Cancer Support for the East End of Long Island
Cancer is scary and isolating. Connecting with someone who understands can make it easier. Cancer Hope Network is working with Stony Brook Southampton Hospital’s Phillips Family Cancer Center and Ellen Hermanson Breast Center to build a peer support network for all adult patients, caregivers and survivors on the East End of Long Island, regardless of where they are being treated.
Peer support matches are made between a patient or a caregiver and a trained mentor volunteer who faced a similar experience. Free and confidential matches may be based on a shared diagnosis, treatment, consideration of a clinical trial or other lifestyle factors. Matches are supported by a team of Cancer Hope Network healthcare and social work professionals who provide additional guidance and resources.
Being matched with a support volunteer can help reduce fear and provide hope through each stage of a cancer diagnosis, treatment, clinical trial and survivorship. Survivors and caregivers are invited to serve as Support Volunteers. Volunteers are provided extensive training and ongoing support. Serving as a volunteer is an opportunity to “pay it forward,” helping clients facing one of life’s toughest challenges.
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No one has an oncologist in their back pocket when diagnosed with cancer….CHN gave me the capability to help others manage their journeys, but at the same time I became more fearless."
Kate Tweet
“I began my journey as a volunteer to support cancer patients after experiencing my own isolated and frightening battle with the disease. No one has an oncologist in their back pocket when diagnosed with cancer. It is a complex world to deal with doctors/diagnosis/appointments/side effects/life and death decisions while emotionally traversing the complexities of the everyday world we live in.
Cancer Hope Network gave me the capability to help others manage their journeys, but at the same time I became more fearless by acknowledging my own courage with the disease. I learned compassion as I provided encouragement and hope to patients experiencing exactly the same feelings I had. And in a surprising manner, my work with CHN gave me a better understanding of the grieving process, starting my own life anew with forgiveness for others and without regrets.
Cancer Hope Network is a gold nugget in the world of cancer. It is an honor and a joy to help others as they steadfastly maneuver through the disease and all that it entails.” Kate Snyder – Cancer Hope Network mentor volunteer and social worker at Stony Brook Southampton’s Phillips Family Cancer Center