Why It Matters — memios

The case for cancer exercise

The evidence is settled. The gap is not.

Over 2,800 randomized controlled trials prove that structured exercise changes cancer outcomes. Fatigue drops. Hearts are protected. Muscle is preserved. Depression lifts. Survival improves. And yet only 15% of cancer patients ever receive an exercise referral. That gap is why memios exists.

Scroll to explore the evidence

2,800+

Peer-reviewed randomized controlled trials documenting exercise benefits for cancer patients

15%

Of cancer patients who currently receive an exercise referral — despite universal clinical guidelines

18M+

Cancer survivors living in the United States today — most without structured exercise support

The foundation

Why this matters

"For decades, cancer patients were told to rest. To protect. To conserve their energy. The science has proven that instinct wrong — and the consequences of ignoring it have been enormous."

Cancer treatment is one of the greatest physical and emotional challenges a human being can face. Chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, and hormone therapy are powerful medicines. They are also devastating to the body. Fatigue that does not lift. Muscle that wastes away. Hearts damaged by the drugs meant to save a life. Minds clouded by the very treatment fighting for clarity.

The instinct to rest in the face of that devastation is understandable. It is also wrong.

Over 2,800 randomized controlled trials — a body of evidence as strong as anything in modern medicine — have documented what happens when cancer patients move. The results are consistent, significant, and in some cases, remarkable. Exercise reduces fatigue by up to 50 percent. It preserves the muscle mass that determines treatment tolerance. It protects the heart from cardiotoxic damage. It reduces depression and anxiety. It improves quality of life across every cancer type studied. And for breast, colorectal, and prostate cancer, it is now associated with reduced recurrence risk and improved survival.

This is not preliminary science. This is one of the most thoroughly documented findings in oncology. And it is not reaching patients. memios was built to change that.

2,800+

Randomized controlled trials. Dozens of cancer types. Multiple treatment regimens. Patients at every age and stage. The conclusion is the same across all of them: structured exercise produces measurable, clinically significant improvements in outcomes that matter to patients.

Section 02 — The Evidence

What happens when cancer patients move.

The following outcomes are not theoretical. They are documented in peer-reviewed literature endorsed by ASCO, ACSM, and the American Cancer Society.

Cancer-Related Fatigue

Fatigue affects 80% of patients in active treatment. It is the most common, most disabling, and most underaddressed side effect of cancer care. No pharmaceutical intervention matches what exercise produces.

Up to 50%

reduction in fatigue severity

Heart Protection

Many chemotherapy agents — anthracyclines, trastuzumab, checkpoint inhibitors — cause direct cardiac damage. Exercise during and after cardiotoxic treatment protects cardiovascular function and reduces long-term heart disease risk.

Significant

reduction in cardiotoxicity risk

Muscle Mass and Strength

Cancer treatment causes sarcopenia — dangerous muscle loss that worsens prognosis across multiple cancer types. Resistance training preserves and rebuilds lean mass, improving treatment tolerance and survival outcomes.

Preserved

lean body mass during treatment

Depression and Anxiety

Exercise reduces depression and anxiety in cancer patients with effectiveness comparable to therapy and medication. It also restores something no drug can: a patient's sense of agency and control over their own body and recovery.

Equal to therapy

for depression reduction in trials

Quality of Life

Across dozens of cancer types and treatment regimens, exercise consistently improves patient-reported quality of life. Patients who exercise feel better — physically, emotionally, and socially — during and after treatment.

Consistent

improvement across all cancers studied

Surgical Outcomes

Prehabilitation before cancer surgery reduces post-operative complications, shortens hospital stays, and accelerates return to function. The window between diagnosis and surgery is one of the most powerful opportunities to change outcomes.

Fewer

post-surgical complications documented

Treatment Completion

Patients who exercise are more likely to complete their full treatment course. Fewer dose reductions. Fewer treatment delays. Fewer hospitalizations during treatment. That matters directly for survival.

Higher

treatment completion rates in exercising patients

Cognitive Function

Chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment affects up to 75% of patients. Aerobic exercise is the most evidence-based intervention available for cancer-related cognitive decline — chemobrain. Movement protects the brain.

Best available

treatment for chemotherapy cognitive impairment

Recurrence Risk

For breast, colorectal, and prostate cancer, accumulating evidence links regular exercise in survivorship to reduced recurrence risk and improved disease-free survival. Movement may help keep the cancer from coming back.

