{"id":231997,"date":"2025-06-18T14:59:23","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T18:59:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=231997"},"modified":"2025-06-18T14:59:23","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T18:59:23","slug":"jays-journey-through-cancer-recovery-and-the-mental-healing-that-followed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2025\/06\/jays-journey-through-cancer-recovery-and-the-mental-healing-that-followed\/","title":{"rendered":"Jay\u2019s Journey Through Cancer, Recovery, and the Mental Healing That Followed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three years ago, Jay Buth was preparing for surgery to remove a tumor from his pancreas. Today, he\u2019s returning from a bucket-list trip to Italy. But the road between those milestones was neither simple nor smooth.<\/p>\n

After a successful surgery to remove the tumor, described by his doctors as \u201cbetter than textbook,\u201d Buth faced unexpected complications that left him in the ICU for two months. From there, he was transferred to the Hospital for Special Care in New Britain, where he had to relearn how to walk and regain basic coordination. But the harder recovery, he says, was the mental one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think mental health doesn\u2019t get enough attention during cancer treatment,\u201d Buth explains. \u201cBut even more so, it\u2019s overlooked after<\/em> treatment ends. That\u2019s when a lot of the mental healing really begins.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jay
Jay and Alissa Buth on their trip to Italy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over the past three years, Jay has worked closely with Dr. Judith Cooney, a clinical psychologist and associate professor of psychiatry at the Carol and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center at UConn Health, to help navigate the emotional and psychological aftermath of surviving cancer.<\/p>\n

Cooney specializes in helping patients and survivors manage the emotional impact of cancer diagnoses, treatment, and survivorship.<\/p>\n

Her work includes evidence-based interventions for anxiety, depression, adjustment difficulties, and coping strategies related to chronic and terminal illness. Cooney partners with oncologists and the wider care team to ensure patients receive whole-person care, supporting both the physical and psychological challenges that come with cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cMental health is not separate from cancer care,\u201d says Dr. Cooney. \u201cIt\u2019s essential to supporting patients\u2019 resilience, quality of life, and ability to heal, both during and after treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the most powerful, and often unexpected, challenges survivors face is survivor\u2019s guilt,\u201d said Dr. Cooney. \u201cThey ask, \u2018Why did I survive when others didn\u2019t?\u2019 These are very real, very human reactions,and they deserve just as much care and attention as the physical aspects of recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buth says that question haunted him after he was declared cancer-free. \u201cWhen you get the all-clear, you expect to feel nothing but relief,\u201d he said. \u201cBut for me, there was this incredible guilt. Why did I make it when others didn\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n

Through his work with Dr. Cooney, he\u2019s reframed that guilt as something more constructive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talked a lot about shifting from \u2018Why me?\u2019 to \u2018Why not me?\u2019\u201d Cooney said. \u201cJay\u2019s treatment responded well. His tumor was operable. His body healed. These are blessings, not sources of guilt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Together, they\u2019ve worked through scan-related anxiety, the stress of long-term monitoring, and the daily effort to stay grounded.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe focus on mindfulness, breathing, staying present, and viewing follow-up scans as routine medical care, not as looming threats,\u201d said Cooney. \u201cJay has done an incredible job learning how to take in the data, stay rooted in the moment, and not let fear drive the narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their sessions began every other week and now take place monthly or as needed.<\/p>\n

\"Jay
Jay and his wife Alissa with his sister-in-law and brother-in-law Megan and Brandon on their recent trip to Italy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Buth describes his emotional recovery as ongoing, but transformative. \u201cThis might sound strange, but cancer might\u2019ve been the best thing that ever happened to me,\u201d he said. \u201cIt forced me to slow down, notice the small things and helped me live more fully.\u201d<\/p>\n

That empathy has turned into action. Quietly and consistently, Jay now supports other pancreatic cancer patients. \u201cI don\u2019t know how helpful I am,\u201d he says. \u201cBut sometimes people just need someone who\u2019s been there. Someone who will listen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat peer support is incredibly meaningful,\u201d Cooney added. \u201cJay\u2019s willingness to use his experience to help others is not only a testament to his strength, but a vital part of healing. Helping others can also help us find purpose in our own journeys.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he returns from his trip to Rome, Florence, and the Amalfi Coast with his wife, Jay carried with him not just a passport, but a new perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou only go once around the ride,\u201d he said. \u201cSo we\u2019re doing it. We\u2019re living it.\u201d<\/p>\n

This June, during National Cancer Survivor Month, Jay\u2019s story reminds us that survival is about more than medicine. It\u2019s about healing the whole person, body, mind, and spirit\u2014and the role expert mental health support plays long after the last scan.<\/p>\n

\u201cMental health is<\/em> health care,\u201d Jay says. \u201cAnd it should be part of every cancer care plan, from day one and long after.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Jay Buth was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he braced for the fight of his life. He\u2019s learned over the past three years, healing isn\u2019t just physical, it\u2019s mental, emotional, and deeply personal. This is the story of survival, resilience, and the power of whole-person care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":231998,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2230,2231,1868,179],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2209],"class_list":["post-231997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cancer","category-health-well-being","category-meds","category-uconn-health"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 10:21:26","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231997"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":232013,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231997\/revisions\/232013"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/231998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231997"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=231997"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=231997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}