...from the Mohave Valley Daily News:
Families of children with cancer get new channel of support
by Jamie Gentner
BULLHEAD CITY -
A new resource will be available this week for families who have children with cancer.
Phyllis Anderson has been in Bullhead City three years, the same amount of time she has been fighting cancer. A year and a half ago, she began an adult cancer support group because she wanted to give others the type of help she had received.
After being approached by a pediatrician at a city health fair last year and discovering there was no such group for parents with children who suffer from cancer, she decided to start one.
Anderson has experience working with children. She has served as a counselor for the juvenile detention center, worked with children involved in domestic violence, acted as a counselor for the Reach to Recovery with the American Cancer Society, is in the CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) program for the state of Arizona to work with children placed in foster homes and recently joined the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Housed as part of the Western Arizona Health and Education Center at 1984 Highway 95, Suite 4, Anderson runs The Comfort Zone, which operates as a non-profit organization, offering services free of charge.
Through the organization, she acts a resource for information, referrals and support. She has spent the past year researching information to be sure she was prepared.
"She has researched it; talked to people who are in charge of the same thing in Phoenix and has received coaching and help because she didn't want to jump into this until she really knew what she was doing and studied hard," said Penny Kruse, Anderson's office mate and outreach coordinator for the Well Woman Health Check
After a year of hard research and reading, Anderson is now armed with information from the American Cancer Society, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Candlelighters and other sources that help Anderson help others.
The first support meetings will be 7-9PM, Thursday, and will discuss children with cancer in the family and dealing with diagnosis. Then, monthly meetings will continue every fourth Thursday from 7-9PM.
However, Anderson said, she is available to talk 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The meetings may only be a once-a-month event, but that doesn't mean she can't see others outside the meetings.
Anderson said she hopes The Comfort Zone will give area residents a place they can go locally for encouragement, counseling, and support.
She also emphasized how confidentiality is the top priority for the group. Nothing that comes to the office will leave the office, she said.
"I feel I have a good start and the families will be helping me also. They are going to be helping me learn what I need to learn to help them."
All Anderson wants to do is fulfill The Comfort Zone's mission: To listen, encourage, give a helping hand, an encouraging smile and a shoulder to cry on.
"All these people who have children with cancer need a place to have their problems come out," Kruse said. "So we can say, 'OK, we can't heal your child, but we can help you heal, grow and help support your child so you can get along with your life.' That's what we're here for: To have a place where they can feel they are safe."
As The Comfort Zone grows, Anderson said she will look for more volunteers. Donations are always accepted, and Anderson will be organizing fund raisers.
For more information, call 758-1164, or 704-6690.
from the Mohave Valley Daily News....
Tri-state women focus on fight against breast cancer
by M.J.Smith
BULLHEAD CITY
With factors such as genetics, lifestyle choices, reproductive choices and heredity increasing, a woman'a chance of developing breast cancer, it's no wonder 200,000 women die from the disease every year, one local surgeon said.
With advancements in treatment, more women are surviving the deadly cancer, which means the number affected is drastically higher, Dr. Anthony Schwartz said.
Two women in the immediate Tri-state area have founded cancer support centers to offer those women who face the long battle with cancer a safe, secure place to educate themselves, on the disease, and vent their myriad emotions.
No one should face cancer alone," said Phyllis Anderson of The Comfort Zone Cancer Support Community Outreach Center, 1984 Highway 95, Suite 4. "We offer a safe haven where feelings and fears are expected and understood. Where survivors and family can nurture and support each other to achieve a higher quality of life."
Founder of the We Care Cancer Support Center Karen Kang-Morris, said her passion is awareness, and that the center, located at 1225 Hancock Road, Suite 202, provides cancer support, from literature to wig fittings.
"Nobody told me anything when I went through my mastectomy," Morris said. "I don't want anyone to ever feel what I did when I woke up after surgery and thought I was paralyzed."
Both women are breast cancer survivors. And both are passionate about helping.
Anderson was diagnosed with infiltrating duct carcinoma four years ago.
"I'll always remember that it was in 2001," the grandmother of 13 said. "I was going through chemo (chemotherapy) and feeling so sick. I remember my husband coming in and waking me up, 'honey, I think we're at war.'"
Anderson's ordeal began when while exercising, she noticed something not quite right with her left breast.
"When I found the lump I was concerned but not real worried," she said. "Everyone in my family had died of heart problmes, and I had just had a mammogram three months before."
She went to the doctor never the less and was given the hearbreaking news.
"My doctor came in with a nurse who had on a little badge that said oncology, that's when I knew," Anderson said. "You're whole life chages at that point. You no longer think of the day-to-day stuff--what's for dinner, what am I going to wear. You think, am I going to live? Am I going to lose part of my body?"
Within weeks of being diagnosed, the mother of six had the tumor, 13 lymph nodes, and the surrounding fissure removed.
Then her fight with chmotherapy and radiation began.
"I would not have been able to make it through, without, what I call, my three F's," Anderson said. "Faith, family and friends."
Anderson credits her husband with amazing patience and caring."
"My red and while cell count went so low my husband had to give me shots on a daily basis," she said of her husband Paul, a retired truck driver (and mechanic).
"He would look up at me with tears in his eyes. You can't forget the caregivers. They go through so much, too."
Morris' situation was very similar. She was diagnosed with breast cancer 15 years ago and underwent a bi-lateral mastectomy.
A newlywed at the time, Morris was very concerned how the transformation would affect her relationship with her husband Dana.
"At one time I considered reconstructive surgery," she said. "But, it felt so good without them, and my husband didn't care, that I decided against it."
Though, she makes light of it now, her fight with cancer, the chemotherapy and her drastic surgery left her aching.
"I don't want anyone else to ever go into something like this not knowing what it means," she said, "I'm a firm believer in education. The more you know, the less afraid you'll be." The cancer centers will provide that information, Morris said.
Anderson, who visited a support center in California when she was in the midst of her ordeal, said she wanted to be able to offer other people the solace and peace of mind she found.
"I thought I was the only one going through this, " Anderson said. "When I saw those other ladies, I didn't feel so odd. There were other people feeling all the same tings I was, from pity to anger to rage to grief."
"Knowing that you can talk to someone who will understand is so important, Morris" said.
On May 9 2006, Phyllis Anderson, of The Comfort Zone Cancer Support Center, received a Certificate of Recognition
(The Heart in Hand Award
from
The Western Arizona Council of Government
for her dedication in helping those in the commnunity in
Mohave County.
(from left): Julianne Cartwright, Phyllis Anderson, Alma Clark, Kim Cupp.