus exercise creating exponential joy. Between sets with Jessica, we laughed about our kids, planned our futures, and proved that cancer couldn’t steal what mattered most: connection, strength, and the audacity to throw heavy objects at each other while one of us had poison in our veins.
The Call to Action
The wellness industry stands at an inflection point. We can wait for medicine to catch up, or we can lead the revolution. Cancer patients need exercise oncology programs designed by wellness professionals who understand that healing happens in community, through movement, with intention.
My 40-year cancer journey taught me that survival isn’t enough—we must thrive. The research now proves what warriors like Irit and I have always known: Exercise doesn’t just help you survive cancer—it helps you conquer it.
The question isn’t whether exercise belongs in cancer treatment. The question is whether the wellness industry will step up to deliver it.
Joelle Kaufman is a cancer survivor advocate, executive coach, and author of “Crushing the Cancer Curveball.” She hosts the “Kicking Cancer’s Ass” podcast and serves on UCSF’s Patient Experience Council and USC’s Pink Test Advisory Board. Connect with her work at joellekaufman.com.
