Central Support Groups


`Bear	Cheryl96	Adina

Pruners	Heather	Patt

Woody	Fuzzness	KarenCee1

askhokcvs	mary113	Mick

`Bear

My name is Ron Herman, I first came to #cancer-survivors in 1994, when my five year old son had leukemia. I was lost, bitter, and not coping with the illness at all and soon after my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. The people here helped me put my life back together and I have been actively involved in cancer support both online and in person. My son is now 20 6’4” 320 lbs and cancer free. My mom has fought cancer and won. One of my aunts recently passed away with lung cancer. I have another Aunt who had breast cancer and she is a survivor.
I am totally disabled and retired now at the age of 49 with a terrible back and severe chronic pain. I have several friends battling cancer. The people are still good support for me now because some of them have been there. If you haven’t had cancer or been a caretaker of a loved one with cancer you really don’t know. I’ve found. the same is true with chronic pain. People are sympathetic but do not understand and in these support groups people do understand and have been there. I have had the opportunity to meet some wonderful friends over the years. Cancer support is a big part of my life and I don’t see that changing. I used to do a lot of hunting and fishing, but haven’t been able to do much for the last 6 years. My main hobby is building and repairing Computers. I am a self taught computer specialist and basically work on them to stay active in our donation program and of course helping family and friends. I give free technical support to all cancer patients, and is some cases if their computer fails we send them one for free if they can’t afford it. We do get computers and parts donated to us pretty often allowing us to help cancer patients get back online with cancer support, and emailing family and friends and everything else that they do on a computer. We also donate computers to Single moms and dads with kids in school, students, and elderly people who can't afford one. We also keep a few good monitors around just to keep them out of landfill and give them to anyone who needs them. Sometimes we even have LED's. It has become a domain project now and there are many participants. It's just become a group of people doing what they can cause they can and has been a lot of fun and rewarding for everyone. Then when they can afford something better they keep the donated machine for a backup. I have a wonderful and supportive family.

bear_hunter@yahoo.com

Cheryl96

Hi! I am Cheryl, age 54. I was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer with brain mets in 9/02.
I had gamma knife treatment for brain mets and chemo for lung cancer and, so far, have beat all the odds for survival. Hubby says it is because I was too stubborn to leave our daughter!
I am a crazy knitter! Also make porcelain dolls, sew and am learning quilting. I read excessively and listen to audio books while I do boring household chores. I love roses and at last count, had 80 rose bushes, from the tiniest in existence (Si) to an old climber that has covered 80 feet!
I have two dogs and a cat (cat would not sit still for a picture)!
My husband, John, and my daughter, Alex, are my caregivers and my strength. Cancer Survivors has added many caring people to my support network. I thank them for the support and the love and the friendships that have kept me going through all the trying times.

ct_pete@yahoo.com

Adina

I'm a friend in the room and help with it. I'm 54 and have been in the health field for at least 30 years, had two aunts that died of cancer and have a girlfriend who is more a sister to me than my real sisters who survived cancer just last year. I'm always around at some periods during the day to talk to and give support.

insquaw@hotmail.com

Pruners

I'm Prune, grateful survivor of cancer [testicular, in 1996], and also caregived for my mother for 13 yrs, the last 7 in a wheelchair. If you have cancer, I'd say you haven't finished all the book of life until you've read the last page. If you are a caregiver, you are earning a blessing for yourself that no one can ever take away from you. I am a dear friend to the sick and merciless to those who abandon the old. My realname is Charles

Patt

The Great Survivors

I sit before the key board, and reach into cyberspace,
I see out stretched before me, a web of silken lace
Dancing on the silken threads are an angel multitude,
reaching out and drawing near the heartstrings of our crew.
We are the great survivors, we gather every day.
We dance the threads of the silken web, and show those new the way
We share a bond no others can, of trouble, pain and sorrow,
and some of us may never see the dawning of tomorrow.
But today we are survivors, we'll lend our helping hand.
Against all odds ,with faith and love, we will make our stand.
So join us all you troubled souls,let the angels be your guide,
for we will sit and hold your hands, your hearts your troubled pride.
We are the great survivors, we know and share your pain.
The seed of love we plant today, will in your heart remain

