{"id":53033,"date":"2025-11-19T19:11:05","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T19:11:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/53033\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T19:11:05","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T19:11:05","slug":"breast-cancer-survivor-thrives-learning-to-play-piano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/53033\/","title":{"rendered":"Breast Cancer Survivor Thrives &#8211; Learning to Play Piano"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Frank Penedo, Ph.D., is the Director of the new Survivorship and Supportive Care Institute at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. For more information about the new Institute and services offered, <a href=\"https:\/\/umiamihealth.org\/sylvester-comprehensive-cancer-center\/cancer-survivorship-,-a-,-supportive-care-institute\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">click here<\/a> or visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/news.umiamihealth.org\/en\/breast-cancer-survivor-thrives-learning-to-play-piano\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">UHealth Collective<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">MEET IRINA DUMITRESCU:<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Irina Dumitrescu was shocked to learn she had cancer in both breasts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cWe went for the double mastectomy. Fortunately, the cancer was detected early, so I didn\u2019t need chemotherapy or radiation,\u201d Irina says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Irina says completing treatment was just part of her journey. <a href=\"https:\/\/umiamihealth.org\/en\/sylvester-comprehensive-cancer-center\/research\/labs\/penedo-lab\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Frank Penedo, Ph.D.<\/a>, Director of the new <a href=\"https:\/\/umiamihealth.org\/sylvester-comprehensive-cancer-center\/cancer-survivorship-,-a-,-supportive-care-institute\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Survivorship and Supportive Care Institute at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center<\/a>, says survivors face unique challenges.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cCancer doesn\u2019t occur in a vacuum. Individuals come with their lives, their responsibilities, their families, prior challenges that may have been in place, which all get exacerbated when you\u2019re faced with cancer,\u201d Dr. Penedo explains. \u201cThe Institute brings together experts in clinical care and research, all focused on improving the lives of our cancer survivors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The new Institute offers myriad therapies based on a patient\u2019s needs, including mental health support, art, yoga and more. Irina is enjoying music therapy and is learning how to play the piano for the first time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThat\u2019s really changed my life. It\u2019s gotten rid of a tremor in my hand,\u201d says Irina.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re also conducting research funded by the National Cancer Institute to better understand how music therapy can improve patient outcomes and particularly reduce symptom burden and improve quality of life,\u201d says Dr. Penedo.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Evidence-based therapies address the specific needs of each patient.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cWe know that social support, coping, ability to manage stress, nutrition, and physical activity are all critically important to improve the life of our patients,\u201d Dr. Penedo says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThey help you be positive. They help you control your mind to not think of the worst-case scenario all the time,\u201d says Irina.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Irina says the support services Sylvester offers have benefitted her physical and emotional well-being.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI think I\u2019m feeling close to 100%. It\u2019s really, really making me stronger,\u201d Irina says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Focusing on You: Innovations in Modern Medicineis a series of healthcare-related stories airing regularly on WPLG Local 10. For more stories like this one, visit YouTube channels for UHealth, the University of Miami Health System.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph b-article-body__copyright\">Copyright 2025 by WPLG Local10.com &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Frank Penedo, Ph.D., is the Director of the new Survivorship and Supportive Care Institute at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226,7145],"class_list":["post-53033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news","tag-uhealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}