February, 2025
At 成人抖阴, all employees spend 1% of our time with patients and the people in the living domain, most of which is spent with external stakeholders. But sometimes, 成人抖阴 employees are also the patients. We interviewed Daigo Homma, a cancer survivor and researcher at 成人抖阴’s Tsukuba Research Laboratories in Japan, who has often shared his experience through internal hhc activities.
What was your first thought when you heard your diagnosis?
When a tumor was found in my pancreas at my regular doctor, I was kind of optimistic because I was told that it was likely a benign tumor. Still, I remember thinking about two things: how to tell my family and how much I could support my children’s future if the results of the detailed tests were bad. After the test, I was told that there was no risk of metastasis or recurrence if the surgery was performed. Then my next concern was about my post-discharge condition, and where my family and I should live. I had just moved from the U.S. to Japan at that time, and my wife, who is not a Japanese citizen, and children were still in the U.S. So, I was very uncertain which country would be better for the future of my children.
How did the diagnosis and treatment affect your daily life and work?
Since my workplace was flexible in terms of time management, there was not much serious impact during the examination and diagnosis. On the other hand, the post-operative pain and complications I experienced in the hospital were virtually intolerable. I realized that I had a very poor imagination of the physical burden and risk of the surgery.
Because I was hospitalized for a while due to complications, I was relatively energetic when I was discharged and returned to work quickly. Despite feeling energetic, I still couldn't work like I did when I was healthy in the first two or three months after I was discharged. After a while I started feeling less painful, but then I developed duodenal ulcers and thereafter diabetes. While it is not easy to keep a good control on my diet and physical condition, my workplace has allowed me to work at my own pace which is very helpful. I can still manage it because, fortunately, I was relatively young and physically strong, and diagnosed at the early stage. I think that the burden of patients with more serious cancer or patients with more complicated post-operative management must be extremely overwhelming.
How has your experience changed your outlook on life/the way you live?
I have suffered with cancer, but it is not all bad. As a researcher, I had been mainly interested in the neurology field but not much in cancer research. Now my experiences have opened my eyes to that and led me to think what the social environment surrounding cancer patients needs to be, and to take action toward it on my own. With the increase in the number of cancer cases among young people and the raise in retirement ages, cancer is becoming more and more common to the working population. Then, we need to think what kind of medical care and social environment can support this. I am sure that the medical care needs to be less burdensome and not just tolerable, so that people can work productively after cancer. We may also aspire for a society that does not make us feel fear of stigma for cancer history, etc.
Realizing such a future certainly requires better treatment options for cancer, and in order to do so, we, as researchers, must have a good understanding of the feeling and struggle of people who have undergone cancer treatment.
Based on this thinking, I have given in-house seminars on issues I experienced with diagnosis and treatment, and also requested to a nurse I met in the hospital to cooperate with hhc activities, and to give a talk at 成人抖阴 about the challenges and needs in the medical field. This kind of information sharing gives us a chance to think about what we, as a pharmaceutical company, have to work on to fulfil those needs.
How has your background as a researcher affected your ability to deal with cancer?
I think that it helped me to continue my daily life and work without being overly emotional or anxious in two different ways. A strong scientific interest in the tumor that had formed in my own body distracted me from worrying, and the ability to check the scientific information and interpret the test results and treatment details on my own greatly helped the communication with doctor.
As a researcher and cancer survivor, what are your hopes for the future of cancer research?
Speaking from my own experience, it seemed to me that, at least technologically, there are many possible improvements that could be made in the differential diagnosis and countermeasures for the complications. So, I hope that R&D and social implementation can catch up there. My diagnosis was changed after pathological analysis, which was conducted after the surgery, but even then, the test results were not very clear. If the diagnosis is not sufficiently accurate, the possibility of a highly malignant cancer cannot be fully ruled out, and more tissues must be removed. As for complications, I hope that better prevention measures can be taken for those that have a high incidence and are life-threatening, and/or cause a significant decrease in hospital bed turnover.
I also hope to see more clinical evidence accumulate for pre- and post-operative chemotherapy for rare cancers. Before my own surgery, I hoped that I could keep more of the surrounding organs and tissues by shrinking, if not completely eliminating the cancer in advance. I expect that the development of safer anti-cancer drugs in the future will expand such options.
What message do you have for someone who has just been diagnosed/is undergoing treatment?
It is not easy to make a blanket statement about "cancer patients," since the situation varies from person to person, but I believe that the most important thing is to cherish your relationships with your family and other people. I think you can be very happy just by feeling that someone cares about you, and you will definitely want to return the favor. I am sure that just a little connection and help from others, such as being present for surgery, visiting to talk during hospitalization, or helping to take care of your health after discharge, will give you a lot of peace in your mind.
In addition to family, there will be opportunities to connect with caregivers, patient groups, and many others. As a patient myself, I have had the support of many people to help me get through this, which made me think that I want to participate in patient groups and interact with other people so that we can support each other.
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