The Northwestern Community (university, hospital, faculty foundation, etc.) is extremely comprehensive, and offers so much in the realm of cancer care. We like to think that we’re a one stop shop for anyone dealing with a cancer diagnosis – taking care of patients’ physical, mental, and emotional needs not only while in treatment, but also in survivorship. One of the great services that Northwestern provides is a forum for patients, caregivers, and survivors of breast cancer to meet and discuss treatment options, symptom management, exercise & nutrition and survivorship, in a supportive environment.

The Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Town Hall Meeting is a free event that takes place once a year for individuals who are looking for information on moving forward after breast cancer. If you have questions about treatment options, nutrition and physical activity, family history and supportive oncology services, this is a great place for you to come and learn, interact, and take in all the information that you need. This interactive discussion about breakthroughs in breast cancer is a unique opportunity to have any of your cancer-related questions answered by experts at Northwestern’s Lurie Cancer Center. Participants also can visit the extensive range of exhibitors to discover community breast cancer resources, and learn more about local and national organizations providing support. Some panel topics are:

• Nora Hansen, MD – Understanding Breast Cancer Surgery Options
• Virginia Kaklamani, MD, DSc – Cancer Risk & Genetics
• Virginia Nothnagel, MS, RD, LDN – Eating Well & Staying Active
• Timothy Pearman, PhD – Facing Forward: Life after Cancer

The Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Town Hall Meeting takes place Sunday, September 30^th from 1-4pm CDT, and is a free event open to the public. Learn more and register for the Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Town Hall Meeting here.

Cancer Connections is an event held three times a year for individuals affected by a cancer diagnosis, to learn about services, meet advocacy groups and get the tools needed to manage the disease. In less than 2 weeks, Cancer Connections is holding its second session, on Saturday, July 21^st, at Prentice Women’s Hospital in Chicago.

Cancer Connections will provide ways for both survivors and caregivers to learn wellness strategies for the mind, body and spirit. Patients, survivors and caregivers will learn tools, techniques and services to help re-energize and reinvigorate them during challenging times. What you can expect July 21st:

• Chair Yoga
• Breakthroughs and Challenges in Cancer Pain Management
• Navigating Health Insurance
• Hope, Happiness & Positive Thinking: What Works for You
• Active Days and Restful Nights: Managing Cancer-Related Fatigue and Insomnia
• Growth, Resilience & Renewal: The Cancer Experience

Learn simple strategies for eating healthier, moving more, and managing the stress and sleep difficulties sometimes associated with cancer.

Connect with networking groups, peer support programs and other communities, including the Oncofertility Consortium, committed to ensuring no one fights cancer alone.

Renew the sense of well-being by sampling massage, acupuncture, guided imagery, healing touch and other integrative therapies

If you don’t think you can attend because you have little ones to look after, think again. Cancer Connections offers supervised activities such as crafts, movies and play activities from 9:00 am -3:00 pm for kids. Children’s activities are facilitated by Gilda’s Club Chicago volunteers.

For more details about Cancer Connections or to register for the July 21st event, please click here.

What does empowerment mean to you? Does it mean giving someone the authority or power to do something… because that’s what you’ll find if you look it up?  The word is not a new one – it originated around the 17^th century and the meaning has remained largely the same. People have a need for a word that makes them feel that they are or are about to become more in control of their destinies, and this is especially true when faced with a cancer diagnosis at a young age. On Saturday, April 14^th from 10:00AM-4:00PM, the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center will be hosting an event entitled, Get EmPOWERed: Life After Cancer for Adolescent & Young Adult Survivors.

At this inaugural event, young adult and adolescent cancer survivors will learn strategies and information to help them embrace life after treatment with confidence. Get EmPOWERed is an opportunity for everyone under the age of 40 who has been treated for cancer, including childhood cancer survivors who are currently 13 years of age or older, to share experiences and receive support. Family members, friends and caregivers are encouraged to attend as well!

Get EmPOWERed will cover a lot of ground so there is something for everyone.  Topics that will be explored include: talking about cancer with important people in your life; coordinating follow-up medical care; managing stress and other cancer-related emotions; making good choices about exercise and nutrition; addressing insurance, financial, legal and other practical concerns; exploring options for building a family after cancer with fertility preservation patient navigator, Kristin Smith; managing pain and other effects of cancer; and helping caregivers to care for themselves.

The event is being held at the LaSalle Power Company in Chicago and there is a small registration fee for participants, which includes all the workshops and admission to a VIP after-party event at Gilda’s Club Chicago.  This is a great event for the young cancer community so if you that sounds like you or someone you know, please come out and take part in this great event! For more information on Get EmPOWERed: Life After Cancer for Adolescent & Young Adult Survivors, including registration, please click here.

In 2007, the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern began a program called Cancer Connections. Cancer Connections was a monthly event held for individuals affected by a cancer diagnosis, to learn about services, meet advocacy groups and get the tools needed to manage the disease.  Now in it’s fifth year, Cancer Connections is debuting a new format, location and time to better serve the cancer community!

