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TOUCHING LIVES: A BLOOD CANCER SURVIVORSHIP PERSPECTIVE

TOUCHING LIVES: A BLOOD CANCER SURVIVORSHIP PERSPECTIVE. Tracy Orwig, L. C. S. W.-C. Patient Services Manger The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Maryland Chapter. The Issues. An estimated 712,145 Americans are living with a form of a blood cancer: leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma.

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TOUCHING LIVES: A BLOOD CANCER SURVIVORSHIP PERSPECTIVE

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  1. TOUCHING LIVES: A BLOOD CANCER SURVIVORSHIP PERSPECTIVE Tracy Orwig, L. C. S. W.-C. Patient Services Manger The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Maryland Chapter

  2. The Issues • An estimated 712,145 Americans are living with a form of a blood cancer: leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma. • Approximately 2,000 new cases of blood cancers are diagnosed in Maryland each year. • Due to advancements in research, survival rates for leukemia have tripled, and for lymphoma have doubled, over the last 40 years.

  3. To many people, the “C-word” means cancer and can evoke feelings of fear and uncertainty. But in cancer care, the “C-word” can represent words such as compassion, caring and commitment...

  4. Blood Cancer Survivors • The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is committed to providing information and support to blood cancer survivors and their families, from the moment of diagnosis through their long-term survivorship via a comprehensive array of patient services.

  5. Access to Information & Resources • Patient Services Manager as point of entry to services for survivors • Free educational materials • Lending Library • Computerized Resource Database • Website • Teleconferences & Webcasts • Survivor Education Programs

  6. Financial & Legal Issues • Patient Financial Aid • Cancer: Keys to Survivorship • What Cancer Survivors Need to Know About Health Insurance • Working It Out: Your Employment Rights as a Cancer Survivor • Financial/Legal Referrals

  7. “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

  8. Psychosocial Issues • Family Support Groups • First Connection (Peer to Peer Support Network) • Mental Health/Cancer Counseling Referrals

  9. Long-Term Survivorship • Family Support Groups • First Connection • Cancer: Keys to Survivorship • Living With,Through, and Beyond Cancer • Long-Term/Late-Effects Information • Childhood Cancer Education Programs

  10. Survivors Touching Lives • Ambassador Program • First Connection Peer Volunteer Opportunities • Grassroots Advocates Network • Mission Integration in Fundraising Programs for Research & Services

  11. Survivors Touching Lives • “Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak again. I love being able to tell my story and to hopefully help others. If I say one thing that may help another, then it was helpful.” ~ NHL Survivor and Society Volunteer

  12. Survivors Touching Lives • “With communication comes understanding and clarity; with understanding, fear diminishes; in the absence of fear, hope emerges; and in the presence of hope, anything is possible. ~ Ellen Stovall, NCCS

  13. Conclusion • Blood Cancer Survivors Need Information, Support and Opportunities to not only survive, but thrive…

  14. Conclusion • “You’ll find that it does not take long to acquire a feeling for thriving and a respect for the wondrous process by which harmony, optimism, peace, and empowerment…are transformed into a recipe for thriving while surviving personal crises.” ~ Excerpt taken from “Recipe for Thriving While Surviving Cancer” by Marguerite Patricia Gilner

  15. Conclusion • All cancer support organizations, cancer treatment centers, and cancer care professionals can play a part in helping survivors to thrive. • It starts with you!

  16. “There are no magic answers, no miraculous methods to overcome the problems we face, just the familiar ones: search for understanding, education, organization, action…and the kind of commitment that will persist despite the temptations of disillusionment, despite many failures and only limited successes, inspired by the hope of a brighter future.” ~ Noam Chomsky

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