Ralph Waldo Emerson said life is a journey, not a destination.
Five St.Vincent Cancer Care survivors recently took large steps forward in their life journey with support from Cancer Transitions, a six-week program to empower cancer survivors to become successful participants in their long-term survivorship.
Each weekly group session, lasting two and half hours, offers the support of an oncology social worker, customized physical exercise and guest clinical presenters on topics such as processing emotions, medical management beyond treatment, and nutrition.
“Cancer survivorship creates a new normal that may include physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and financial considerations,” said Cancer Transitions facilitator and survivorship program coordinator Dwayne Kniola, MSW, LCSW, OSW-C. “We offer knowledge, skills and encouragement to help survivors navigate their lives after cancer treatment. Each participant found the program deeply meaningful and supportive.”
The definition of cancer survivor refers to a person from the time of diagnosis through the balance of his or her life. With advances in early detection and cancer treatment, many people are living years after a diagnosis, Kniola says.
The Cancer Transitions program at St.Vincent Cancer Care is available at no charge. A grant from LIVESTRONG of the Lance Armstrong Foundation funded the first two six-week series. Cancer Transitions will continue, with a new series beginning every six to eight weeks. Funds raised from Women of Hope and Key to the Cure will offset costs for future sessions.
In addition to the professional guidance, the Cancer Transitions participants made lifelong friends of each other. “They became quite close and plan to continue supporting each other,” Kniola said.
B. Diane Landon, one of the participants, traveled to Mexico at the end of the program to release sea turtles and their hatchlings. She named the turtles after her friends in Cancer Transitions, honoring their journey together.
Below are photos of the first participants in Cancer Transitions and a poem written by Landon.
I’m Still Me
B. Diane Landon 2011
I’m still me.
With or without makeup
I’m still me.
I’m still me.
With or without hair,
With a hat or not.
I’m still me
With or without breasts,
In a bikini or not.
I’m still me
Fat or not,
Tubes attached or not,
I’m still me.
But I would like a pretty dress to wear.
Well
Because
That’s just me.
St.Vincent Cancer Care offers a number of programs and services for cancer survivors and co-survivors—family members, friends and caregivers—including:
- Cancer Transitions: a free six-week workshop to empower survivors with the knowledge and support to become active and successful participants in their long-term survivorship
- Patient navigators and a survivorship coordinator who walk side-by-side with patients and their caregivers through and beyond their cancer journey
- Care for the Caregiver: a free support and education program to empower caregivers of people with cancer to care for themselves and their own needs, in partnership with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
- Look Good, Feel Better: a free class that teaches beauty techniques to women with cancer who are undergoing chemotherapy, radiation, or other forms of treatment, facilitated by the American Cancer Society
- Transitions: a weekly program of gentle activity, appropriate stretching, strength, relaxation, and breathing training that can be done at your own pace. Open to all adult cancer survivors.
- Cancer Support Group: a weekly support group facilitated by a licensed clinical social worker. Open to any adult cancer survivor in treatment or who has completed treatment.
For more information, or to register for any of these FREE programs, please contact Dwayne Kniola at dakniola@stvincent.org or (317) 338-3067.