Our Story

In 2002, Jodi Sax, a well-known entertainment and intellectual property attorney and The LifeLab's founder and Executive Director, turned 37 and was told she had inoperable colon cancer that would most likely kill her. A year later she had undergone more than 4 surgeries, radiation, and 2 full chemotherapy regimens, but had fully recovered. Physically. Yet, she was lost in an abyss of confusion and distress and unable to find support relevant to her present circumstance.

In 2004, Ms. Sax attended a 14-week support group for young adult cancer survivors. Every person in this group experienced similar angst regarding their lives and their future paths. There was an overwhelming expression of need to lead a purposeful life and to process the cancer experience in a productive manner, coupled with frustration over an inability to get to that place. The support group ended, and there was no place to go from there. The seed for the LifeLab was planted.

Mission and Programs

Young adult survivors face unique obstacles in that their lives and careers may otherwise just be beginning. After recovery, they are left striving for meaning, direction and fulfillment yet returning to life as before is not possible.

New York's Comprehensive Cancer Control Plan (the "CCCP") specifically mandates that with cancer survivorship increasing (60% will now survive over 5 years), it is of particular importance to improve quality of life of cancer survivors by "creating an array of supportive services that address their spiritual, psychosocial, vocational and rehabilitative needs, among others." Surprisingly, given the large and increasing number of cancer survivors, there is not a single support services organization in New York City that offers comprehensive, ongoing, in-person support services, programs and opportunities for young adults of the type called for in the CCCP.

The LifeLab aims to fill the present void in existing support services by establishing the following as priorities in order to address the myriad needs of young adult survivors in the community:

1. Psychosocial Support - ongoing group counseling (provided in conjunction with our community partner, CancerCare, Inc.) to provide a supervised context for young adult cancer survivors to work out the issues they are facing with others similarly situated;

2. Personal Growth and Development - Programs and seminars enabling survivors to discover where they would like to go with their lives and giving them tools to get there.

3. Internship Program - Professional internships for survivors to grant exposure to new opportunities that might otherwise not be accessible.

4. The "Lab" - Programs in the arts and humanities, providing survivors with an outlet and the concrete means to realize their own projects, promoting healing, self discovery and personal growth. The Lab will provide mentors, tools and instruction to participants to facilitate this process.

5. Outreach and Advocacy - Programs for mentoring new survivors and advocacy efforts to address regarding issues facing young adults have have dealt with cancer and its aftermath. These advocacy efforts will target both doctors/residents/med students and community representatives, raising awareness for the unique challenges of young adult survivors and how these can best be addressed.

6. Survivor Database - An opt-in database for young adult survivors in New York City to facilitate support, networking and social opportunities.

Jodi L. Sax, Esq.
Founder/Executive Director

The New York LifeLab
The Puck Building
295 Lafayette Street, Suite 501
New York, NY 10012
212-920-3672
jodi [at ]nylifelab [dot] org
http://www.nylifelab.org