Coping After Losing a Loved One
- In honor of Father’s Day, French-Canadian singer Celine Dion shared a sweet tribute post to her late music producer husband René Angélil, who she lost to throat cancer in January 2016.
- Dion revealed in December 2022 that she was diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome, a disease she is managing through intravenous immunoglobulin [IVIG], which the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) describes as therapy “prepared from a pool of immunoglobulins (antibodies) from the plasma of thousands of healthy donors.” She is also receiving help from a physical therapists, a vocal therapist, and medication.
- Grief is a difficult, truly personal process, and it’s something Celine Dion hasn’t been shy to share with her fans. Some find solace in vulnerability and sharing how they feel with others.
- While working through grief and vulnerable tackling of the emotions that accompany it, some find tools like therapy to be helpful. Support groups can also be a benefit for those who are feeling isolated in their feelings of grief. Faith can also be a powerful coping mechanism for some.
- Whichever methods of support you look for after cancer loss, you should know that there is no correct way to grieve. There is no perfect timeline for grieving, either.
Dion, a 57-year-old mom of three who has been living with a rare neurological disorder called stiff-person syndrome (SPS), graced Instagram with a sentimental post to remember René Angélil, as well as another special man in her life, her late dad.
The “Power Of Love” singer wrote, “And to my own father, thank you for your love and steady presence throughout my life. You gave me a standing ovation with every song, you were always my #1 fan.
“You are with me, always. Happy Father’s Day. – Celine xx…”
Supporters of the singe quickly flooded the comments with love, with one writing, “Beautiful words Céline, René has really taught your children so much, he was a wonderful father.
“Your dad made you the woman you are, special and good…🤍They are really very proud of you.”
Another commented, “Such precious photographs. René would be so proud of the boys and how they support you every step of the way.
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Meanwhile, on the nine year anniversary of Dion’s late husband’s death, the loving mom shared a photo of her and their three grown-up sons from over the holidays.
She captioned the post, which she uploaded on January 14, 2025, “René, we can’t believe you’ve been gone nine years already. Not a day goes by that we don’t feel your presence, RC, Eddy, Nelson and I.
“You were my greatest champion, my partner, and the one who always saw the best in me. I honor you and you are forever missed mon amour…We love you.”
More Resources On Coping With Loss
- Mental Health: Understanding the Three Wellsprings of Vitality
- Responding to Stress: How to Cope With Complex & Changing Emotions
- How to Be Realistically Optimistic: Coping With Mental Health Long-Term
- Dealing With Grief Related to Health Problems
- SN & You Presents Mental Health: Coping With Emotions
- Fear, Anger, Anxiety: You’re Entitled To Your Emotions
- New Hard Evidence That Exercise Measurably Reduces Anxiety– 150 Minutes Per Week Makes The Difference
We applaud Dion for the strength she’s maintained throughout her journey with a rare neurological disease, which she informed the public she had in 2022, in addition to losing her husband, dad, and, more recently, her mom Thérèse.
Dion’s mom passed away on January 17, 2020, at the age of 93.
According to TODAY.com, Dion shared the news at one of her concerts, telling her fans, “I must admit that I’m a little shaky today. My legs are a little wobbly. I’m pretty sure that you heard the news about my mom passing away early this morning.
“She was ill for quite a while and we knew she wouldn’t be with us for long. Two days ago, we got a call from the nurses, who were taking care of her so well, saying that her time was coming soon, very soon. So last night, I joined my brothers and sisters in Montreal and I spent the evening at her bedside. We told stories, we sang songs, we held each other and we said our goodbyes.”
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Coping After The Loss of a Loved One
It’s important to remember that grief may look different for everyone—and the stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. These labels help us frame and identify what we may be feeling. These stages can also occur in any order.
The time it takes to navigate these stages can also vary, so giving yourself grace and patience is essential while navigating your feelings.
WATCH: Dealing With Grief Related to Health Problems
“It often gets better over time, but on certain days, it can look like depression, and on other days, people look perfectly normal and can function,” Dr. Scott Irwin, a board-certified psychiatrist and Director of Supportive Care Services at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, previously told SurvivorNet.
Dr. Irwin added that grieving people are coming to terms with “the change in their life; the future they had imagined is now different.”
SurvivorNet spoke with Megan Newcomer, who lost a close friend to metastatic cancer in 2018. She shared her unique way of coping with grief. Her friend was an athlete and soccer player, so to help her cope, she embarked on a marathon race in his honor.
Newcomer advises others grieving to first “acknowledge your feelings.”
