Genentech will donate $5 for each survey completed to programs and services designed specifically for metastatic breast cancer patients.  Survey results will be used to produce video and media materials that will be distributed on Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day (October 13).

The survey is open and available online until August 31. Please visit facesofmbc.org or text MBC to 74471 to share your story.

Recipients are awarded an average of $2,000 in grants and scholarships that help cover costs such as medical and living expenses, certain types of tuition, and family-building expenses.

Applicants must be U.S. citizens, 17-35 years old, and have completed active treatment. The application deadline is Monday, July 12.

To apply for a 2010 SAMFund grant, visit www.thesamfund.org. 

CancerCare offers specialized, free services for young adult patients, caregivers, loved ones, and survivors including counseling, financial assistance, support groups, and publications.

The guidebook was written by Vladimir Lange, M.D. to empower patients to seek a cure, rather than to accept defeat.  “New treatments, new drugs, and earlier diagnosis make survival much more likely than it was just a few years ago,” he notes.

CancerCare Lung Cancer Program Coordinator Win Boerkel calls Be a Survivor “one of the best lung cancer patient guides I’ve seen in my 13 years of working with lung cancer patients.”

In 2009, CancerCare collaborated with leading patient advocacy groups to launch The Lung Cancer Clinical Trial Call to Action campaign, designed to help patients and their families navigate the complicated landscape of researching and identifying clinical trials. Patients can call 1-800-698-0931 to be matched with a Clinical Trial Specialist who will guide them through the entire process.

The CancerCare Co-Payment Assistance Foundation offers up to $10,000 per year in co-payment assistance for lung cancer patients in their families.

To order the guide, call 1-888-LANGE-88 (888-526-4388), or print out and fax back the order form.

Learn more about our free services for lung cancer patients and visit our sister website, www.lungcancer.org.

This free series, made possible by support from the National Cancer Institute and LIVESTRONG, offers cancer survivors, their families, friends and health care professionals practical information to help them cope with concerns and issues that arise after treatment ends.

Part I, which takes place on Tuesday, April 13th, is entitled, Trouble Sleeping? Sleep Better to Feel Better: Tips You Can Use. The faculty for this program includes Elizabeth D. McKinley, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Dean, Emily Blackwell Society, Case School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University; Sonia Ancoli-Israel, PhD, Director, Gillin Sleep and Chronomedicine Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, Professor of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego; and Stewart B. Fleishman, MD, Director, Supportive Services, Continuum Cancer Centers of New York, Beth Israel Medical Center, St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital. 

Part II, Communicating with Your Health Care Team After Treatment: Making the Most of Your Visit, will take place on May 18th.  Part III, Survivorship and Workplace Transitions, will take place on June 22nd.  And Part IV, Survivors Too: Communicating With and Among Family, Friends and Loved Ones, will take place on July 13th. All of the workshops take place from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

These workshops are free – no phone charges apply.  However, pre-registration is required.  To register simply go to the CancerCare website, www.cancercare.org/connect.  Please plan to join us, and share this information with cancer survivors, their caregivers and your colleagues.

The critically-acclaimed memoir traces Johnny’s journey from his unassuming adolescence through the struggle of his life, and ultimately examines the power of optimism, humor and hope. Hotpants: A Memoir is available for purchase through Amazon, and we encourage you to visit Johnny’s website and view his demo reel here.

To learn about the latest in brain tumor research, please register for our upcoming Connect Education Workshop Brain Tumors: Current Treatments and Hope for the Future.

Learn more about CancerCare’s free, professional support services for people with brain cancer and their loved ones.

While cancer patients and survivors may not be at any greater risk for infection with either 2009 H1N1 flu or seasonal flu, the CDC cautions that cancer patients and survivors are at higher risk for hospitalization and  potentially life-threatening complications from all types of flu.

The CDC recommends that people who have cancer or a history of cancer should receive a seasonal flu vaccine and the H1N1 flu shot (not the nasal spray vaccine). The seasonal flu vaccine alone is not expected to protect against 2009 H1N1 flu. Household members and caregivers of cancer patients and survivors also should be vaccinated against both types of flu.

Find out more at www.cdc.gov/cancer/flu

CancerCare's Jane Levy (center) with Avon's Carol Kurzig and financial expert Suze Orman, accepting a $1.125 million grant award, made possible by participants in Avon's annual Walk for Breast Cancer.

 CancerCare was among 8 non-profit organizations receiving substantial grants this past weekend from the Avon Foundation for Women to support direct services and care for women facing breast cancer.

The grant funds were made possible by the more than 4,000 men and women, including hundreds of breast cancer survivors, who walked in the seventh annual Avon Walk for Breast Cancer on Oct. 10 and 11 in New York City and raised a record $8.7 million to support a variety of health care non-profits that assist women facing breast cancer.

The Walk is a noncompetitive event, in which participants collect pledges for completing either a walking marathon (26.2 miles) or a marathon and a half (39.3 miles), split over 2 days. 

The Avon Foundation is a long-time supporter of CancerCare’s free counseling, education and financial assistance programs for underserved women with breast cancer who live in New York City and the tri-state area.

CancerCare received nearly $1.13 million — the second largest grant award presented — during the celebratory Closing Ceremony of the Walk. Suze Orman, financial expert and Special Ambassador for the Avon Foundation for Women, and Carol Kurzig, President of the Avon Foundation, were on hand to present the ceremonial check to CancerCare Director of Patient Services Jane Levy.

To date, Avon’s support has allowed CancerCare to provide its free, professional services to more than 39,000 low-income women facing breast cancer.

Participants in the program stand to benefit not just themselves, but also future cancer survivors, as the program is being evaluated for its effectiveness in teaching skills needed for day-to-day management of life after cancer.

Cancer survivors anywhere in the United States, with any level of computer experience, can sign up for this study at the Thriving and Surviving website.

The mission of CancerCare is to provide the support that is necessary in addition to the medical treatment, and this includes individual counseling, support groups, financial assistance, and educational materials and workshops. To learn more about these services, call 800-813-HOPE (4673) to speak with an oncology social worker.