CancerCare welcomes you to participate in our upcoming CancerCare Connect® Education Workshops. These one-hour telephone and webcast workshops are a cost-free way to learn about cancer-related issues from the convenience of your home or office. Leading experts in oncology provide the most up-to-date information via phone and online.
Please feel free to forward to friends, family, partners, caregivers, colleagues, health care professionals and anyone affected by cancer.
For more information and to register, please visit www.cancercare.org/connect or email connect@cancercare.org. Health care professionals: please contact us with your name, address, and license type for additional information regarding continuing education credits. Requests must be received within two weeks of the live program.
One of the video chat, virtual groups our factotum Board Chair, Peter Kafka, moderates, is a men-only, pan-cancer meeting on the island of Maui (& Malakai), where he lives fulltime. His recent reminder for tonight’s meeting makes worrisome reading and includes helpful advice ……
Aloha! ……. once again our local hospital is in the news due to very recent incidents of Covid-19 infections among some patients and staff. I don’t mention this to cause alarm, but rather to caution those of us who must out of necessity use the facilities of the hospital for treatment. I found myself at the hospital for the administration of an injection on the very morning when this “outbreak” was first reported last week. Of course it made me a little uncomfortable, but what to do? Those of us with cancer, and particularly those of us undergoing treatment find ourselves in the “most vulnerable” category when it comes to exposure to Covid-19. I suspect that many of you are paying particular attention to ways that you can stay safe. It turns out that there might be some things we can do.
When I was undergoing chemo infusions every three weeks at the Cancer Center I would don a disposable tyvek painter’s suit that I picked up inexpensively at the hardware store. I would step into this suit in the hospital parking lot and when I was done with my 4 hour protocol I would remove the suit and toss it. This would save me the hassle of thinking I needed to change out of my clothes right away and wash them. Of course it might not have done any good, but it did give me peace of mind that I was taking some kind of additional protection other than wearing a mask and disposable gloves.
Another thing that I read about recently is the benefit of an annual flu vaccine. I think there has been a study or two about the lower incidence of more serious incidence, side effects and death among some European populations who stayed up to date with their annual flu vaccines. I know that Covid-19 is a different beast than the annual flu, but there might be some benefit to keeping up protection to the flu that strengthens our immune system in regards to Covid-19. Don’t quote me on this theory, but since my cancer diagnosis some 6 + years ago I have made it a point to keep up with annual flu shots and pneumonia vaccines since I knew my immune system was compromised. You may have noticed that all the drug stores and supermarkets are now advertising that the “walk in” flu shots are available for this year. No need to see a doctor or clinic.
One of the ways that we tend to let our guard down is by thinking that there is no one that we know of that has caught Covid-19, been sick or in the worst case scenario has died from this disease. I know I have caught myself getting a little careless because of this way of thinking. But I remind myself that one of our regular participants on these bi-monthly calls got caught up in the first Maui Memorial Hospital outbreak last March when he unwittingly had to go to the hospital for treatment related to his cancer diagnosis. He did contract the virus and subsequently died very shortly afterwards.
So, again I am not telling you this to cause alarm. Just take some extra precautions. I am certainly not saying you should stay away from doctors or the hospital. I, myself have to utilize the hospital facilities several times a month and also get blood drawn at a local lab quite frequently. I am not going to skip out on my cancer treatment protocol. But I am going to take whatever steps I can to protect myself.
None of us need feel like we are alone on this journey! Remember that Information is Power and the more information we share about our experience – the more powerful we are and we no longer feel like victims of our circumstance but masters of them instead.
One of our earliest, and certainly most enduring, non-prostate cancer moderators has been nationally recognized caregiver advocate, Renata Louwers. In barely 12 months, if that, Renata lost her first husband, Ahmad, to bladder cancer back in 2014. Since that time she has tirelessly campaigned to establish the Caregiver perspective on the medical radar; not to mention all the fundraising she has done for BCAN and bladder cancer …. G-d Bless Her!
This past week Health Union published the second part of an article Renata wrote for their Bladder Cancer Page – both parts are linked below. And no, they are not specifically about bladder cancer but more about her experience of being a peer moderator for a videochat virtual group that AnCan runs for Advanced Cancer Caregivers.
The easiest way to find more of Renata’s articles …. and there are so many excellent ones, especially for The Philadelphia Inquirer, is to google ‘Renata Louwers, medical journalist‘; do it and you’ll have no regrets!
AnCan’s heartbeat thrives on helping peers; it races when our Volunteers, our lifeblood, find satisfaction in the work they perform for us at AnCan. We love our volunteers; we especially love you, Renata xox
To receive reminders for our Advanced Cancer Caregivers Group, or any others that are all free & drop-in, click here.
AnCan has partnered with the Male Breast Cancer Coalition for a couple of years or more now. We hold a successful monthly group and are expanding. For us at AnCan, we view male breast cancer as a rare disease. While its research may not be as underfunded as other rare conditions, there are only arond 3,000 men diagnosed in the US annually. Our virtual groups alow them to get together.
First we are adding a US-based discussion group – the current group is largely used for presentations. Called MBCC – Open Mic, it will launch on July 22 and allow men living with breast cancer to get together to chat about their condition.
And AnCan along with MBCC, DeMontfort University and Walk the Walk ( a large UK BCa charity) will launch a UK/EU/Africa video chat virtual support group in October. Its lead moderator is Doug Harper, and you’ll find him singing with his band about self examination in the video above. If you want to see Doug performing the song live, click here.
Just a little over a year ago, our beloved gene expert and Board Member, Professor Bill Burhans, delivered a webinar we called Cancer Genetics 101. While Professor Bill is sadly no longer with us, two other good AnCan friends, Dr. Eli Van Allen and Dr. Corrie Painter Ph.D delivered their equally good take on the same content late last month sponsored by Cancer Research Institute, the historical research home of immunotherapy.
I have to admit, many of the questions were way more sophisticated than we produced. And in their inimitable fashions, both Eli and Corrie dumbed down teh answers to make them very intelligible for the many – but not all – lay particpants.
This webinar is definitley worth bookmarking for future reference.
Trevor Maxwell is a remarkable man. A young colorectal cancer survivor, he and Joe Bullock, another colorectal cancer survior, have formed Man Up To Cancer. This is a safe and suportive space for male surviors to speak about their condition.
Trevor comes to AnCan via our good friend at Inspire, John Novack, and also through our prostate cancer participant, Russ Smith who is active in Man Up To Cancer. Trevor’s recent video essay on situation is touching and piercing at the same time. Here is what he writes:
6.24.20
“When the storm of cancer hits, you need protection. Something to shield and strengthen you. My shield is an oak tree.”
This short film on YouTube (4 min) was produced and edited by my talented friend, Roger McCord. With stunning footage taken from ground level and from high above the coastline, the film captures the heartache and hope of my cancer journey.