“Then, think about a way that you could honor the person through a mechanism that is meaningful to you. So that can be artwork, music, or developing a financial fundraising project. It could be something very simple, but I do think having it be intentional is what you’re doing to help honor this person,” Newcomer adds.
In a column for SurvivorNet, New York-based clinical psychologist Dr. Marianna Strongin wrote that it may be helpful to remind yourself that these feelings are “meaningful yet temporary.”
“If you approach them with compassion, kindness, and eventually acceptance, you will come away from this period in your life more connected to your resilience and strength,” she wrote.
Celine Dion’s Battle With Stiff-Person Syndrome
Celine Dion revealed that she was diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome back in December 2022. The shocking diagnosis led her to postpone and/or cancel several concerts scheduled for Spring and Summer 2023.
In her Instagram video announcement, Dion informed her fans, “I’ve been dealing with problems with my health for a long time and it’s been really difficult for me to face these challenges and talk about everything that I’ve been going through.
“I have a great team of doctors working alongside me to help me get better and my precious children, who are supporting me and giving me hope.”
Stiff-person syndrome (SPS) is described as a rare neurological disorder with features of an autoimmune disease, that is “characterized by fluctuating muscle rigidity in the trunk and limbs and a heightened sensitivity to stimuli such as noise, touch, and emotional distress, which can set off muscle spasms,” the National Institutes of Health explains.
The NIH notes that people with this disease, which has been found to affect twice as many women as men, are often seen with unusual postures, with their backs hunched over and stiffened.
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“A definitive diagnosis can be made with a blood test that measures the level of glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) antibodies in the blood. People with SPS have elevated levels of GAD, an antibody that works against an enzyme involved in the synthesis of an important neurotransmitter in the brain,” the medical research agency adds.
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, symptoms associated with the rare, progressive neurological disorder include:
- Painful muscle contractions
- Muscle spasms (which often begin in the legs or back)
- Difficulty walking
- Unsteadiness and falling
- Shortness of breath
Although the disorder isn’t curable, people with this disease can be treated with “IVIg, anti-anxiety drugs, muscle relaxants, anti-convulsants, and pain relievers” to help control symptoms. Symptoms can sometimes include falling due to a lack of their body’s normal defensive reflexes.
“People with SPS respond to high doses of diazepam and several anti-convulsants, gabapentin and tiagabine. A recent study funded by the NINDS demonstrated the effectiveness of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) treatment in reducing stiffness and lowering sensitivity to noise, touch, and stress in people with SPS,” NIH explains.
New Hope For Stiff-Person Syndrome Treatment
Celine Dion spoke about how she’s managing her symptoms on a recent interview with the “TODAY” show, revealing she’s using intravenous immunoglobulin [IVIG], which the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) describes as therapy “prepared from a pool of immunoglobulins (antibodies) from the plasma of thousands of healthy donors.”
The ACR explains, “Immunoglobulins are made by the immune system of healthy people for the purpose of fighting infections. Unlike many of the medications prescribed by rheumatologists, IVIG/SCIG [Subcutaenous Immunoglobulin] do not increase the risk for infection.
“IVIG/SCIG work in different ways to prevent the body from attacking itself and to decrease several types of inflammation in the body. It is considered safe for use during pregnancy and breastfeeding.”
It’s a type of treatment that’s used for various types of autoimmune and immunodeficiency conditions.
As Dion is reportedly seeking help from physical therapists, medication, and a vocal therapist, it’s a relief to see she’s been able to manage the disease—as her journey with SPS is offering hope for other patients battling rare disease.
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Last year, the FDA cleared Kyverna Therapeutics’s CAR T-cell therapy trial for a Stiff-Person Syndrome Trial, according to CGTLive.
Dr. Marinos Dalakas, MD, FAAN, Professor of Neurology, Director, Neuromuscular Division, Thomas Jefferson University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, said in a statement, “CAR T-cell therapy has already shown preliminary but promising results in patients with SPS treated outside of the US.
“I find the KYSA-8 trial of extraordinary importance as a promising novel therapy for patients with stiff person syndrome who do not respond to current therapies, with implications in providing potentially long-lasting benefits.”
In regard to other treatment methods, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) explains, “With appropriate treatment, SPS symptoms may be kept under control.
“Several symptoms improve with oral diazepam (an anti-anxiety and muscle relaxant drug) or with drugs that alleviate muscle spasms, such as baclofen or gabapentin.”
