Revive Hope for Health: A Path to Empowered Healthcare Choices
Revive Hope for Health: A Path to Empowered Healthcare Choices
When someone you love is fighting for their life, you do everything you can to keep up — the appointments, the treatments, the questions, the fear, the hope. And yet, in the middle of all that chaos, it’s easy to feel completely lost.
This blog dives into the heart of that experience: the helplessness of navigating a loved one’s cancer journey, the overwhelm of medical decisions, and the desperate wish for clarity in a system that doesn’t slow down for anyone. It’s a reflection on what it feels like to juggle treatments, options, opinions, and emotions without a roadmap — and the relief that a resource like REViVE Hope for Health could have brought.
Inside, you’ll find an honest look at how REViVE’s tools — from the Personal Guidebook to the Medicine Spectrum — can transform the way we approach care. Instead of fumbling in the dark, REViVE empowers individuals and families to ask better questions, explore alternative therapies, track options, and create a more holistic, informed path forward.
This isn’t just a story of struggle — it’s a call to reclaim agency in the moments that matter most.
If you or someone you love is walking through a health crisis, this piece is your reminder: you don’t have to do it alone, and there are resources that can help you find clarity, confidence, and hope.
Even Overwhelmed, I Can Find Resources
I felt helpless. More than helpless. My brother’s cancer diagnosis was a shock, and what followed was a blur of medical appointments, treatments, and the constant stress of trying to keep track of everything. On top of all that, we had to try and make sense of the options presented by my brother’s medical team, all while keeping our spirits as hopeful as possible. It felt like we were always running to catch up and catch our breath.
One of the most challenging aspects during that time wasn’t just the emotional toll of watching my brother’s health decline—it was the difficulty in keeping track of his treatments and exploring other options. We found ourselves juggling several questions: Should we try a new medication? Would a different doctor or treatment plan work? Were there alternative therapies that might help ease his symptoms? There was no central place to organize these thoughts, and every decision felt like we were fumbling in the dark.
Looking back, I wish I had a resource or guidebook as I know it would have helped us through some of those overwhelming moments and months. Enter, REViVE Hope for Health.
If we’d had access to the tools on the REViVE website, supporting my brother may have felt a lot less chaotic, and I wouldn’t have felt as helpless. The platform offers materials that could have helped us navigate the treatment options and track what we were considering. The REViVE Medicine Spectrum alone, found inside the guidebook, would have been very valuable. It provides clear, concise information on various healthcare systems, including Western medicine, traditional East Asian medicine, and Ayurvedic medicine, among others. This kind of resource could have helped us understand that we didn’t have to limit ourselves to one form of treatment; there are alternative therapies out there that we could explore alongside my brother’s chemotherapy. Instead of feeling trapped by traditional methods, we could have created a more holistic approach to his care.
During my brother’s treatment, there were so many times when I felt like we were just following orders without fully understanding or questioning the options. If we had access to the Personal Guidebook, we would have been better equipped to ask our doctors about alternative therapies and consider additional treatment paths. It could have helped us make more informed choices, rather than feeling like we were at the mercy of the healthcare system.
One key concept that speaks to me is how the guide encourages individuals to become “response-able” for their health, inspiring them to ask the right questions, communicate more effectively with healthcare providers, and consider complementary therapies.
The personal stories shared here on REViVE also would have been a source of comfort during such a difficult time. The stories of others who have gone through similar experiences—facing cancer, finding alternative therapies, and balancing traditional treatments with holistic options—could have provided us with hope. Those stories show us that we are not alone, and that there are others who have walked this path and found ways to cope, heal, and support their loved ones.
For anyone going through a similar situation—when treatments aren’t working as expected and the weight of decisions feels overwhelming—REViVE offers more than just information; it provides a sense of empowerment and direction. I truly can’t help but wish I had discovered this resource sooner. It would have helped my family organize the various treatment options we were considering, guided us to explore different paths, and made the entire experience less overwhelming. I daresay, it supports us all today as we go forward navigating our own health care and wellbeing.
If you’re facing a health crisis or supporting a loved one through treatment, don’t wait like I did. Let REViVE Hope for Health be the guide that helps you make the best decisions, track your options, and find hope in even the most difficult circumstances. Healing isn’t a one-size-fits-all journey, and this platform offers the kind of support and clarity that can make all the difference.
