Iowa Cancer Survivors Report Mixed Mental Health Outcomes Years After Successful Treatment

Morgan Newman was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2015 at age 24 while working as a dental assistant in Des Moines, Iowa. She underwent six weeks of radiation and chemotherapy, then additional chemotherapy after doctors found suspicious nodules in her lungs three months later. The radiation treatment left her unable to have biological children.

Newman quit therapy after her diagnosis because medical bills made it too expensive and appointments left no time alongside college and a full-time job. By 2017 she had a new job with better health benefits and resumed therapy. As of 2025 she remains cancer-free almost 10 years after diagnosis.

Newman now works as the Iowa grassroots manager for the lobbying arm of the American Cancer Society and has served on boards of other cancer organizations in Iowa. She continues therapy for anxiety about recurrence and support for treatment effects including infertility.

"The fear of the unknown really takes over and can physically impact your body, as well as your mind, of what if the cancer is back," she said.

Nationally, more than 18 million people were cancer survivors in 2025, with the number projected to reach 22 million by 2035, according to the National Cancer Institute. About a third of survivors who finished treatment reported anxiety about recurrence and problems feeling like their old self, while only 1 in 5 had seen a mental health professional, according to a Cancer Nation survey.

Iowa has the second-highest rate of new cancer diagnoses, according to the Iowa Cancer Registry.

University of Iowa scientists who run the registry are examining why the state has elevated rates. Many rural counties with high cancer incidence also have the fewest mental health workers. Shelley Fuld Nasso, CEO of Cancer Nation, said finding therapists who understand cancer's physical and emotional effects can be difficult, especially in Iowa.

Newman saw several therapists before securing an appointment with Julie Larson, a Des Moines therapist who works with many cancer survivors. Larson said it is common for survivors to begin therapy months or a year after finishing treatment. "Physically, people's bodies have changed, and they are reconciling loss and grief, and those experiences are a little bit more silent, a little more invisible, and friends and family don't often fully understand or grasp that," she said.

Larson began her career at a cancer non-profit and now writes and speaks publicly about her work. Patricia Ganz, an oncologist and professor at the UCLA School of Public Health, said the field of oncology often neglects mental health. "We know how to give pills.

We know how to give pain medicine, sleep medicines, but we're not really schooled in the antidepressants," she said. She noted increasing awareness of the need to screen for psychological distress, though recommended screenings and referrals do not always occur.

The Richard Deming Cancer Center at MercyOne hospital in Des Moines now offers counseling, music therapy, and mindfulness services to patients and survivors.

Dr. Richard Deming, the center's medical director, said patients receive intensive care during treatment but afterward the approach can imply they should simply feel fortunate and move on. Not just, 'Do you have cancer?

'" he said.