Your caregiving role involves both survivorship care and gender-affirmation support. Treatment decisions may include understanding hormones, surgeries, anatomy, identity and relationship dynamics.
Unique considerations you should understand
Gender-affirmation care may intersect with cancer treatment: Hormones, affirmation surgeries, chest/top surgery, genital reconstruction, internals. These factors may affect screening, treatment options, side-effects and body-image outcomes.
Identity affirmation in care settings:
Your loved one may face mis-gendering, exclusion of non-binary identity, forms that assume binary gender. Your role includes advocating for correct name/pronouns and an inclusive environment.
Anatomy, organs and screening:
Cancer treatment and affirmation history may mean the person has a mix of organs and anatomy that standard screening protocols don’t fit; you’ll help track that.
Intimacy, body-image and partner roles:
The survivor’s gender identity and body may change due to cancer or affirmation care; partner/ chosen-family roles, sexual intimacy, comfort may shift.
Provider coordination:
Care involves oncology, gender-affirmation specialists, fertility/birth-planning if relevant. Your role is to be the communication bridge.
Caregiver strategies for this context
1. Become literacy-aware:
Educate yourself about gender identity, pronouns, affirmation care basics, what your loved one has or plans in terms of hormones/surgery.
Ask your loved one what identity terms, pronouns, partner/ family language they prefer.
2. Attend key appointments and ask identity-affirming questions:
Accompany your loved one and make sure the medical team knows their gender identity, chosen name/pronouns, affirmation history.
Ask: “How will this treatment affect hormones, affirmation surgeries, future screening? How will you monitor my loved one’s organs given affirmation history?”
3. Support their body-image and identity journey:
Recognise that cancer and affirmation both affect body perception. Suggest that the medical team offers open communication: “How is your body feeling now? How does it align/not align with your identity?”
Encourage peer connections with other trans/non-binary survivors.
4. Advocate for inclusive care environment:
Ensure forms and records reflect chosen name/pronouns and partner/ chosen-family.
If mis-gendering or discrimination happens, document and escalate to patient-relations or LGBT-friendly social worker.
5. Coordinate multi-specialist care:
Create a shared care summary: cancer treatment history, affirmation hormone/surgery history, organs retained, partner/ chosen-family context, fertility goals.
Help schedule referrals and ensure all providers are aware of the full context.
Action step for you
Together with your loved one, create a document titled “My Identity + Cancer Care Summary” this week: list chosen name/pronouns, partner/ chosen-family, affirmation history, organs present, hormone history, fertility goals. Print or save it and bring it to each new appointment.