Meanwhile, a study founded by the NINDS showed that intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) treatment, the type Celine Dion is undergoing, “is effective in reducing stiffness, sensitivity to noise, touch, and stress and for improving gait and balance for people with SPS.”
Have a Rare Disease? Here are Some Resources
All sorts of feelings of anxiety, fear, and loneliness can come with the diagnosis of a rare disease. But it’s important to know you’re not alone. Below are some helpful resources for the many people affected by lesser-known or less-researched diseases.
Academic Centers and Comprehensive Care Centers
For some rare disease warriors, community centers provide great treatment options. But for people with rare conditions, cancer or otherwise, more specialized care may be required. In that case, the most effective place to find a specialist is often at academic centers and comprehensive care centers.
In a previous conversation with SurvivorNet, Dr. Kenneth Miller, director of outpatient oncology at the University of Maryland’s comprehensive cancer center, explained what differentiates a “comprehensive cancer center” from other treatment providers.
Seeking Care at a Comprehensive Cancer Center
“Pretty much automatically, there’s going to be a team approach [to your care],” Dr. Miller said. “Surgical oncology, medical oncology, radiation oncology, and all the support services, and also wonderful pathology and radiology.”
Dr. Miller added that at a comprehensive cancer center, all of these different specialists work together as a team to help you find the best course of treatment for your specific kind of cancer.
“We call it a tumor board, a group to go through all the details of your case so you get a group of very smart people coming up with a plan together that is hopefully optimal and gives you the best chance of doing well.”
Clinicaltrials.gov and the SurvivorNet Clinical Trial Finder
Another place to turn to when you’ve been diagnosed with a rare disease and you’re considering experimental treatment )or trying to find specialists) is clinicaltrials.gov, a database maintained by the U.S. government that compiles privately and publicly funded clinical trials conducted around the world.
Clinical trials themselves are research studies that compare the most effective known treatment for a specific type or stage of a disease with a new approach.
Clinical Trials Can be Life-Saving for Some
Clinicaltrials.gov can help you explore possible treatment options by looking at trials that are actively recruiting. The site also provides the information of some of the most specialized doctors in a specific field since they often end up leading clinical trials that advance our understanding of diseases.
By searching your disease on Clinicaltrials.gov, you will usually come across a list of many studies. The lead researcher will be listed under the heading, “Investigators.” Lead researchers in studies on rare diseases are typically doctors who have specialized in the study of that condition.
And if you’d prefer to search for clinical trials on a more user-friendly site, try SurvivorNet’s new A.I. driven tool built on top of clinicaltrials.gov: the SurvivorNet Clinical Trial Finder. This tool is updated daily and gives users access to more than 100,000+ individual clinical trials to help them find treatment options.
To use the SurvivorNet Clinical Trial Finder, simply answer some basic questions using our custom-designed chat feature and we’ll send clinical trial options within your region right to your email. In simplifying the search, we hope to offer multiple opportunities for clinical trial sponsors and clinical research organizations to engage with patients.
“Clinical trials are critical to the development of new therapies, and as we live through this extraordinary revolution in genomics, immunotherapy and targeted therapy, it’s clear that one of the most pressing needs for patients, clinical trials sponsors, and researchers is simply a better way to find patients,” SurvivorNet CEO Steve Alperin said. “Even one percent more people successfully enrolled in clinical trials can change the world.”
PubMed
Similar to clinicaltrials.gov, PubMed is another place to turn if you’re looking to research your rare disease. This website includes more than 33 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books.
If you type in your disease, you’ll see a list of studies and articles about the condition. You can even add a filter to only look at clinical trial information. By looking at the doctors associated with the published clinical trial results and other articles, you may be able to find doctors that specialize in research for your disease.
Newly-Developed Drugs
For those who’ve been recently diagnosed with a rare disease, we also want to highlight reasons for hope since there is something of a revolution going on in the development of drugs for rare diseases.
The sequencing of the human genome has enabled doctors to take new approaches to treating some of these uncommon conditions. One step you may take after being diagnosed with a rare disease is looking into the drug companies developing drugs to treat your condition.
Compassionate Use and Off-Label Use
Drug companies may be able to help patients enroll in clinical trials, and in some rare cases, they may even be able to offer “compassionate use.” Compassionate drug use makes a new drug that has not been fully approved available to a patient facing a serious illness. This only typically happens when a patient has exhausted all other treatment options, but it is an important option to understand.
Similarly, researching drug companies may be a path to “off-label” drug use. Off-label drug use involves taking a drug that has been approved for treating one condition in the hopes that it may treat another condition that it has not yet been approved for.
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.
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