Support Happenings

Our 2010 Celebration of Life Luncheon to honor our cancer survivors was on June 6th, 2010, National Cancer Survivors Day, at the Signature Grand. It was a wonderful event. Over 225 guests were in attendance and a good time was had by all. Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz was our guest speaker and we were blessed to have her speak to our group from two viewpoints, one as a cancer survivor (breast cancer) and two as a member of Congress, who has been instrumental in the crafting and passage of our health care legislation. Our survivors and their loved ones listened intently to her heartfelt speech, which was packed with positive and hopeful messages.

The festivities continued with the recognition of our “2010 Cancer Survivor of the Year,” Mrs. Addie Berger, who is also a volunteer in the reception area of the second floor of the cancer center. She is one of the friendly volunteers who greet the patients coming in for chemotherapy or infusion every week.

Other happenings include our third annual “Hope Relay for Life” event, which we did in partnership with the American Cancer Society, held at Christ Church in Fort Lauderdale on May 21st and 22nd. It was a success. We continue to offer support groups weekly to our survivors along with our monthly Look Good Feel Better Program, another ACS Signature Program. Our next edition of our Cancer Survivorship e-newsletter will be coming out soon so I want to encourage you to send us your email so you can be included in our mass email list. You don’t want to miss out on the happenings around here!!!

June is a month to celebrate our survivorship and our men. Happy Father’s Day!!!

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I Can Cope & Survivorship E-Newsletter

We held our biannual “I Can Cope” program on Saturday, April 17th and were pleased with the number of patients and families that attended such a program for the first time. It is always interesting to me who shows up for these programs. “I Can Cope” is a free program, which is offered to all but is especially geared to patients, who are newly diagnosed with cancer. Yes, the day is long and packed with wonderful speakers and I always worry that patients may not be able to sit through such a long period. The other side of the coin, though, is having the sessions over a number of weeks, which can also be challenging to the patients who want to attend all the sessions but cannot guarantee that they will be feeling well enough to do so over time. We had over 30 participants in attendance and our speakers, which included Drs. David Drew and Lav Goyal, were exceptional in their discussions about cancer and its treatment ranging from surgery, chemotherapy, hormonal and radiation. Dr. Alexander Kushch, Licensed Psychologist, held the audience’s attention as he elaborated on how the mind handles complex aspects of life while helping us to cope with life’s challenges. Other speakers addressed issues such as nutrition, acupuncture, estate and health care planning and sexuality and cancer.

There are always some wonderful activities going on at the Bienes Comprehensive Cancer Center as evident in these blogs and we still have much more to offer. Our next major activity involving our survivors will be the third annual “Hope Relay for Life” event, which we do in partnership with the American Cancer Society. The date is May 21st to May 22nd and it will be held at Christ Church in Fort Lauderdale. Our survivorship newsletter, which we will be sending to our readers via email, is now available so we are inviting you to send us your email addresses so you can get a copy of this and upcoming enewsletters every quarter. We would like to highlight survivors’ stories, poems, quotations and words of wisdom so be sure to write to me. I look forward to hearing from all of you.

Did you know that in the month of May we focus on: Women’s Health/Cancer Awareness (May 9th, Mother’s Day), National Women’s Health (May 9th to 15th), Skin Cancer Detection and Prevention, Cancer Research, as well as the World No Tobacco Day (May 31st)?

Happy Mother’s Day!!!

Tags: american cancer society, cancer survivorship, hope relay for life, i can cope, survivorship
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Early Detection & Survivorship

March is national Colorectal Cancer month so I want to urge everyone age 50 and older to make sure they get a screening colonoscopy and follow-up screenings as indicated. This is easier said than done, I know, because of the sensitive nature of the examination. Nonetheless, we do it because it helps us to find polyps earlier, which increases survivorship, rather than later. In fact, if a polyp is found early, it can be removed before it even becomes cancerous. What good news that is! We must continue to focus on survivorship but more importantly quality survivorship. That means getting routine screenings for breast and cervical cancer, colon cancer, and prostate cancer since these cancers have clearly been shown to have early detection measures. In addition, we can reduce our risk factors for certain cancers by improving our lifestyle such as increasing our physical activity, nutritional intake, and decreasing our stress levels. Other helpful habits include not smoking and limiting our alcohol intake. Survivorship is great, prevention is even better.

As a survivor, there are also many opportunities available to you to learn more about your disease, treatment, and support services. One such collaborative effort to increase your knowledge about cancer care is being provided on Saturday, March 27th by Holy Cross Hospital, The Michael and Dianne Bienes Comprehensive Cancer Center and Syncure Research Cancer Research Foundation. Our other upcoming events are our Look Good Feel Better Program, which is held ever third Monday of each month. We are also offering our Spring “I Can Cope” educational cancer program on Saturday, April 17th and you must register in advance to attend this special program. In partnership with the American Cancer Society, Holy Cross Hospital is also holding its third annual “Hope Relay for Life” event. The Hope Relay for Life, an overnight fund-raising event, will be held May 21st to May 22nd at Christ Church this year. Please join us at these wonderful events and be an active partner in understanding your disease and its treatment, learn more about what you can do to take care of your health, or simply contribute to these worthwhile events.

Bienes Comprehensive Cancer Center continues to offer several cancer support groups to meet the needs of our patients and families/caregivers. We also offer weekly and seasonal (around the holidays) bereavement support groups. Write us and let us know what you think about these programs.

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Pearls Of Wisdom

In my first blog in 2010, I am once again turning my attention to the very important topic of survivorship. Although I did not get any survivorship stories from my bloggers out there in “blog land,” I went on my own search for them because I know there is great strength in the telling of one’s story and the effect it has on another survivor could be profound and enlightening. Survivorship remains an important concept in cancer care because after all it is the aim of early diagnosis and treatment – improved prognosis for survival. I wanted to know 1) the survivor’s diagnosis and date of diagnosis; 2) what important lesson was learned along the journey; and 3) what pearls of wisdom would you share with patients, who are newly-diagnosed with cancer. Here are a couple of stories from survivors I interviewed:

Maria said, “I was diagnosed in 1998 with Stage One Breast cancer and chose to have mastectomy to be sure of clear margins. Along the way, I learnt that when you are hit with challenges in your health, you can find strength in everyone around you. My pearls of wisdom are that one must sort through one’s life and the things that are important and to overcome those hurdles of fear, denial, anger, depression, acceptance in order to move forward. Make everyday of your life count because life is too short not to enjoy it.”

Vickey indicated she was diagnosed with two different cancers, in 1981 with squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva and in 1992 with breast cancer. She went on to say that along the way she learnt the value of having close family and friends to accompany her to the doctors and take notes. “I gathered the information and opinions from professionals, not rumors, and then decided for myself about what was best for me. My pearls of wisdom are to take time to make your own decisions about your treatment and survivorship – the cancer did not occur overnight.”

I thank the survivors for their stories because often we hear the word “cancer” and we don’t always equate it with survivorship. So as we begin the 2010, I want to challenge you to think about life and how we can make the most of our lives as Maria said. I hope you all had a wonderful Hanukkah or Christmas and for those of you still celebrating Kwanzaa, have a wonderful Kwanzaa celebration. I wish you all a Happy New Year. Be safe and come back with more stories to celebrate life.

Tags: cancer survivors, cancer survivorship, survivorship
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