Reduced

recurrence risk in key cancer types

Section 03 — Why memios Exists

Built from lived experience.

memios was founded by Andrew Wilson after his own melanoma diagnosis in 2022, his father's battle with Multiple Myeloma and Amyloidosis, and walking alongside his best friend through Stage IV Melanoma.

This is not a platform built in a boardroom by people who have never sat in an oncologist's office and wondered what they could do to fight back. It is built from the experience of knowing that something exists that could help — and watching the system fail to provide it.

The science was there. The guidelines were clear. The referrals were not happening. The infrastructure did not exist. The professionals were not trained and placed. The platform connecting all of it had not been built.

memios builds that infrastructure. For every patient who sits in a chair receiving chemotherapy right now and has never been told that exercise could help.

“

I had no idea exercise could help during chemotherapy. Nobody told me. I was just told to rest and take it easy. Within six weeks of starting the program, my fatigue scores had dropped in half. I was sleeping again. I was present for my family again.

Cancer Survivor, 54 — Breast Cancer, Stage II

90%

of oncologists say they need more knowledge to refer patients to exercise programs

162

US cities of 50,000+ residents with no exercise oncology program at all

85%

of cancer patients who never receive an exercise referral, despite universal guidelines

2010

Year ACSM published its first exercise guidelines for cancer survivors. 15 years later, the gap remains

Section 04 — The Infrastructure Gap

This is not a knowledge problem.
It is an infrastructure problem.

The evidence has been clear since 2010. ASCO, ACSM, the American Cancer Society, and the American Heart Association all agree. Medical oncologists are on board in principle. The system is not delivering. Here is why — and how memios changes it.

The Current Reality

No standardized referral pathway from oncologist to exercise professional
No scalable training model for Cancer Exercise Specialists at the point of care
No platform connecting oncology care teams to certified exercise professionals
No systematic outcomes measurement that payers and hospitals can act on
No reimbursement structure to sustain exercise oncology programs over time
No EHR-integrated triage and screening tool at the point of care
162 American cities of 50,000+ residents with no program at all

The memios Solution

EHR-embedded referral pathways integrated with Epic and Cerner at the point of care
National certification program through CETI producing trained Cancer Exercise Specialists
SaaS platform connecting hospital programs, CES professionals, and patients in one system
Standardized outcomes measurement structured for payers, accreditation, and research
Cardiac rehabilitation billing optimization and reimbursement infrastructure for covered services
EXCEEDS triage algorithm embedded in EHR for systematic patient screening
Telehealth delivery extending access to rural and underserved populations nationwide

The gap between what science proves and what patients receive is not inevitable. It is a solvable infrastructure problem. memios solves it.

Section 05 — The memios Model

Four phases.
One continuous standard of care.

Most exercise oncology programs, where they exist at all, focus on a single point in the cancer journey. memios delivers structured exercise and holistic wellness support across all four phases — from the day of diagnosis through the rest of the patient's life.

Phase One

Prehabilitation

Structured exercise, nutrition, and psychological preparation before treatment or surgery begins. Patients who prehabilitate enter treatment stronger, tolerate it better, and recover faster. Even 2–3 weeks of prehab produces measurable benefit.

Phase Two

Active Treatment

Exercise during chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy, or hormone therapy — tailored to treatment type, schedule, and daily tolerance. The program adjusts for infusion days, nadir periods, and treatment-specific risks. The CES monitors vitals and communicates with the oncology team.

Phase Three

Post-Procedure Recovery

Structured rehabilitation beginning within 24 hours of surgery where appropriate. ERAS-compatible early mobilization. Condition-specific protocols for breast, prostate, colorectal, lung, and head and neck surgery. A discharge exercise plan before the patient leaves the hospital.

Phase Four

Long-Term Survivorship

Physical fitness, nutrition, mental wellness, sleep, stress management, spiritual wellbeing, and purpose — across the full remainder of life. Annual assessments. Evolving exercise prescription. The Longevity Letter. A community of survivors who understand the journey.

Section 06 — Clinical Outcomes Summary

The evidence, by outcome.

A summary of documented exercise oncology outcomes across cancer types and treatment phases. All findings are grounded in peer-reviewed literature cited by ACSM, ASCO, ACS, and AHA guidelines.

