SUSANNA ZSOTER
Cancer Warrior and Blogger
At the age of 28 Susanna Zsoter was diagnosed with colon cancer Stage IV. This means she is on palliative therapy and there is no chance of cure for her. Soon she started to write a blog about her cancer journey because she wanted to show that life is still great and there can be joy, fun and great moments even with a lifeshortening and deadly disease. She motivates people to make the best out of their situation and, of course, she encourages her readers to have colon cancer screening regularly, so that her story does not become the story of others, too.
Susanna named her Blog "Krebskriegerin" – cancer warrior in English. Warrior should stand for fighting cancer or at least fighting for a good time. At least that’s how it should be but soon she realized: This is not the journey of a cancer patient in real life. The reality is that cancer patients are fighting against bureaucracy, paperwork and are trying to keep up with the documentation of side effects. You can’t focus on fighting cancer because managing cancer is another full time job – one you never asked for, it is 24/7 with no vacation. As a digital native and former Marketing Manager for an IT company, Susanna Zsoter believes that there must be a smarter way to manage cancer and to use technology to make a cancer patient’s life easier. So she started working with Health Hackers e.V. on an open source app for smart cancer management and she works together with different healthcare companies to help them understand the needs of young cancer patients in order to make their business more patient-centered. In 2020, the „Felix Burda Stiftung“, a non-profit foundation for colorectal cancer prevention, honored her commitment against colorectal cancer and prevention with the Ehrenfelix 2020 Award.
Session
MediaTech in Health: Empowering Patient Journeys with Digital Tools