Michael Moore, REViVE Hope for Health board member
How to be the quarterback of your healthcare team.
There’s a reason quarterbacks are household names. They don’t just run plays — they own the moment, shifting direction when needed and keeping the team’s energy in check. And here’s the thing: in your health journey, you’re the quarterback.
Too often as patients, we end up feeling like benchwarmers, waiting for someone else to call the shots. I’ve been there myself — rushing through appointments, nodding along with the first treatment plan suggested, or leaving with unanswered questions. But the truth is, you hold the most valuable information in the room. You know your symptoms, your goals, your lived experience. That makes you the one best positioned to guide the team.
Just like a quarterback calls an audible when the defense doesn’t look right, you can ask for clarification, push for alternatives, or even seek a second opinion. Preparation tools like the REViVE Hope for Health Guidebook can make a huge difference, helping you organize your thoughts, describe your symptoms clearly, and reflect on your options before making decisions.
When you show up prepared and empowered, you’re not just another patient — you’re the leader of your own healthcare team. So the question is: what’s your next play?
There’s a reason quarterbacks are some of the most famous athletes in America. Even if you don’t follow football, you’ve likely heard the names and seen them on commercials or SNL. Quarterbacks in football are at the center of each offensive play, with the ability to make or break a team’s game and season. Sure, coaches might call the plays, but the quarterback is on the field to change a play, manage the energy, and make decisions in real time.
Within REViVE, we’ve been talking recently about the concept of “building a healthcare team”. Maybe because I live in Kansas City, the football analogy came to my mind nearly immediately.
As a physical therapist, I have the pleasure of getting to be one provider on many patients’ teams. But seeing patients navigate health care over the years has made it clear to me that to get the best results, the patient (you!) has to be the quarterback of their own healthcare team, rather than sitting on the bench while others make the decisions.
One interesting thing about being a healthcare provider is I’ve been a patient far longer than I’ve been a provider. I know firsthand how powerless it can feel to sit on a doctor’s exam table.
Pitfalls I commonly find myself in as a patient are not feeling confident enough to express my health concerns, avoiding asking questions to take up more time, and quickly accepting the first treatment suggestion. However, the longer I’ve been on the other side of the relationship, I’ve come to appreciate that the patient really is the person in the room with the most information, the most at stake, and the most important to be at the center of all decisions.
Growing up in an active family, sports injuries were a part of the process. I remember when a doctor would ask me to describe the pain, and I said, “I don’t know, it just hurts!”. While I wouldn’t expect my 12-year-old self to have the most vivid descriptions of a knee injury, now as a PT I realize the providers were looking for descriptors like sharp, throbbing, or burning, as different descriptors provide insight as to what structures are injured without needing expensive imaging.
Those doctors and physical therapists were asking these questions knowing that the patient truly does have the key info needed to make a diagnosis. A patient’s answers to describe pain can lead a provider to think a symptom can be from something as treatable as a muscle strain, or as serious as an internal disease you might need to see a specialist for.
So, when I say, “be your own quarterback”, what I mean is go into appointments knowing that you hold all the answers within yourself. You know what outcome you’re trying to achieve by going to an appointment. And you deserve to feel empowered by the treatment options you undergo. If a quarterback doesn’t like the look of the defense when lining up for a snap, they call an audible. Just like you can seek a second opinion if a recommended treatment plan isn’t sitting right with you.
When I’m a patient, I use the REViVE Hope for Health Guidebook Self Check-in and Prepare Share pages to make sure I know how I want to describe my symptoms, and make sure I’m not forgetting to bring anything up. I’ve been able to witness as both a patient and a provider how coming into an appointment prepared can help lead to efficient diagnoses and more effective treatment strategies. Then, taking time to reflect on treatment options has helped me as a patient to understand if it’s an option I truly want to dive into, once I’ve taken the time to digest all possible benefits, side effects, and alternatives.
The REViVE guidebook has helped me feel at the center of my own health journey, to be the quarterback of my team. As well as simultaneously making me want to encourage every patient to be at the center of their own. The next time you walk in and out of a doctor’s appointment, I hope it’s with the confidence and self-determination of a quarterback. Because you hold the key and deserve to drive the bus of your own health care team. So what’s your next play? How are you going to become the star player of your team?
Jay Alexander, REViVE Hope for Health board member