Outcome	Evidence Summary	Effect
Cancer-Related Fatigue	Most extensively studied outcome. Consistent reduction in fatigue severity across all cancer types. Exercise outperforms all pharmaceutical interventions studied.	Up to 50% reduction
Physical Function	Prevents deconditioning during treatment. Maintains ability to perform daily activities. PROMIS Physical Function scores improve significantly with structured exercise.	Significant improvement
Cardioprotection	Documented in cardiotoxic regimen patients. Cardiac rehab post-cardiotoxic treatment validated in RCT (Viamonte et al., 2023 — JAMA Cardiology). Peak VO2 improves.	Preserved LVEF and VO2
Muscle Mass (Sarcopenia)	Resistance training preserves and rebuilds lean body mass during treatment. Muscle mass at diagnosis independently predicts treatment toxicity and survival in multiple cancers.	Preserved lean mass
Depression	Consistent reduction in PHQ-9 scores across cancer populations. Effect size comparable to pharmacological and psychotherapeutic interventions. Restores sense of control and agency.	Comparable to medication
Anxiety	GAD-7 scores reduce with regular exercise. Particularly effective for pre-surgical anxiety and fear of recurrence in survivorship. Group exercise provides additional social benefit.	Significant reduction
Quality of Life	FACT-G and PROMIS Global Health scores improve across all cancer types and treatment phases. Most consistent finding in the exercise oncology literature.	Consistent improvement
Surgical Outcomes	Prehabilitation reduces post-operative complications, shortens length of stay, and accelerates return to function. CPET-based risk stratification identifies highest-benefit candidates.	Fewer complications, shorter LOS
Treatment Completion	Exercising patients experience fewer dose reductions and treatment delays. Improved treatment tolerability documented across chemotherapy regimens.	Higher completion rates
Cognitive Function	Aerobic exercise is the best-evidenced intervention for chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment (chemobrain). Neuroplasticity benefits documented in cancer survivor populations.	Best available treatment
Bone Health	Weight-bearing and resistance exercise preserve bone density during hormone therapies (ADT, aromatase inhibitors). Reduces fracture risk in long-term survivors.	Preserved bone density
Recurrence Risk	Breast, colorectal, and prostate cancer survivors meeting exercise guidelines show reduced recurrence risk and improved disease-free survival in observational and some interventional studies.	Reduced recurrence risk

Clinical guideline endorsement

Every major clinical authority agrees. The evidence has been sufficient for years.

The following organizations have each issued formal clinical guidelines recommending structured exercise for cancer patients. These guidelines are not suggestions. They are evidence-based standards of care. The gap between these guidelines and what patients actually receive is the problem memios solves.

ASCO 2022

ACSM 2019

American Cancer Society 2022

American Heart Association 2019

NAPBC 2024

APTA Guidelines

NCI NCORP

Program impact — documented outcomes

Cancer-related fatigue reduction 50%

Patients without current exercise referral 85%

Hillman Cancer Center referral rate (post-memios model) 45%

Oncologists needing more referral knowledge 90%

EXCEL study participant retention rate 80%

Section 07 — What memios Delivers

Closing the gap is not complicated. It requires infrastructure.

memios delivers the specific infrastructure elements that are absent from current cancer care delivery — and that clinical research has identified as necessary to scale exercise oncology to every patient who needs it.

⚕

EHR-Embedded Triage and Referral

The EXCEEDS algorithm built directly into Epic and Cerner clinical workflows. Exercise referrals triggered automatically at the right moment in care — requiring only 3-5 minutes of staff time per patient.

🎓

National Certification Infrastructure

Cancer Exercise Specialist certification through our CETI partnership. A growing national workforce of trained, credentialed professionals ready to practice at the hospital and community level.

📊

Outcomes Measurement at Scale

Standardized outcomes measurement across all four care phases. Payer-ready reports. Accreditation documentation. A growing national dataset that advances the field and supports reimbursement advocacy.

📱

Patient-Facing Technology

The memios mobile app delivers guided exercise, symptom tracking, telehealth sessions, and the Longevity Letter directly to patients — in-clinic, at home, or anywhere in between.

The science is settled.
The work is just beginning.

Every cancer patient deserves access to what these 2,800+ studies have proven. memios is building the infrastructure to make that possible — one hospital, one professional, one patient at a time.

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