Virginia Hutcheson
The 2017-2018 Touched By Cancer Support Group meets every other month on the second Monday of the month from 2:00 to 4:00 pm. November 13 meeting will be in the Mesquite Room No. 2 in the Kino Building. (January 8, March 12, May 14 and July 9, 2018 meetings will be in the Mesquite Room. September 10 and November 12 meetings will be back in the Gold Room at Madera.)
The Touched By Cancer Support Group was started in 2010 for the purpose of helping cancer patients with emotional support and assistance in their daily lives. Twenty or so volunteers met frequently to plan how they would deliver food, walk dogs, visit patients and in general give Quail Creek residents who were dealing with cancer a helping hand. It turned out that the group had more volunteers than it had cancer patients in need of help. At that time, it became evident that Quail Creek neighbors were helping neighbors in their time of need and very few patients required the support group’s assistance. The volunteers dropped away. The support group continued to meet to provide emotional and educational support. Contact Ginny Hutcheson at [email protected] or Terrie O’Dierno at [email protected] for more information about the Touched By Cancer Support Group.
The support group shares information about how to get help through the American Cancer Society and their patient programs. The Look Good Feel Better program provides a free wig and a free lesson on using make-up to replace hair loss. The Patient Navigator program guides patients through their cancer experience. The Hope Lodge program provides free overnight lodging to cancer patients and caregivers traveling to treatments. The Road to Recovery program provides rides to cancer patients for treatment and to a doctor appointment. (Quail Creek has a Road to Recovery Coordinator who contacts trained individuals that drive cancer patients to and from their treatment.) Go to cancer.org or call 1-800-237-2345 to get a ride to treatment or for more information on these programs.