In Loving Memory of Erin Geddis Cummings, MSW, LCSW
(1957–2026)

Founder • Advocate • Mentor • Friend

Erin Geddis Cummings passed away in February 2026, leaving behind a global community of Hodgkin lymphoma survivors, caregivers, clinicians, and advocates who continue to feel her absence deeply. Erin was the steady light at the center of Hodgkin’s International–the organization she co-founded in 2016 and lovingly nurtured into a worldwide movement grounded in education, connection, and compassionate, whole-person care.

For more than 53 years, Erin lived as a Hodgkin lymphoma survivor. Her journey through the long-term effects of treatment shaped her life’s mission: to ensure that no survivor would ever again have to walk this path alone.

A Life of Advocacy, Education, and Unwavering Care

Erin’s personal experience with late effects—cardiac complications, subsequent cancers, and ultimately stomach cancer–became the catalyst for her leadership. She translated decades of lived experience into action, creating a platform that now serves thousands of survivors worldwide with evidence-informed information on screenings, late effects, and survivor-led guidance.

Through webinars, newsletters, resource guides, conferences, and countless one-on-one conversations, she taught survivors how to understand their health risks, ask better questions, and navigate complex care systems. Her background as a licensed clinical social worker infused everything she did with trauma-informed care, dignity, empowerment, and deep listening.

Erin’s vision culminated in the 2024 Hodgkin’s International Conference, where over 100 survivors, clinicians, and researchers came together in what many described as “the best conference I’ve ever attended” because survivor voices and values guided every moment.

What Erin Built

Thanks to Erin’s extraordinary leadership:

• Hodgkin’s International became a global hub for long-term survivor education and late-effects awareness.
• Hodgkin’s International connected survivors across continents, helping reduce isolation and giving voice to a population long overlooked.
• The Hodgkin’s International newsletter grew to reach over 900 survivors worldwide, offering knowledge, research updates, and hope.
• Erin amplified survivor needs in national conversations through partnerships with organizations including Cancer Nation (formerly NCCS) and the CPAT program.
• Survivorship education became more accessible, humane, and patient-centered because of her tireless commitment.

Most of all, she built community. Hodgkin’s International’s strength today is her legacy.

Few individuals transform a field as profoundly as Erin transformed long-term survivorship.

Her life’s work–rooted in compassion, science, and fierce dedication–will continue to uplift survivors worldwide for generations to come.

Erin’s legacy is not only in what she built, but in the thousands of people who now feel less alone, more informed, and more empowered because she lived.

We carry her forward.
We remain steady.
We remain together.