8/8/99 Enid News & Eagle article about BCforum

Togetherness

Breast cancer survivors share their stories

August 8, 1999

By Janna Ogden

They came together to meet, talk and offer understanding.

A poem suggested as the motto for the group summarizes the atmosphere and attitude of the room.

"Yesterday is history; tomorrow is a mystery; today is a gift and that's why it's called the present."

Seven breast cancer survivors and two supporters gathered at Camp Rhodes, the Camp Fire campgound south of Enid, and spent the weekend chatting.

The survivors normally converse in a chat room on an Internet site. The group held its third face-to-face meeting this weekend. Group members came to Enid to rest their fingers and eyes and let their voices and ears do the work. Some said that one of the best things about the weekend was hearing each other's voices.

Some of the women had met before, but most had never seen those they refer to as their best friends and sisters.

"We're sisters. It's like having a pen pal," said Vicki Walton of Derby, Kan.

Members said they find comfort, understanding and comic relief when they chat with each other. They have created such things as a top 10 list of things to do with their prostheses or the top 10 good things about being bald.

"The fact that we've all had breast cancer - we trust one another," said Lynn Burke of Denver.

Emotions from members can be felt by the others through cyberspace, they say.

Walton said she remembered the enthusiasm of those who were on line the first time she came into the chat room and announced she was a longtime survivor.

"I remember that I could hear the excitement through the keyboard," she said.

One of the most surprising things the women found while spending time together was that although they are all from different walks of life and have different types of jobs and backgrounds, there is a bond.

"We have a bond that transcends that," Burke said.

Of all the bad things that the women have been though with their disease, she said, this is one of the blessings found from the situation.

Friday night, members pulled their beds around in a circle, so their heads were closer together and they could talk.

Another positive they discussed Saturday afternoon was that, by meeting, they can bring all of the information they have to each other.

Doctors use different treatments in different parts of the country, Susan Frisius of Massachusetts said. When someone has a concern about a reaction or a treatment not working, she can express this concern to the others in the chat room.

If someone already has had that experience, Frisius said, she can share and help.

Those attending this weekend were Sharon Engle, Wichita, a three-year survivor; Walton, a 10-year survivor and youngest in attendance at age 49; Frisius, a five-year survivor; Marsha LaMunyon, host and a two-year survivor; Karla LaMunyon, daughter-in-law of Marsha LaMunyon; Burke, a four-year survivor; Dee Degnan, a three-year survivor, and her husband, Bill of Austin, Texas; and Barb Fortin, a nine-year survivor of Gifford, Ill.

Photo by JOHN CLANTON

Marcia LaMunyon (left), Enid, lies on a cot as she and six other breast cancer survivors talk
at Camp Rhodes Saturday.
In the background is Susan Frisius, of Massachusetts.

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