Narrator: This is Science Today. Hope and determination are key factors when it comes to surviving a serious illness. Dr. Ernest Rosenbaum, an oncologist at the University of California, San Francisco, has done a lot of research on the will to live.

Rosenbaum: The bottom line is that we are all going to face crises in life. Major illnesses, major problems and it's how we deal with these problems that we can affect the outcome. The outcome should be hopefully, a better quality of life. Survival, or prolonged survival or cure. But you can't get to those levels until you take care of your inner fears, your anger, your isolation, your denial of problems.

Narrator: Rosenbaum says patients who can do this, can increase their chances of survival and improve quality of life.

Rosenbaum: You can be angry about being ill, but that's an event in life. Cancer occurs. Heart attacks occur. How you deal with them that gives you the best chance of getting something out of life and quality of life.

Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.