When Jodie Ofosuhene learned she had breast cancer at age 29 in 2016, she got more than standard medical care. She was connected with Noel Peters, a former patient who serves as a mentor to new ones. “Noel helped me tremendously,” Ms. Ofosuhene said in an interview. “Every time I had a question about my response to treatment — whether it was normal — she had answers from her own experience.”
In an ideal world, when we are faced with a new health problem, a clinician is available to sit down and address all our questions and anxieties about the condition and its treatment. This ideal is rarely met in the United States health system. More typically, we're rushed through doctor visits that fly by too quickly for us to gather our thoughts.
