Children and their families spent the day building LEGO masterpieces

Blocks of Love was created in 2009, when a group of kids and their parents combined their passion for LEGO and their desire to help children who were affected by cancer by building elaborate LEGO projects and asking donors to pledge in support of their efforts. To date, our Blocks of Love events have raised nearly $400,000 in support of our free, professional support services for anyone affected by cancer.

Check out photos from the event in our Facebook gallery.

You can still help support our free services by making a donation at www.cancercare.org/blocks through December 31.

Thanks to everyone who came out and made this event such a success!

Lung cancer survivor Phyllis Sobel and her team of fellow survivors, “For Our Heroes,” were honored with the “Anne Koebel Top Fundraiser Award” for raising more than $18,445 in support of our free services.

Team "For Our Heroes"

This year’s Top School Team was Molloy College, made up of 70 Molloy College athletes. Congratulations also to our Top Corporate Team, Team Marks Paneth & Shron, LLP, who raised over $10,000.

Molloy College's Baseball Team

You can still support our walkers through Dec. 31 by making a contribution online at our Walk for Hope site,  www.cancercare.org/lungcancerwalk

View more photos from the Walk on our Facebook page.

To learn more about how we help people affected by lung cancer, visit our lung cancer diagnosis page or www.lungcancer.org.

Thanks very much to this year’s generous sponsors, walkers, volunteers, in-kind donors, vendors, friends, and community partners for making this event such a success. See you next year!

CancerCare CEO Helen H. Miller, with actress and Honorary Chairperson for the Avon Foundation Reese Witherspoon

Since 2000, The Avon Foundation for Women has generously supported CancerCare‘s financial assistance services, as well as other programs for underserved women facing breast cancer. Over the past 11 years of our partnership, the Avon Foundation has provided nearly $14,000,000 to over 68,000 women from all 50 states.

CancerCare offers free, professional support services for women facing breast cancer, including counseling, support groups, and financial help. Learn more about how we help people affected by breast cancer.

The United States is the most diverse country in the world, which can present a challenge to the health care professional. Miller’s article offers tips on how oncology nurses can provide the most effective care to each patient, regardless of his or her background, culture, race, ethnicity, and beliefs.

Read the article.

CancerCare’s professional oncology social workers help anyone affected by cancer—completely free of charge.

Learn more about how we help.

Support groups are available online, over the telephone, or in-person, and all are moderated by CancerCare’s professional oncology social workers.

Online support groups are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and telephone support groups connect people for regularly scheduled, one-hour sessions. Face-to-face support groups are offered at our offices in New York City, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

Learn more about CancerCare’s free support groups.

Erin Columbus, LMSW spoke about effectively moderating support groups in an online environment.

Nicole DiMartino, MSW offered solutions for managing and coping with the emotional impact of a cancer diagnosis in adolescents.

Richard R. Dickens, LCSW-R spoke about the cancer experience in older adults, and how relaxation and mind/body techniques can help people cope with the emotional and physical challenges of cancer and treatment side effects.

Carolyn Messner, DSW presented on global health issues and how to improve the sharing of knowledge and expertise with colleagues at home and abroad.

Kristy Case, LMSW presented on the importance of post-treatment care for breast cancer survivors.

“For many people, the emotional impact and stress of a cancer diagnosis doesn’t end once they’ve finished with their treatment,” noted Case.  “It’s important for patients and their families to work with their health care team before their treatment ends to ensure that their emotional and practical needs are addressed and to create a smoother transition into post-treatment.”

CancerCare CEO Helen H. Miller, LCSW wrote about the importance of post-treatment care in a recent issue of Oncology Nurse Advisor magazine.  Read the article.

Upcoming CancerCare Connect^® Education Workshops will address issues for patients and caregivers following the end of treatment, as part of its 9th Annual Series on Cancer Survivorship, featuring cancer experts from around the country in a live one-hour conference that can be listened to over the telephone or via live stream from CancerCare‘s website.

The next workshop, Stress Management for Caregivers: Taking Care of Yourself Physically and Emotionally, will take place Tuesday, June 14. Pre-registration for these free workshops is required.  To register, and to learn more, visit www.cancercare.org/connect.

CancerCare offers specialized services for post-treatment survivors and their loved ones, including support groups, counseling, and free publications. Learn more.

