Scott & Patty
Two chairs. One cancer experience. A lot learned along the way.
Life Between Scans has grown from our own experience with cancer, but our story with cancer began long before either of us became a patient or caregiver.
In 1995, we attended an American Cancer Society meeting in Orlando and somehow volunteered to lead a Relay For Life event even though we had never attended one. Ten years later, after moving to Brentwood, California, we co-chaired that community’s first Relay. Volunteers, businesses, survivors, families, teams and American Cancer Society staff came together and built something far larger than anything the two of us could have imagined.
For years, cancer was something we cared about because it had touched people we loved.
Then cancer became ours.
Scott & Patty Carroll
Co-Founders, Life Between Scans
Our Cancer Story
In 2017, we moved to Vallejo, California, for Scott’s new job. Patty joined Scott there on October 28. Six days later, we were told that Scott had cancer. What followed has included major surgeries, recovery, recurrence, metastatic disease, treatments, side effects, scans, waiting, clinical trials and decisions that sometimes came without an obviously right answer.
Scott has experienced those years as the patient. Patty has experienced them as Scott’s wife and caregiver. We have learned that the patient and caregiver can sit in the same room, hear the same information and leave carrying very different things. Neither perspective is more legitimate. Both matter.
We have also learned to participate actively in Scott’s care. We read records. We ask questions. We seek different perspectives. We continue to learn enough to understand the conversations we’re part of. And whenever possible, we talk with people who have actually lived through something similar.
Those conversations don’t replace doctors. They offer something different.
Perspective.
Again and again, we found ourselves wondering:
Why are these conversations so hard to find?
That question eventually became Life Between Scans.
OUR MISSION
Helping patients and caregivers make the decisions that are right for them through honest conversations.
We share experiences, not prescriptions.
What We Bring to the Table
Our experience with cancer is only one part of what we bring to this work.
Long before Scott’s diagnosis, we had years of experience bringing people together, helping people learn and helping organizations work through change.
Through Centrixity, a business we owned together, our work included organizational development, change, employee development, leadership, communication and facilitated learning. We developed and delivered interactive programs designed to help people engage with ideas, assess their situations, practice, discuss and determine what they would do next.
Scott’s consulting work also included large-scale change and development initiatives for major organizations, including Fortune 100 businesses and work conducted in partnership with McKinsey & Company. Patty’s experience included facilitation and workplace/team development, including work as an authorized DiSC practitioner and facilitator.
Our individual roles weren’t identical. What matters today is what those experiences taught us together: how to create structure without controlling an outcome, listen carefully, make room for different perspectives and help people apply an idea rather than simply hear it.
Cancer has given those lessons an entirely different context.
Today, we bring two perspectives shaped by the same cancer experience, with more still being learned along the way.
How We Approach This Work
We don’t believe having lived through something gives us authority over someone else’s life.
We aren’t doctors, therapists or counselors. We don’t interpret medical information, recommend treatments or tell people which decision they should make.
What we can do is share what has happened to us, create thoughtful ways for people to consider their own experiences, introduce useful frameworks, and facilitate conversations where different perspectives can be heard.
That philosophy guides everything we create at Life Between Scans, from conversations and Practical Guides to Reflections and Workshops.
We share experiences, not prescriptions.
Because the goal isn’t to help people make the decisions we made.
It’s to help them consider the decisions that are right for their lives.
MEET MILO
Our AI thought partner.
Milo works behind the scenes, helping us preserve, connect, and organize the lived experience we capture through conversations, stories, and resources.
Milo helps us connect what we're learning so useful experiences, stories, resources, and conversations are easier to find and build upon.
Scott and Patty remain responsible for all decisions and content.
Continue Our Story
Want to know how Life Between Scans began?
Our first Foundation Series conversation shares the conversation we couldn’t find, what we learned from the people who helped us, and why we decided to create Life Between Scans.