Country Star Jillian Cardarelli and Actor/Singer Charles Esten Share ‘Strong’ A Heartfelt Song about Loved Ones Battling Cancer

In the song, Cardarelli shares her mother's story with the utmost adoration. She sings that doctors were saying "it was her last spring" at the time of her diagnosis, but her mother was not willing to give up.

"She said, doctors don't know everything," Cardelli sings. "She's still here after four hard years of fighting faithfully, so gracefully until she recovered. She amazed us all, that's my mother."

In a video posted by Stand Up To Cancer yesterday on Instagram, the nonprofit shared a series of photos with more background about the song and details from Cardarelli.

"Hearing people's stories is what helped me decide to release the song as a single," she says. "There are so many people impacted by this disease, and we desperately need more solutions to save more lives."

For Esten, this project was inspired by his daughter Addie who was diagnosed with leukemia as a child. She, too, won her fight with cancer and is now a Division I soccer player.

"When someone you love is fighting cancer, you have to find some sort of strength. It's the kind of strength that you don't necessarily want to have to have, but at one time or another, you find out that you kind of need it in order to make it through," Esten told American Songwriter. "And in this song, we were able to lift that sort of strength up and truly celebrate it."

Healing with Music

Music can be a powerful way for people with cancer and their loved ones to process their emotions.

"I have found music and rock 'n' roll to be transformational," survivor Joel Naftelberg tells us.

RELATED: Eddie Van Halen's Musician Son Wolfgang's Emotional New Lyrics Pay Tribute To His Dad After Cancer Death

Similarly, breast cancer survivor Marquina Iliev-Piselli channeled her love for music while undergoing chemotherapy in a unique way air guitar. The most helpful aspect of air guitar for Marquina was that it allowed her to become a different persona and separate from her body for a moment. Then, while undergoing chemotherapy, she would dress in different outfits in order to make herself feel better.

"Without air guitar, my treatment would have been incredibly sad," Marquina tells SurvivorNet. "Air guitar was the thing that brought me through. I recommend it highly. I air guitared in my chemo, and that saved my spirit. It makes it so that I don't look back on that time of fear."

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