Older colon cancer patients are not completing the recommended course of chemotherapy treatment, and a new study suggests it might be because there is a need for social and physical support not currently offered to the elderly. In addition, other factors attributed to these patients dropping out of treatment are physical frailty and treatment complications. Chemotherapy is no walk in the park at any age, but if you are elderly, and do not have strong social support or someone to help you physically as needed to tend to the daily tasks of life, getting through treatment must be a horribly lonely and hopeless experience. Research indicates that patients who completed chemotherapy had a reduced risk of death. The authors of this study recommend interventions to improve social and physical support throughout the treatment course could be implemented to test whether such support improves rates of chemotherapy completion in elderly colon cancer patients. From a simply compassionate and common sense point of view, it should be obvious that we need to be there for the elderly citizens in our community in every way they need us to be there -- especially if they are struggling through cancer treatment.