CancerCare partnered with L’Oreal Paris and Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (OCRF) to create a free telephone counseling and referral service for women diagnosed with ovarian cancer. 

Launched one year ago, The L’Oreal Paris OCRF Hopeline has proven to be a great source of support for many women facing an ovarian cancer diagnosis. The Hopeline is staffed by professional oncology social workers and operates Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time.

Call the L’Oréal Paris OCRF Hope Line at 877-OV-HOPE-1 (877-684-6731).

CancerCare responded to the needs of men facing prostate cancer by publishing two new fact sheets: Caring for Your Bones When You Have Prostate Cancer and Prostate Cancer: What You Should Know About Screening and Diagnosis. 

For more resources on these cancers, including additional publications, support groups and archived connect education workshops, visit the diagnoses pages on our website.

Fighting Cancer inspires patients to feel in control at a time when they may feel powerless. The many topics the book discusses include:

• What cancer is and how it spreads

• How to reconcile emotional needs alongside medical treatment

• Why particular treatment strategies are chosen and how they work

• How patients can visualize treatments at work in the body and why this is helpful

You can order a copy of the book here, or through Amazon.com.

We also encourage you to visit Dr. Frank’s Fighting Cancer blog.

Traditional care has focused mainly on treating cancer as a medical condition in which emotional concerns and issues resulting from the diagnosis are often downplayed or not addressed at all. This is changing, as more and more oncologists and other health care providers acknowledge the integral role of counseling and emotional support for patients, their families, and caregivers.

Oncology social workers provide critical support to patients, notes CancerCare’s Win Boerckel, who is quoted in the article;  they can “help people normalize the experience of having cancer, so they can answer questions from their children or get to their next chemo appointment.”

Read the article, “Surviving the First 100 Days,” in the debut issue of LIVESTRONG Quarterly , beginning on page 22.

When Suzanne Lindley was diagnosed with colorectal cancer and informed she had six months to live, she and her family moved to the country, where she’d always dreamed of living.  Twelve years later, Suzanne leads an amazingly active life, traveling all around the country as a colorectal cancer advocate.

She credits her current quality of life to hitchhiking treatments, as well as to her CancerCare social worker Keith Lyons, who provided her with essential support and motivation through individual counseling and a support group.  “[Keith] said I could see cancer as a death sentence or I could celebrate the fact that I was very much alive and experience now,” Suzanne recalls.

The complete article is available here.

CancerCare offers online, telephone and face-to-face support groups that connect you with people who are in a similar situation. All support groups are free and led by professional oncology social workers who are experienced with cancer-related issues and concerns.

Spending time in the sun can be relaxing and enjoyable, but it’s important to always practice sun safety. A few tips for staying safe in the sun include:

• Wearing waterproof sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher
• Donning lightweight, loose-fitting clothing that covers your whole body
• Seeking shade or avoiding the sun during its peak hours of 10am-4pm
• Reapplying sunscreen often
• Wearing a hat and sunglasses

Our free publications on sun safety and melanoma prevention and screening offer more great tips on how to protect yourself from skin cancer.  All of our publications can be ordered free of charge through our online order form. 

We at CancerCare hope you’ll keep these tips in mind this summer, whether you’re sunbathing at the beach,  lounging in the backyard, or taking a relaxing walk outside.  We encourage all of you to spend some time ourdoors, and to safely enjoy the summer sunshine!

Each of the three studies are seeking participants, who will receive a variety of  types of  educational information about their diagnosis, and will then be asked to participate in two brief telephone interviews with researchers over a period of nine months.  All information is completely confidential.

Healing Choice for Prostate Cancer is for men who have been recently diagnosed with prostate cancer, but have not yet begun any treatment. The goal is to help men decide on the treatment that’s right for them.

Healing Choices for Women with Breast Cancer is for women who have been recently diagnosed with breast cancer, but who have not yet begun any treatment. The study’s purpose is to determine the best way to provide treatment information to women, and whether the information helped them in making decisions about their treatment.

