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During a recent brain MRI and PET scan, Kayla found herself lying on the table imagining she was somewhere else entirely: on vacation, far away from scans and the uncertainty that can come with them.
It is one of the small ways Kayla, who's in her 20s and living with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer, has learned to find moments of calm while navigating cancer.
Her journey began in 2022, when she was first diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. She says she received few resources to help with the emotional impact of her diagnosis. When her cancer later recurred as stage 4 disease, she then struggled to find people who shared her own experience.
“With some support groups, there weren’t a lot of people that looked like me, especially with me being so young and a Black woman,” she explains.
At an age when many of her peers are thinking about careers, relationships and starting families, Kayla has had to navigate questions about fertility and her future. She went through IVF and found that even the friends who wanted to support her couldn't really understand what she was experiencing.
“My friends can't relate to what I'm going through at this young age,” Kayla says. “There's a lot of things as a young woman in my late 20s that I have to navigate and there’s really not a lot of people I can go to for advice.”
While Kayla's experience is uniquely her own, the emotional toll of serious illness is widespread. According to the National Cancer Institute, about half of the people with cancer report experiencing distress, and approximately two in 10 report symptoms of depression. For those living with HIV in the U.S., more than one-third experience depression and approximately 28% have an anxiety disorder, based on information from the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among people living with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), symptoms like fatigue, chronic itch, brain fog and disrupted sleep can affect work, relationships and overall well-being.
At Gilead, transforming health means looking beyond the physical aspects of disease to understand this broader experience of the people and communities we serve. That’s why the company is partnering with Calm, a leading mental health company, to help make mental and emotional well-being part of the conversation around serious illness. Through this partnership, people navigating cancer, HIV and PBC, and their caregivers, can access free, curated mindfulness resources designed to support the distinct needs of each patient community.
"The people and communities we serve are at the center of everything we do. We know that true care extends beyond medical treatment to support the whole person—including mental and emotional well-being,” says Darius Kuras, Vice President, U.S. Public Affairs. “Initiatives like our collaboration with Calm are essential to bringing accessible resources directly to patients and caregivers wherever they are on their health journey.”
Oncology | Supporting People Beyond Their Diagnosis
An advanced cancer diagnosis can affect nearly every aspect of a person's life. Alongside the physical realities of disease and treatment can come fear, grief, uncertainty and emotional exhaustion.
For Juliska, who is living with stage 4 triple-negative breast cancer, finding the right emotional support has been part of her cancer journey. A social worker who visited her during treatment gave her someone to talk to. Still, traditional support groups weren’t the right fit while she was experiencing significant anxiety.
“Dealing with high anxiety and listening to other people cry was not helpful for me. It was kind of deteriorating what I was already going through,” explains Juliska.
Today, she turns to therapy and time outdoors, even if that means simply sitting in the sun or getting fresh air on days when she isn’t physically able to walk.
What It Means to Be a Partner in Health
Experiences like Juliska’s and Kayla’s helped inform the mindfulness resources Gilead and Calm curated for those facing advanced cancer, as well as their caregivers. Knowing that what feels supportive can look different for every person and at different moments in their journey, this partnership is part of Gilead's broader commitment to whole-person health, supporting people beyond medicine, wherever and whenever they may need it.
Explore the Gilead and Kite Oncology x Calm collection here and learn how this resource is also supporting those with HIV and PBC.