CINCINNATI — An Ohio doctor and a cancer survivor are sending a warning this holiday season to traveling families that sickness can travel along with them.

What You Need To Know

  • Doctors say this time of year is when they see more respiratory and food borne illnesses that holiday travelers come back with

  • They warn to stay home if you're feeling symptoms, wear a mask and are reminding families of the basics like hand washing

  • One cancer survivor says a simple illness can be life threatening while going through treatment and is reminding families to consider them when traveling

For Krista Powers, the holidays are an emotional time of year.

“I kind of cycle between angry and frustrated and disappointed," she said.

It's because, for the last year, she couldn’t see a lot of her family.

“I thought, 'oh, I'd be better this Christmas, you know, and be ready and be done with with all of it and that's not the case,'" Powers said. 

She was diagnosed with breast cancer and went through extensive chemotherapy treatments and surgeries. She said that means even a simple cold or flu could've been life threatening.

“My energy, my bandwidth, the over stimulation of my senses, just in the midst of being in treatment was pretty significant and then, of course, just being exposed to so many germs and ailments," she said. 

In fact, this time around the holidays—when families are traveling along with germs—is when doctors say people are getting sick more often.

“We see a lot of respiratory illnesses at this time, but also sometimes a little more seriously because people are eating a little bit differently than they normally do," said Dr. Estrelita Dixon, general medicine director at UC Health in Cincinnati. "So sometimes problems with heart failure, some problems with pneumonia, all of those type of things, too."

That's why she's sending a warning before you go to grandma’s house this Christmas.

"I personally usually wear a mask at the airport, for instance, and if you're someone who's sick, then it would be either to stay at home or at least to wear a mask so that you don't infect other people," Dixon said. 

That’s how Powers said she’ll be traveling after she made a full recovery, but she’s still careful that she doesn’t get sick over the holidays.

“I feel incredibly grateful, you know, in the midst of like, all those kind of, heavy sort of feelings about it all, there is this this light and this this hope and this gratitude that I am here," she said.