Very special celebration of life unites cancer survivors

For patients facing cancer treatment, simply knowing that they are not alone and that others have successfully walked the path on which they currently find themselves can make an enormous difference.

That was the idea behind a very special celebration of life held by the Cancer Treatment Center and Trilogy Cancer Treatment August 27.

According to Mary Alice Streeter, Cancer Treatment Center administrator, for the past 13 years patients, their families and the staff that services them have gathered at the center for a picnic to catch up with old friends and celebrate their successes.

"The patients come every day for a period of time for their treatments. When they come every day they see the same people," said Streeter, noting that many form close bonds during their treatment.

"When they're here every day, for whatever period of time, they talk and they are great support for each other. They are all in the same boat. They're going through the same things."

When the treatment is over they often don't see each other when they return for checkups. Many inquire as to the status of their peers.

"It's a small community and a lot of people know each other just from living in the community," said Dr. Lawrence Stallings of Trilogy Cancer Care. "They do inquire, sometimes with trepidation, about how so and so is doing."

When Streeter and the team at the Cancer Treatment Center began brainstorming how they could reconnect the patients they came up with the idea of an annual celebratory picnic.

"It began in the days before there were support groups and local events," said Stallings.

"It was sort of a chance to say thank you to our patients but also give them a chance to get together and meet on a social basis and not be in the office setting."

While the Cancer Treatment Center picnic has been held annually for the past 13 years, for the last half dozen years the patients and staff of nearby Trilogy Cancer Care have joined in the event to make it a joint celebration of life.

While the two groups are separate, with the Cancer Treatment Center providing radiation therapy services and Trilogy Cancer Care providing medical oncology services such as chemotherapy, the two groups work very closely together.

"We share a lot of the same patients," said Stallings, adding "many times folks are getting both treatments simultaneously."

This year more than 725 patients and their families gathered with the staff that serves them for a good old-fashioned picnic complete with a chicken barbecue dinner and entertainment complements of the vocal group Keepsake.

For patients and staff members alike it was "a chance to really celebrate life and celebrate our time together," said Stallings.

"A lot of times people live in isolation. They think that whatever is happening to them is unique to them," said Dr. Michael Seider of the Cancer Treatment Center.

"This gives them the idea that they are not alone, that there is a community of people who have gone through this before and they have survived and that they can actually go on with their life," said Seider.

"The best thing about it is that people see there are a lot of people who were where I am," said Seider.