Cancer Hope Network: talk with someone who’s been there.

Triage Cancer believes strongly in partnership. There are so many wonderful organizations in our community and today we are delighted to be highlighting the Cancer Hope Network. Cancer Hope Network provides one-on-one support for cancer patients and their loved ones. Because no one should face cancer alone.

***

After weeks (months!?) of tests and scans and sleepless nights spent worrying, the doctor sits across the desk from you, looks up from the chart on her desk and says, “Unfortunately, it’s cancer.”Cancer Hope Network

Your care team recommends a new treatment protocol. You’ve heard horror stories of the side effects it brings.

Your beloved spouse has reached an especially difficult point in their treatment. As a caregiver, you find yourself physically and emotionally exhausted.

More than 1.6 million new cases of cancer will be diagnosed this year. Millions more will be treated. If you’re reading this post, chances are, you’ve experienced a moment like the ones above. If you haven’t, your loved one has.

Getting a cancer diagnosis can be time-stopping, world-spinning, forcing you to make choices between treatment options, worrying about side effects and facing fears about the future. It is, as they say, a lot.

That’s where Cancer Hope Network comes in. For more than 30 years, CHN has trained cancer survivors and their caregivers as Support Volunteers. Our 400+ volunteers have faced more than 80 cancer types. They’ve completed courses of chemotherapy and rounds of radiation, helped pioneer treatments and medications as clinical trial participants, received stem cell transplants, faced bisections, ostomy bags and surgeries. They’ve battled the crippling fear of leaving their children alone and grappled with the heart-wrenching realization they may never have children of their own.

They’ve been caregivers like Anne, a retired school secretary with grandchildren in Alabama. She’s a bladder cancer survivor who cared for her beloved husband through his last days of his own fight with bladder cancer. She encourages patients to keep the faith, “They’re coming out with new research, new information and drugs every day.” She’s also a voice of reason, reminding caregivers “You have to call and get help…You’re a person. You’re a human. You simply cannot do it alone.”

Others are survivors like Karla, a 7-year stomach cancer survivor who found purpose in sharing the lessons she’s learned. “Now that I had learned to eat and survived, I wanted to help.”

Patients and loved ones may contact Cancer Hope Network by calling 877-HOPENET (877.467.3638) or visiting cancerhopenetwork.org.  They’ll work with a member of our Patient Services Team to connect with the Support Volunteer whose experience most closely mirrors their own.

Whatever the challenge, chances are a CHN Support Volunteer has faced it. They understand the fine balance between gratitude and the survivors’ guilt faced by the “lucky ones” who are here to talk about it. They’re working through the challenges of survivorship and cancer’s new normal – and are willing to share.

Support Volunteers’ passion is to lend a listening ear and supportive presence for others on cancer’s journey. Their commitment is that no one face cancer alone.

It’s a commitment that pays off with satisfied, encouraged patients. “If all your volunteers are like the one I spoke to, then you have exceptional people volunteering for you,” reads one patient survey. “That make the illness I'm going through easier to contend with!”

“My volunteer was very informative and eased my real fears about my CLL,” another recalls. “It was wonderful speaking with someone dealing with the same blood-related disease. His knowledge helped to calm my nerves.”

Patients and loved ones may contact Cancer Hope Network by calling 877-HOPENET (877.467.3638) or visiting cancerhopenetwork.org.  They’ll work with a member of our Patient Services Team to connect with the Support Volunteer whose experience most closely mirrors their own.

Similar Posts You May Like To Read:

    None Found

Triage Cancer
info@triagecancer.org