Fuzzness

Hi, I'm Joel. I'm from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. I am in the process of moving to Cleveland, Georgia. I was a caregiver for my father who had lung cancer, and passed away in 2001. My fiance, KarenCee, is a caregiver to her mother who has stage 4 breast cancer that spread to lungs and bones. I am a huge sports fan, will talk about any sport out there. My hobbies are fishing and aviation. I am an avid flight simmer. Hope to see you around!

joel@jpothier.net

KarenCee1

Hey...I am Karen from Cleveland, Georgia...home of the famous Cabbage Patch Dolls. I am the caregiver to my mom who has Stage 4 breast mets to lungs and bones. I have a 6 yo daughter named Anna. My fiancé is Fuzzness (Joel) who is from Nova Scotia. He is moving down here and we're getting married some time next year. His dad passed from lung cancer in October 2001. I love ice hockey, nascar, hiking along the Appalachian Trail, fishing (at least, I will when Joel teaches me how), and doing anything with Joel and Anna. As for being here, I want to give back some of what I've gotten...support and friendship. I don't know what I would do without my "family" here.

kpothier@windstream.net

Woody

I was born a poor white child.. (ooops wrong story) LOL Any way Growing up.. I would have to say I was the perfect picture of health. Of course the normal childhood diseases. But nothing more. I noticed a lump on the side of my neck maybe around 2002 or so, and kind of blew it off as an impacted saliva gland.. Figured it would go away. In early 2003, my mother went to give me a hug, and noticed the lump, and of course as most mothers are, she insisted that I have it checked out. In April of 2003, I had my first doctor's appointment. What a waste of my time that was. The doc just poked and prodded the lump, and then said.. I DONT KNOW.. LOL Imagine that. I went to another doc, and h! e seemed a little more concerned, and told me he would like me to have it biopsied. At this point, I wasn't worried. Heck, I had never been sick a day in my life. The Biopsy was performed on a Friday, and on Monday morning I received the call. The doc just said well yes Dave, you have cancer, you need to come back in. Then he just hung up. I couldn't believe my ears. Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the throat and neck. Just kind of was in a blank.. Anyway.. I figured well that's it, my life is over.. Looked at my wife, walked out the door, grabbed a bottle, and got rip roaring drunk. Woke up the next morning with a massive hangover, and decided then and there, I still got mom to worry about, so lets get this party rolling, and beat it. I made another appointment with a ENT doctor here, and a few more docs, and didn't really like the word I got about treatments. Surgery, Chemo, and Radiation. I decided to go to Chicag! o to Northwestern University Hospital for a second opinion. After getting the same kind of news there, rather than have to travel to Chicago and back every day, and burden family with someone going with me, I decided to get everything done here in Indiana. So... In June of 2003, I was scheduled for a tonsillectomy, since the tonsil was the primary source, went in under the knife, and doc found it was also in the tissue in the back of my throat, so had to cut a little deeper, and then take a graft from my upper arm, and sew it into the throat. Now I know why tonsillectomies are done as children. Give ya time to forget the pain. LOL Then exactly 1 week after that surgery, I was scheduled for a radical neck dissection. 9 or 10 hours later, I was in recovery, with half my neck gone, muscle, tissue,several lymph nodes, and at least one nerve, but doc thought he got everything. Recovery went quite well, and 4 days later was home. Just bef! ore July 4th. I had so many staples, and stitches, my nephew said I looked like the terminator. LOL (from the mouths of babes) After 3 weeks of recovery time from that, I was scheduled for more surgery I had a port put in for the chemo, and a feeding tube put in, in case I couldn't swallow. Finally the day was there to start the treatments. Family was very supportive, wife seemed to be a little distant, but I figured she was as scared as I was. On my birthday, Happy Birthday to me, had my first chemo, and radiation treatment. I was told by the onco, that I would lose all my hair, so I figured may as well beat it to the punch, so I shaved my head. Imagine my surprise, never lost so much as an eyebrow! The first week or so of treatments wasn't too bad, then the taste buds went. Yuck, nothing like eating something that had no taste whatsoever. But it still wasn't bad. I was taking a drug in an IV everyday to try to! protect the saliva glands. It was called Ethyol. The chemo wasn't so bad, but the Ethyol, left me with a perpetual hangover, no headache, but nausea 24 hours a day. After 3 weeks, the side effects really started setting in, tired all the time, throat being burned from the inside out, sick every day. Then came the real shocker. The wife decided that because I couldn't go out and party like I used to, she bailed on me. Oh well, another hurdle I would overcome. By week 4, it was hitting me hard. I was losing weight, not weekly, but daily. Then I thought that's it, I cant take anymore. I had found another cancer chat support group earlier, and was researching everything I could, but nothing prepared me for the actual events. I told a few friends from the net, that I was done, I was thinking of quitting all treatments, I thought I had had enough. I received Emails, and calls, that pretty much were sympathetic to my cause, but also, t! old me to pull up my socks, and keep going. I think that is what made me change my attitude and fight even harder. Finally on September 15th of 2003, I had my final treatment. What a day that was for me. Still couldn't taste anything, and the radiation had virtually destroyed my saliva glands, but the doc said.. Dave, I am sure your gonna be fine. Although at the time, I looked pretty rough. I made Ethiopians look fat. Its been over 2 years now, and still no sign of the cancer, and the weight is slowly coming back on, although not near as fast as it came off. People tell me now, that they are sorry, I got cancer, I just reply to them, actually I think I was blessed to get cancer. And boy do I get funny looks. But, the reason is, I got rid of a woman that really didn't care about me, it brought my family so much closer together, and I met so many new and wonderful friends. So yes, in actuality, I was blessed. I st! ill have some major side effects to get over, like my teeth falling apart from the radiation, but a small price to pay for life I guess. So, to everyone that is diagnosed with this disease, NEVER GIVE UP.. It can be beat, it is hard, but the human body is amazing how much it can tolerate. So hang in there, and when all else feels like it's to hard to go on, remember you have many real friends rooting for you.

