Helping others really does help you. Take it from a survivor-volunteer.
In this issue: Reach to Recovery

Highlights Do you have what it takes to be a Reach to Recovery volunteer? (click here) For a list of all volunteer opportunities, click here.

It was December 26, 2002, when Pam Matthews, a 33-year old mother of two, was told she had stage III breast cancer. This would have been a frightening diagnosis under any circumstances, but it was a particularly difficult time in Matthews’ life. A year earlier, her husband and her two sons had all been diagnosed with a serious disorder and she had been caregiver for “a very rough year.”

However, just as she had been there for her family, they were with her in her cancer experience every step of the way. She remembers her husband telling her, “We'll get through this like we have everything else.”

Despite a mastectomy and 8 months of chemotherapy, Matthews and her family did get through it. Her young sons, husband, and friends were important sources of support. So was volunteering with Reach to Recovery^® – an American Cancer Society program for women and men affected by breast cancer.

When you volunteer to help others, you help yourself in the bargain.

There’s a wonderful therapeutic synergy between people who’ve had cancer and people who are just beginning the journey. Each benefits from exchanges with the other.

Pam Matthews now knows well the joy and support that one gets from volunteering and helping others. She matter-of-factly says, “I feel like I was meant to have cancer for a reason – to help other women.” Through Reach to Recovery, these same women have helped her back. She now sees that she can be a shining example of what a survivor is.

Support in a time of turmoil

Reach to Recovery helps people cope with their breast cancer experiences from the time they are faced with the possibility of a diagnosis through the entire period that breast cancer remains a concern.

Particularly when people first find out they have breast cancer, they may feel frightened, overwhelmed, vulnerable, and alone. It is during this stressful time that people also must learn about complex medical treatments and decide which ones are best for them. That’s when Reach to Recovery can come to the rescue.

Emotional grounding from someone who’s been there

Reach to Recovery volunteers are breast cancer survivors themselves. They are knowledgeable, level-headed people who afford patients and family members opportunities to express feelings, talk about fears and concerns, and ask questions. Most importantly, Reach to Recovery volunteers offer understanding, support, and hope because they themselves have survived breast cancer and gone on to live normal, productive lives.

How Reach to Recovery works

Reach to Recovery works through carefully selected and trained volunteers who have fully adjusted to their breast cancer treatment. All volunteers complete initial training and participate in ongoing continuing education sessions.

Through face-to-face or phone visits, Reach to Recovery volunteers give support to people:

• Recently diagnosed with breast cancer
• Facing a possible diagnosis of breast cancer
• Interested in or who have undergone a lumpectomy or mastectomy
• Considering breast reconstruction
• Who have lymphedema
• Who are undergoing or who have completed treatment
• Facing breast cancer recurrence or metastasis

To locate a Reach to Recovery program in your area, call us toll-free at 1-800-ACS-2345 (1-800-227-2345) or click here.