A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out. – Walter Winchell
I really love this quote. Having cancer, serious, chronic, or rare illness is so isolating. Even if you have ample support from family and friends, nobody knows your situation like a peer does. It’s beyond comforting to join my thyroid cancer virtual support group and instead of explaining a symptom / side effect, I can just share what is going on, with reassuring nods, and validating comments.
At AnCan, support is personal. Our support group moderators are incredible people who sign up to help fellow peers just like them. They are here to celebrate the good days, mourn the bad days, and even fellowship during the blah days in-between. It’s not surprising that our people even gain deep, meaningful friendships.
Rick and I received this breathtaking photograph of our MS support group moderators Dan and Jennifer Digmann and Kim Stroeh meeting up together in Iowa. This makes our hearts so happy, and is really what AnCan is all about. Never being alone, in whatever you are facing. Our MS group is such a great example of community.
Thanks, Dan, Jennifer, and Kim for the smile today.
Here’s to friendships, and support wherever you are!
For information on our peer-led video chat MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS VIRTUAL SUPPORT GROUP, click here.
To SIGN UP for the Group or any other of our AnCan Virtual Support groups, visit our Contact Us page.
On June 29th, we hosted an exceptionally relevant webinar titled “Is Active Surveillance Safe for Black Men?”. Dr. Willie Underwood (Board Certified Urologist, Executive Director of Buffalo Center for Health Equity, and American Medical Association Board of Trustees member) and Anthony Henry (First Vice President of The Walnut Foundation) joined us for this important conversation.
Dr. Brandon Mahal was scheduled to join us, however he is actively volunteering at the Miami collapse area. Thank you Dr. Mahal for helping, and we hope to see you soon!
We want to sincerely thank Dr. Underwood and Anthony for answering questions, and providing their perspectives.
Watch this fascinating presentation here:
Special thanks to Myovant Sciences – Pfizer, Foundation Medicine, and Advanced Accelerator Applications for sponsoring this webinar.
Ritchie Johnson is in the dictionary for “turning pain into purpose“. She founded the Chris “CJ” Johnson Foundation in honor of her son Chris, with the goal of ending Renal Medullary Carcinoma. We are so humbled to have her as lead moderator for the RMC virtual support group.
It’s no surprise that Ritchie is very popular in the Kidney Cancer community, and is only getting more popular! She was invited to be on Good Morning America’s GMA3 to share her story and how she is actively helping the RMC community.
We’re also pleased to have Ritchie as a panelist for our upcoming webinar “Advocating for Rare Diseases” on June 30th. She’ll discuss her own advocacy journey, and you’ll hear from other amazing members of the Rare Disease community as well. (click image for pdf)
For information on our peer-led video chat RENAL MEDULLARY CARCINOMA VIRTUAL SUPPORT GROUP, click here.
To SIGN UP for the Group or any other of our AnCan Virtual Support groups, visit our Contact Us page.
AnCan and The Marsh (well renown, long-established theater company with a large following in the Bay Area and venues in San Francisco and Oakland) collaborateevery 4th Wednesday of the month for Solo Arts Heal! It just so happens to be the 4th Wednesday today, so be sure to check out a can’t miss SAH with The Marsh founder, Stephanie Weisman TONIGHT at 7:30 PT!
On May 26th, we had the pleasure of having Jimmy Greenfield!
Jimmy is a professional guitarist, singer and teacher from Washington, D.C. He has performed in many combinations as a soloist and bandleader in many different genres of music.
Jimmy performed jazz standards that are close to his heart. His mother exposed him to jazz daily from his earliest years. His fondest memories of her live on through these songs.
Watch this incredible performance here:
To SIGN UP for any of our AnCan Virtual Support group reminders, visit our Contact Us page.
On June 2nd, Dr. Michael Schweizer (Assistant Professor, Division of Medical Oncology University of Washington School of Medicine) spoke at our Active Surveillance Virtual Support Group with a presentation titled “Meds: A potential new path to keep men on AS?”
As a medical oncologist of the Fred Hutch Cancer Center in Seattle, he usually sees no patients on active surveillance for low- to favorable intermediate-risk prostate cancer. But this changed when he conducted a study of how apalutamide, a drug used in men with more advanced cancer, on men on AS.
Dr. Schweizer said: “My goal is to help reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with diseases like prostate cancer through developing novel drug therapies.” He plans to study the impact of other meds on men on AS to offer a new way of managing AS.
We want to thank Dr. Schweizer for answering questions!
Watch here:
To view the slides from this presentation, click here.
For information on our peer-led video chat ACTIVE SURVEILLANCE PROSTATE CANCER VIRTUAL SUPPORT GROUP, click here.
To SIGN UP for the Group or any other of our AnCan Virtual Support groups, visit our Contact Us page.
