Friday, September 18, 2009
Volunteers lend a knowing ear
The Reach to Recovery program connects new cancer patients with cancer survivors.
ERIC BRADY The Roanoke Times
Nancy Goodfellow (left), a volunteer with Reach to Recovery, meets with Ruth Kidd, who is undergoing chemotherapy. Reach to Recovery is a program of the American Cancer Society.
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Ruth Kidd will always remember July 27 -- the day her world turned upside down. It was the day she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Kidd will also remember Nancy Goodfellow, who visited Kidd last week with a bag full of information from the American Cancer Society. But she also listened and understood everything Kidd had been through these past six weeks. After all, Goodfellow had breast cancer, too.
Kidd, 49, considered her experience with Goodfellow one of a kind. But the truth is, Goodfellow and many other volunteers mentor many other newly diagnosed patients in the Reach to Recovery program.
The program works with the American Cancer Society to advise breast cancer patients. Each volunteer must be a breast cancer survivor, in remission for at least a year. The information they give patients is purely nonmedical, Goodfellow said.
Referrals for the program can come from the patient's doctor, but a referral isn't necessary. Goodfellow said a patient can call the American Cancer Society to arrange a consultation.
Goodfellow and Sandy Beasley coordinate the program in the Roanoke and New River valleys. Goodfellow said more than 30 volunteers serve the area, ranging in age from their 40s to their 70s.
The coordinators carefully match patients with Reach to Recovery volunteers. Goodfellow said age and type of treatment are contributing factors in the matching process. But if there's a new mother or grandmother in need of mentoring, Goodfellow and Beasley will do their best to find a volunteer with a similar family life.
Once a match is made, volunteers call to arrange a meeting. These meetings usually take place in a patient's home but can also be at a doctor's office or hospital, or at the American Cancer Society office.
Every volunteer arrives with a bag full of surgery and chemotherapy recovery handouts, a soft bra and an "ouch pouch." The soft bra is exactly as it sounds -- soft -- and has extra room for cushioning pads. The ouch pouch is a small pillow with a handle that tucks under the patient's arm, a very sore spot for anyone recovering from a mastectomy or lumpectomy.
The volunteers also answer questions -- about insurance, wigs or post-surgery exercise. But most of all, they listen, Goodfellow said.
Kidd said that her diagnosis has changed more than her health -- it has changed her outlook on everything.
"It's an emotional thing to be diagnosed with breast cancer -- losing your hair and your whole life changes," Kidd said. "Nobody can really help you unless they've been there. These ladies could relate with me and that helped a whole lot. That's meant a lot to me."
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