Shreveport Cancer Survivors Get Weekly Walk Support

Every Saturday morning in Shreveport, medical students lace up their sneakers alongside cancer survivors for something more powerful than medicine alone can provide.

The LSU Health Shreveport Foundation hosts weekly walks where students and survivors gather for exercise, connection, and mutual support. What started five years ago as a student-led project has grown into a community tradition that extends care beyond hospital walls.

This Saturday, the group celebrates its fifth anniversary with a Cancer Survivorship Walkathon at Betty Virginia Park. The event welcomes cancer survivors from anywhere, not just those treated at LSU facilities, and participation is completely free.

Medical student Joshua Siebeneicher says the program creates lasting relationships that reshape how future doctors understand their role. Instead of viewing patient care as something that ends at discharge, students learn that healing continues in community spaces like parks and walking trails.

The weekly walks connect to programs at the Feist-Weiller Cancer Center, creating a bridge between clinical treatment and everyday wellness. Survivors get regular physical activity proven to aid recovery, while students gain perspective that textbooks can't teach.

Margot Holland with the foundation emphasizes the open-door approach. Anyone touched by cancer can join the Saturday morning walks, creating a diverse community united by shared experience and forward motion.

The Ripple Effect

The impact extends beyond the walking trails. Medical students carry these relationships into their careers, approaching patient care with deeper empathy and understanding of life after diagnosis. Survivors find peer support and motivation to stay active, factors that research links to better long-term outcomes.

The program also sparks broader community involvement. Jason's Deli hosts a fundraising event this Thursday to support survivorship programs, showing how one student initiative can mobilize local businesses around cancer support.

These Saturday morning walks prove that healing happens in many places, and sometimes the best medicine is moving forward together.