Everything changed for Craig Edwards at the end of 2021. Edwards, a worldwide technologist at Amazon, was diagnosed with invasive squamous cell carcinoma—a type of head and neck cancer that is difficult to treat given how sensitive the tissue is in that part of the body.

Once a pillar of health who spent his evenings with his partner Stephanie, their 2-year-old daughter, and their dog, Edwards was now spending his time poring over health care paperwork. Instead of focusing on how to unravel a challenging customer request for Amazon Web Services (AWS), Edwards was on the phone with doctors.

Through it all, Amazon’s support for Edwards never wavered.

“I received so much support from my teammates and friends at Amazon,” Edwards says. “It was times that I'd have to just lay on the floor and take a nap, because what cancer treatment is, is they're trying to kill the cancer cells, but in the process, they're killing you. … I had my boss send soup to my house. You know, my teammates would send food to my house so that my family didn't have to cook and worry about stuff. So I really received an overwhelming amount of support.”

Edwards has been cancer-free since June 2023 after he had a complete response to targeted immunotherapy. After two doses of immunotherapy and six total weeks of treatment, Edwards said doctors found no more cancer in his body.

“With Amazon's benefits, I was able to see the best doctors in the world and find an alternative solution,” Edwards says. “Unfortunately, immunotherapy is extremely expensive. If I wasn't working for Amazon at the time that this happened, it probably wouldn't have gone the way that it did.

"Amazon helped save my life.”

Craig Edwards shows off a huge grin to the camera.

Craig Edwards shows off a huge smile after an appointment at the David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center on June 8, 2023, in New York.

Amazon signed the Working with Cancer pledge to signify a continued commitment to providing a supportive workplace culture for employees with cancer. That includes providing leading health care benefits and a dedication to fostering compassion in managers and leaders across the company. A supportive work culture is just one way Amazon employees feel supported amid cancer diagnosis, treatment, and recovery.

Keep reading to learn how Amazon supports employees and their family members affected by cancer.

CARES program for employees with cancer

Amazon has a team solely dedicated to helping navigate work, care, benefits, and resources amid cancer diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. The Amazon Cancer Advocacy, Resources, Education, and Support (CARES) program provides high-touch, one-to-one support for employees—including hourly employees—and employee family members who have been diagnosed with cancer.

The CARES program is designed to alleviate employees’ stress related to working while sick and to help with accessing the best possible care, benefits management, health system navigation, appointment scheduling, paperwork, and more. In addition to helping with medical-related needs, CARES case managers can help employees with conversations about cancer diagnosis with managers, Amazon leaders, and human resources (HR) as needed. CARES also provides resources to colleagues of those who have become sick, providing advice on how to best support them.

Any Amazon employee or their family members can work with a CARES case manager, regardless of the employee’s job function or if they are full- or part-time, enrolled in a medical plan through Amazon or not.

Craig Edwards and his partner, Stephanie, are shown standing outside while looking at Edwards's phone. They both express relief after receiving a notification of Edwards being cancer-free.

Edwards called his mother outside the hospital with his partner, Stephanie, after a check up on the progress of immunotherapy treatments for his throat cancer yielded good news: There were no detectable traces of cancer in his throat. Edwards will continue immunotherapy treatments for two more years.

Access to 2nd.MD for employees and families

Amazon also partners with 2nd.MD to provide employees and their families access to a network of expert medical specialists to review new or existing diagnoses and treatment plans. Through this partnership, employees and family members can connect with 2nd.MD upon receiving a cancer diagnosis, to get help understanding treatment choices and the type of cancer and receive support in preparing for a doctor’s visit.

In addition to cancer-related support, Amazon offers many employees a comprehensive benefits package, which includes health insurance from an employee’s first day on the job, a 401(k) plan with a company match, up to 20 weeks of paid leave for birthing parents, free mental health support, access to subsidized skills training opportunities, and more.

Amazon employee benefits vary based on factors like work location, scheduled work hours, length of employment, and employee type (e.g., seasonal or temporary).