Cancer comes with many physical, emotional and financial challenges. From making decisions about your treatment and coping with side effects to dealing with medical bills and addressing your health battle with loved ones or coworkers, the hurdles can seem daunting.

Add in deafness or difficulty hearing and the obstacles amplify. Patients who are deaf or hard of hearing may struggle to simply understand their diagnosis or to feel their wishes and concerns are being heard.

In some cases, cancer treatments may even cause or worsen hearing loss, forcing patients to deal with more post-diagnosis challenges.

Sheila Hartigan, an oncology information specialist and relationship manager on the Community Engagement Outreach Team at [City of Hope®](https://www.cityofhope.org/.../chicago/chicago-cancer-center)[ Cancer Center Chicago](https://www.cityofhope.org/locations/chicago), is more familiar than most with the challenges cancer poses to people who are deaf. Her mother, deaf since birth, is now 90 years old and has faced three distinct cancer diagnosis over the past three decades.

In her role at City of Hope, Hartigan helps people who are deaf or hard of hearing navigate a cancer diagnosis, a role she has played in her own family since she was a child.

“Sign language was my first language,” Hartigan says.

https://www.cityofhope.org/hope-matters-blog/managing-hearing-loss-and-cancer