The Elko Daily Free Press about BCforum

When Gwen Taylor of Elko was diagnosed with breast cancer, she didn't know anyone else in the area with cancer and she began searching for other people like herself to help her through the difficult days ahead.

Taylor began searching on the Internet and found the friends she was looking for in the chat room at www.bcforum.org.

On the Internet support group, Taylor (Elway is her alias in the chat room) met Susan Frisius and Barbara Fortin who, alnog with the other women in the chat room, took Taylor under their wing.

Frisius and Fortin recently traveled from Illinois and Massachusetts to give Taylor an afghan quilt with 23 names of other members of the support group written on a colorful ribbon attached to the quilt as a symbol of their hope and love for Taylor.

"I just about started crying," Taylor said upon seeing afghan. "I was having difficulty speaking. This is a heart warmer and something I will take with me wherever I go."

Taylor said the Internet chat room is a wonderful tool for people who live in rural areas that need support through the difficult times women with breast cancer face.

"When you are first sick (from treatment), you are too tired to drive to a support group," Taylor said. "Even if you are bald from chemotherapy you can still go in the chat room."

Frisius developed the website and chat room after she couldn't find an online support group for women with breast cancer.

"I had read that people who join a support group live an average of five years longer than those who don't," Frisius said. "So I thought, maybe if start one I will live ten years longer."

Fortin said the Internet chat room is also good for people who are new to town and looking for friends. "With all the bad press the Internet gets, this site is secure and safe," Fortin said. "We support the new people that come in and try to raise their spirits."

Another advantage of the website, according to Fortin, is that people from around the globe join in the discussions, sharing rememdies for side effects and different kinds of treatments for breast cancer that doctors in the U.S. may not be aware of.

"We learn different ways of treating breast cancer from all around the world," she said. "We also push young people to get diagnosed for cancer."

Breast cancer survivor Gwen Taylor (center) relaxed with a quilt she calls her salvation
that Susan Frisius (right) and Barbara Fortin (left) brought to her from Pennsylvania
along with the names of Taylor's support group friends written on colorful ribbons.
The group met in the chat room that Frisius created, which can be reached by going to her website
at www.bcforum.org.

Reprinted with permission of The Elko Daily Free Press.

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To visit The Faces of Breast Cancer Gallery, click on the banner!

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BCforum is a chat room for those who have breast cancer and for their friends and family members.

We meet at 8 pm EST every evening for information, hugs and laughter!

• Information - because we need to be informed about all aspects of the disease.
  
• Laughter - because it's more fun to laugh than it is to cry.
  
• Hugs - because good friends hug each other.

To get there, click on the pink ribbons!!!!

Please email me if you have any problems accessing BCforum!

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A listserv is an email group. To join a breast cancer or related listserv, click on the pink ribbon icon!!!!

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Please buy all your BOOKS/VIDEOS/CDs/DVDs/GIFTS
through the link on my site to amazon.com.

A percentage of each item purchased through the link on my site
will go to help those with breast cancer who have met on the Internet,
meet in person!

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