Dave

Heather

Heather, Aged 46. 3 children and 2 grandchildren. Widow of Mick.
Survived Ovarian cancer in 1999.

Mick

Mick (Michael J Dyson) Aged 49

Mick was a Master Builder. He lived in Huddersfield all his life and built all range of properties from houses to supermarkets and GP surgeries all over the town for the past 30 years. He was well respected in the building trade as an excellent Stonemason, and was very proud of his work.

He was a devoted dad, stepdad and grandad. And deeply loved husband of Heather.
Mick was recovering from Oral Cancer when he had a heart attack on dec 4th 2007.
He will be sadly missed by all his family and friends.

mary113

Hello, my name is Mary Beth. I live in Ringwood NJ with my loving, supportive husband Tim.

In 1998 I decided to start running and participate in a ½ marathon for fund raising for the leukemia/lymphoma society. I began to experience some fatigue that just wouldn't go away. One day after a run, I discovered a lump in my neck. A few weeks later I was diagnosed with stage 2B hodgkins lymphoma. I had a splenectomy and 6 weeks of radiation. I went back to running hoping once again to do a ½ marathon. In early 2002 the fatigue started again and late 2002 I was diagnosed with stage 3B hodgkins lymphoma. It was recommended that I participate in a high dose clinical trial chemo being that it was stage 3 and aggressive. In Jan.2003 I began the trial for 12 weeks.

I still enjoy running, biking and being outdoors. I love going to the beach and spending time with my nieces and nephews. I help my brother with raising them as they lost their beloved mom to cancer at the age of 38. I lost my mom unexpectedly when I was 8, so I know how important family love and support is.

My husband and I have 4 beautiful dogs. I work as a general manager for a small local manufacturing company for the past 22 years.

I am honored to help others with cancer or caregivers, family or friends with loved ones with cancer.

askhokcvs

Hi all, my name is Niranjan (nick ashokcvs) aged 28 , I am from the southern part of India. It's been a month since I joined #cancer-survivors, and to me this channel is of utmost importance in my life,

I am very grateful to all the members who have given me suggestions and advice, which has helped me in taking better care for my mother. My mother has been diagnosed by a cancer called peritoneal carcinomatosis which according to our doctors is in stage 4. She is 61 years of old and she's determined to fight the cancer.

The members here are very helpful giving guidance on how to be positive and handle the chemo sessions. Seeing a lot of other people who have fought cancer successfully through this channel gives me and my mother more inspiration.