Cancer Connections will now be a held three times a year, with the first event on Saturday, March 24^th at Prentice Women’s Hospital in Chicago. The new event format will provide ways for both survivors and caregivers to learn wellness strategies for the mind, body and spirit. Cancer Connections will introduce tools, techniques and services used to re-energize individuals living with a cancer diagnosis. What you can expect:

Learn simple strategies for eating healthier, move more, and manage the stress and sleep difficulties sometimes associated with cancer.

Connect with networking groups, peer support programs and other communities, including the Oncofertility Consortium, committed to ensuring no one fights cancer alone.

Renew the sense of well-being by sampling massage, acupuncture, guided imagery, healing touch and other integrative therapies

Cancer Connections will also have licensed massage therapists on hand and workshops/breakout sessions on topics including:

• Simple Strategies for Physical Fitness
• Introduction to Yoga
• The Secret of Support
• Caring for the Caregiver
• Conversation about Hope
• Guided Imagery / Meditation

For more details about Cancer Connections or to register for the March 24th event, please click here.

For many women, temporary hair loss during chemotherapy is a very emotional and difficult experience. Hair loss occurs because chemotherapy targets all rapidly dividing cells—healthy cells as well as cancer cells. Hair follicles contain some of the fastest-growing cells in the body, and as the chemo does its work against cancer cells, it also destroys these cells. Within a few weeks of starting chemo, a patient may lose some or all of their hair. It can be gradual or dramatic: clumps in your hairbrush, handfuls in the tub drain or on your pillow. Whichever way it happens, it can be startling and depressing, and patients need a lot of support during this time.

As a way to support patients and acknowledge their struggle, hair donation programs have sprung up around the country and the world.  In Chicago, IL, the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center has teamed up with the Chicago Chapter of the Oncology Nursing Society to sponsor a Beautiful Lengths Campaign, which will culminate in a grand hair-cutting event in April 2012.  The Beautiful Lengths Campaign is a partnership between Pantene and the American Cancer Society to encourage women to grow long, strong, beautiful hair and then donate their hair to cancer patients. Pantene provides the funds to turn that hair into a fabulous wig to give to the American Cancer Society’s wig banks. Cancer patients across the country receive these wigs, free of charge.  They are hoping to add to the already 285,000 ponytails donated!

How can you get involved, you ask? It’s easy and everyone has something to offer, which is the best part! Chances are good that you know someone whose life has been touched by cancer, or maybe you’ve had first hand experience with it. This campaign is a venue for everyone to stand together and support those in the cancer community. Organizers of this campaign are looking for people who are willing to donate their hair and 10-15 volunteers who can help recruit donors, stylists, advertise the event, organize raffles and/or help plan the logistics of the event. All participants can start growing their beautiful hair out and donate it in five months to a very worthy cause.

More information about hair donations for cancer patients can be found at Beautiful Lengths and Locks Of Love. To get involved in the Chicago campaign, email Kendra Calawerts (kcalaer@nmh.org) or Barb Gobel (bgobel@nmh.org). Check back on the Lurie Cancer Center website, www.lurie.northwestern.edu, for date/time in the next few weeks, but for now, SAVE THE DATE HAIR: April 2012!!

As a result of earlier detection and improved treatments, cancer survival statistics have dramatically increased. Some survivors may live with cancer as a chronic disease requiring periodic treatments, while others may go into long-term remission. As many survivors have learned, recovery is often not the end of the cancer experience. Toxic cancer therapies can leave you with late effect health issues that require lifelong surveillance and recovering from the social, emotional and financial trauma of cancer is a process that doesn’t always end with the last treatment.

After years of focusing on treating cancer, researchers, clinicians and advocates are now recognizing the unique challenges that survivors face once treatment has ended. This need has resulted in a number of cancer survivorship programs being developed across the country, dedicated to providing comprehensive and sustained after-care specific to cancer survivors.  Many of these survivorship programs are also designed to meet the needs of pediatric and young adult cancer survivors, who because of their young age at the time of diagnosis, struggle with physiologic and psychosocial effects different from those of older cancer survivors.

One such program, the Survivors Taking Action & Responsibility or STAR program found at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center works in conjunction with the STAR program at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago to meet the needs of adult survivors of pediatric cancer.  Patients are referred to the STAR program five years after diagnosis if they remain in clinical remission and are directed to a network of supportive services specific to this demographic. STAR program survivors have a number of concerns depending on their particular treatment regime which often include fertility questions. The STAR program links these survivors up with reproductive specialists, allied health professionals and support groups to help navigate family planning.

The Cancer Survivorship Program at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) is another program that recognizes the important issue of fertility as it relates to long-term quality of life. The Cancer Survivorship Program at CHOP is very invested in offering fertility preservation options to the patients and families who are seen in Oncology. Oncofertility Consortium member and Reproductive Endocrinologist, Clarisa Gracia, MD, MSCE, sees many of the individuals in this program to offer potential ways to preserve fertility and to discuss family planning for individuals whose fertility has been compromised as a result of treatment.

For more information about nationwide survivorship programs, please visit the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship. You can also visit the National Cancer Institute for a list of additional survivorship resources, including publications, studies, and statistics.