Pathways to Recovery after Breast Cancer Treatment is for women who are just completing treatment for breast cancer or have completed treatment within the past six months. The goal is to find out the best way to help women get information about life after breast cancer treatment.

To find out if you are eligible to participate in any of these studies, please call 1-866-258-7981.

CancerCare offers free, professional support services to anyone affected by breast cancer or prostate cancer.  People affected by either diagnosis may qualify to receive up to $10,000 per year in co-payment assistance through the CancerCare Co-Payment Assistance Foundation.

The article, written by CancerCare Director of Women’s Cancers Laura Mosiello, provides great tips such as:

• Ask your friend how she’s coping. Let her know you’re available to listen, but don’t push her to talk if she doesn’t feel like it.

• Offer to help with practical things like household chores or running errands.

• In the event she’s hospitalized, bring her a blanket, comfy slippers, a magazine—anything to make her feel more comfortable.

• Check in regularly throughout treatment and even once it’s over. Emotional side effects can linger long after treatment ends.

Keep in mind, however, that you are not expected to be your friend’s sole source of support. CancerCare provides free support services to anyone affected by cancer.

Check out the full blog post and the complete list of tips here.

Today’s issue of The Wall Street Journal explores the risks and benefits of both sun-lovers and shade-seekers.  On the plus side, the sun’s UV rays stimulate endorphins that can boost your mood and reduce pain.  Unfortunately, exposure to UV rays also causes up to 95% of melanoma diagnoses.

With summer approaching, it’s important to know how to prevent and detect melanoma, the most serious of skin cancers.  Risk factors include:

• A history of blistering sunburns
• Light hair and eyes
• A large number of freckles and/or moles
• Family history of melanoma

 You can decrease your risk by:

•  Avoiding tanning beds
• Wearing sunscreen with an SPF 30 or higher
• Seeking shade during the sun’s peak hours of 10am-4pm
• Covering your body when exposed to the sun’s rays

You can still enjoy outdoor activities in the sunshine, just remember to take precautions and enjoy the sun in moderation.

Two new CancerCare fact sheets about melanoma, made possible through an educational grant from Teb’s Troops, will be available soon.  Find Teb’s Troops on Facebook to learn more about its Fourth Annual March on Melanoma 5K race, to be held July 25  in Chicago. 

CancerCare’s melanoma resources include The Melanoma Helpline. Launched in partnership with The Melanoma Research Foundation, the helpline is staffed by professional oncology social workers who provide free telephone counseling and information about coping with melanoma. Call 877-MRF-6460 (877-673-6460).

Read The Wall Street Journal article here.

CancerCare offers counseling, support groups, community programs, publications and financial assistance all free of charge to anyone affected by melanoma.

On Monday, April 12, CancerCare Director of Education and Training Carolyn Messner will join host Victoria Bond and composers Harold Meltzer, Sebastian Currier, Laurie San Martin, Sean Shepherd, Kristin Kuster, Jeremy Thurlow and Anna Weesner in a discussion about the therapeutic value of music during treatment.

The event, held at Symphony Space’s Leonard Nimoy Thalia theater (Broadway at 95^th St.) begins at 6:30 p.m. with the panel discussion, followed by the concert at 7:30 p.m.

“As a recent breast cancer survivor, I learned from a fellow patient the benefit of having music played when undergoing radiation treatments,” says Messner.  “I requested my favorite classical music to be played. It was transformative for me, the time went quickly and the music enabled me to tolerate the treatments.”

“Many people find music to be a fabulous distraction from what is happening around them during treatment,” adds Messner, noting that most treatment centers offer patients the option of listening to music during treatment. “Patients can certainly find it soothing and relaxing, and some even prefer to dial the volume as loud as it can go in order to feel energized.  Having the ability to select what they listen to and how loud they listen to it  brings a sense of control, and really can completely change a person’s mood.”

Tickets are $20 ($18 for Symphony Space members); students and seniors,  $15.  Purchase tickets online at www.symphonyspace.org.

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.