We’ll help you cope with cancer through friendship (From Worcester News)

We’ll help you cope with cancer through friendship

10:40am Wednesday 22nd February 2012 in James Connell

FIGHTING breast cancer is hard, but a group which has been running for nearly a quarter of a century is there to make sure no one has to battle the disease alone.

Women and men who are diagnosed with breast cancer can feel isolated and frustrated. After gruelling chemo and radiotherapy, they can be forgiven for wanting to give up the fight.

Family and friends can also find it difficult, fearing the loss of the man or woman – the mother or father, the sister or brother, the wife or husband that they love.

At the same time, they may be afraid to speak of their own problems and anxieties, feeling that it is selfish to talk about it when someone they care for may be facing a fight for their lives.

However, the Worcester Breast Cancer Support Group, also called the Worcester Breast Care Support Group, has been helping people face these challenges for the last 22 years and shows no signs of running out of steam.

Group chairman Cherry Robinson, aged 67, of Osier Close, off Bath Road, Worcester, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997 and again in September 2008.

She finished another seven months of chemotherapy last month after battling secondary cancers in her lungs, liver and spine.

She said: “It is the third time I have had cancer in a sense but, at the moment, everything is looking good. This group has given me something to focus on.

“The people who come, the new ones, think, ‘Gosh, if you can do it, why can’t I?’ When I had nine weeks of gruelling chemotherapy and I was really poorly I thought, ‘I want to give up’.

“I got a couple of weeks break from the chemo and I thought, ‘Hang on, this is not going to beat me – I’m going to beat it’.

“I have made some really good friends in the breast group that you know you can talk to. They come along and see all these people have had breast cancer and realise that they’re not the only one.”

The group is not just for women either. Although the majority of people who get breast cancer are women, it can affect men too and there have been men who have come to the Worcester meetings.

The group is also there to support families and friends of people with breast cancer, not just the patients themselves.

Mrs Robinson said: “I think it can be harder for family and friends.

The person with breast cancer knows how they’re coping with it.

It’s difficult for the rest of the family to be able to cope.

“I don’t think people realise. I always turn around and say to them, ‘How are you?’ They’re not always coping very well.

“We feel like we are putting something back in after having so much out. The oncology staff are absolutely brilliant.

“There’s really only one criteria for joining the group and that is a sense of humour. There’s no two ways about it, that’s why some people keep coming back.”

Valerie Carter, aged 72, of Ivy Lane, Fernhill Heath, Worcester, battled breast cancer in 2001 and 2005. She said: “The nurses come so if we have any real problems we can get in touch with them. But it’s also about the social side of it.

You’re not on your own.

“I felt a bit timid when I first came along but everyone was so friendly that it put me at ease. I have also made a lot of friends after my husband died two years ago and the group has also helped me in that way.”

WE’RE ON YOUR SIDE

THE group meets at St Andrew’s Methodist Church, Pump Street, Worcester, on the second Tuesday of every month from 2pm to 4pm.

There is no formal membership, people just go along as and when they feel like it. Some people come regularly and others just a few times. The group has has regular speakers. The motto of the group is “keep smiling”.

FUNDRAISING WORK:

􀁥􀁥 Tattooing gun (creates nippleshaped tattoos after women have had breast surgery so they are more comfortable with their appearance): The group paid for the gun in 2007 at a cost of £400 and also funds the £900 a year running costs (including needles and dyes).

􀁥􀁥 Worcestershire Breast Unit Campaign: The group has been involved in the campaign to create a dedicated breast unit at 220 Newtown Road on the site of Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester. It has raised £20,000 for creating the Jacqui Heal Room within the unit which would allow patients to be told any bad news with their privacy and dignity preserved. Mrs Heal was a well-respected and popular breast care nurse who worked at the old Worcester Royal Infirmary.

􀁥􀁥 The group is also raising money for a prosthesis room for women after they have had a mastectomy.

It would replace the one at the hospital which lacks the privacy that patients and staff would like.

• To download the donation form click the link below.
breastcampaignform.pdf