Suzanne
Suzanne Lindley, MSW
Suzanne Lindley, MSW, co-founded the patient advocacy organization Say YES to Hope in 2007, participated in the AACR Scientist to Survivor Program in 2008, and has served on the FDA Oncologic Drug Advisory Committee since 2010. Often referred to as a “patient advocate extraordinaire,” Suzanne has been a patient or keynote speaker for ESMO, ARIN, AONN, and the Society of Interventional Radiology conferences, as well as a speaker at numerous ONS dinners and other events across the country. A long-time patient advocate on Capitol Hill, she has received numerous awards for her advocacy work, as well as recognition in the Congressional Record on several occasions. Suzanne has appeared on the Today Show, on CNN, and is a frequent writer for Cure Magazine. She also is a frequent invitee to celebrity events, including the Grammy Awards, Emmy Awards, People’s Choice Awards, as well as Academy Award parties, and Sundance events, and she always brings at least a dozen cancer survivors with her. A favorite “bucket-list” event experienced by cancer survivors through Say YES to Hope is being able to walk the catwalk in a “Surviving in Fashion” segment of a New York Fashion Week fashion show. Suzanne’s goal is to give hope when hope has all but disappeared, and to prove that it is possible to live fully despite terminal cancer—something she experiences daily in her own life.
Suzanne was 31 when she was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer that had metastasized to her liver. When she was told she had only six months to live, she hoped the lone chemotherapy available for colon cancer patients at that time would allow her quality time with her family while preparing to die—an outcome she was told was inevitable. Although she was referred to hospice care, Suzanne never gave up hope that a cure was around the corner. She learned through her personal experiences the importance of self-advocacy in supporting, informing and empowering both patients and their families as they navigated advanced cancer. Suzanne returned to school while in treatment to earn her master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Texas at Arlington, and also became certified as a bereavement counselor.
As the result of a plethora of multidisciplinary treatments which came available as months turned into years while she fought additional metastases, Suzanne shifted her focus from dying from cancer to living with cancer, becoming one of the new class of patients whose cancer is now considered “chronic”—a cancer that is controlled but not cured. Suzanne’s own treatment has included numerous chemotherapies, precision medicine, personalized medicine, immunotherapy, radioembolization (Y90), radiation, radiofrequency ablation (RFA), and CyberKnife, as well as participation in three clinical trials.
Suzanne has taken the lessons learned in her own cancer journey to help create easier medical navigation for other advanced cancer patients. Through Say YES to Hope, she has helped to coordinate thousands of “FRIENDS for the Journey” so that others do not feel the isolation and fear that she experienced, and ensured that others have access to the benefits of medical research. She has given hope when hope has all but disappeared, and proven that it is possible to live fully despite terminal cancer.
Suzanne Lindley, MSW
- Say YES to Hope
- Founder and Executive Director; Patient Advocate
- FDA Oncologic Drug Advisory Committee
Suzanne Lindley, MSW, co-founded the patient advocacy organization Say YES to Hope in 2007, participated in the AACR Scientist to Survivor Program in 2008, and has served on the FDA Oncologic Drug Advisory Committee since 2010. Often referred to as a “patient advocate extraordinaire,” Suzanne has been a patient or keynote speaker for ESMO, ARIN, AONN, and the Society of Interventional Radiology conferences, as well as a speaker at numerous ONS dinners and other events across the country. A long-time patient advocate on Capitol Hill, she has received numerous awards for her advocacy work, as well as recognition in the Congressional Record on several occasions. Suzanne has appeared on the Today Show, on CNN, and is a frequent writer for Cure Magazine. She also is a frequent invitee to celebrity events, including the Grammy Awards, Emmy Awards, People’s Choice Awards, as well as Academy Award parties, and Sundance events, and she always brings at least a dozen cancer survivors with her. A favorite “bucket-list” event experienced by cancer survivors through Say YES to Hope is being able to walk the catwalk in a “Surviving in Fashion” segment of a New York Fashion Week fashion show. Suzanne’s goal is to give hope when hope has all but disappeared, and to prove that it is possible to live fully despite terminal cancer—something she experiences daily in her own life.
Suzanne was 31 when she was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer that had metastasized to her liver. When she was told she had only six months to live, she hoped the lone chemotherapy available for colon cancer patients at that time would allow her quality time with her family while preparing to die—an outcome she was told was inevitable. Although she was referred to hospice care, Suzanne never gave up hope that a cure was around the corner. She learned through her personal experiences the importance of self-advocacy in supporting, informing and empowering both patients and their families as they navigated advanced cancer. Suzanne returned to school while in treatment to earn her master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Texas at Arlington, and also became certified as a bereavement counselor.
As the result of a plethora of multidisciplinary treatments which came available as months turned into years while she fought additional metastases, Suzanne shifted her focus from dying from cancer to living with cancer, becoming one of the new class of patients whose cancer is now considered “chronic”—a cancer that is controlled but not cured. Suzanne’s own treatment has included numerous chemotherapies, precision medicine, personalized medicine, immunotherapy, radioembolization (Y90), radiation, radiofrequency ablation (RFA), and CyberKnife, as well as participation in three clinical trials.
Suzanne has taken the lessons learned in her own cancer journey to help create easier medical navigation for other advanced cancer patients. Through Say YES to Hope, she has helped to coordinate thousands of “FRIENDS for the Journey” so that others do not feel the isolation and fear that she experienced, and ensured that others have access to the benefits of medical research. She has given hope when hope has all but disappeared, and proven that it is possible to live fully despite terminal cancer.