Since 2006, CancerCare has been a beneficiary of the EIF Revlon Run/Walk for Women. This year, CancerCare’s Team hopes to raise $10,000 in support of our free, professional services for women diagnosed with breast and gynecological cancers.

Many of this year’s team members are CancerCare professional oncology social workers who provide free support services such as counseling and support groups for people affected by cancer. Participating in the run/walk or making a donation is a way to, in turn, support them.

Register to run/walk online today on the CancerCare Team page.  Registration is $35.  If you don’t live in New York City area, you can still support the CancerCare EIF Revlon Run/Walk team by making a donation on the page.

For more information about the walk, and how to join our team, contact team co-captain Deborah Sussman at dsussman@cancercare.org.

Support groups connect people in similar situations and provide an environment in which they can share their feelings and build a community of support.

CancerCare‘s online support groups enable individual participants to communicate via a password-protected message board that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Each support group is active for a 14-week period and each is moderated by a professional oncology social worker, who provides guidance, resources and reliable information to the participants.

CancerCare currently offers 25 different support groups online. Each is targeted to a specific population, such as people undergoing treatment for cancer, cancer survivors, caregivers and the bereaved.  Groups now recruiting include:

• Triple negative breast cancer patients
• Caregivers of loved ones with lung cancer
• Men with cancer
• Young adult caregivers of spouses and partners

 All support groups are completely free of charge, but registration is required.  Learn more.

Watch the video.

Check out the photos section of our facebook page to view photos from the Walk.

CancerCare‘s sister site, www.lungcancer.org, details our free support services and resources for anyone affected by a lung cancer diagnosis.  Visit the lung cancer support page on our general website to learn more about our free programs for people coping with lung cancer and their families.

We mourn the loss of Elizabeth Edwards, who died on Dec. 7 from metastatic breast cancer at the age of 61.  An accomplished lawyer, political advisor and the wife of a former US senator (who was also a vice presidential candidate and, briefly, presidential candidate), Edwards will be remembered in part for the tragedies and personal struggles in her later years that played out so publicly and painfully on the national stage. More enduring, however, is the legacy of her courage and activism on behalf of all people facing cancer. 

Elizabeth Edwards was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004, and was successfully treated with chemotherapy and radiation therapy. But in 2007, her cancer returned and was found to have spread. Edwards described her diagnosis as treatable, but “no longer curable.”

Still, this did little to slow her down. She became an inspirational figure to anyone facing cancer, especially an advanced-stage diagnosis.  As the mother of an adult daughter and two young children, she was candid about discussing her diagnosis with them, and in numerous interviews with the press emphasized the importance of talking to children honestly and openly, in language they can understand, about cancer.

“I think the most important thing — and the younger the member of your family is, the more important it is — is that you be incredibly honest, even though you might be giving a grammar school explanation of something,” Edwards told WebMD in an interview last year. “At least when your children look back on what you said to them, they will know that you were honest with them.”

Elizabeth Edwards exemplified the resilience and spirit we at CancerCare see everyday in the individuals and families we serve. She was a true champion of people of all ages and from all walks of life who, like her, face cancer with courage and with hope, and live their lives accordingly.

She will be greatly missed.

**

 If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with an advanced or recurring cancer, CancerCare recommends:

Communicate with your doctor. The question of prognosis, that is, how long one may have to live with advanced cancer, is one that some people want to ask and others do not. However, it may be possible for a doctor to provide information regarding a time frame that could be helpful in terms of decision-making regarding treatment choices, planning for future care, financial decisions and how to spend your time. Read more about practicing doctor/patient communication in the CancerCare publication, Communicating with your Health Care Team.

“Incurable” does not mean “untreatable.” There are treatments that can control or slow down cancer from growing or spreading to other parts of the body. In this way, a cancer that cannot currently be cured can still be treated.

Define hope and meaning for yourself. A recurrence of cancer requires that you define hope in a more varied and complex way. Recurrence is a time to revisit those decisions and more specifically think about the quality of your life and what that means to you. Most important is how your doctor, family, and friends can help you maintain what you define as quality living. Read more in the publication, Coping with Cancer: Tools to Help You Live. 

Talk openly with your children. Conversations about advanced cancer can feel particularly complicated where children are concerned. The best thing you can do for your children during this difficult time is to talk to them about your recurrence and their feelings. Learn more in our publication, Helping Children Understand Cancer: Talking to Your Kids About Your Diagnosis.