Spiritual support groups help people coping with breast cancer
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From left, breast cancer survivors Janna Banker, Paula Boldt, Lisa Jones and Tricia Henry pray at a recent gathering of the Bosom Buddies at Westlake United Methodist Church.
By Joshunda Sanders
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Dr. Lisa Day Jones, 55, had late-stage breast cancer when she joined Bosom Buddies, a Christian breast cancer support group that meets weekly at Westlake United Methodist Church .
"I was fat, and I was bald," Jones said in an interview at St. David's North Austin Medical Center.
She was also afraid, as many people are after being diagnosed, she said.
"There's a huge amount of fear that comes with breast cancer, and that's something that faith-based groups deal with extremely well," said Marjorie Gallece , a certified patient navigator at the Breast Cancer Resource Center and a breast cancer survivor.
From the time a man or woman is diagnosed with breast cancer until the cancer is gone — or even if it never goes away — there are a number of spiritual resources in the form of support groups in synagogues, churches and hospices in Central Texas. They range from general cancer or chronic illness support groups, such as the one that Rabbi Cookie Lea Olshein leads at Congregation Beth Israel with a social worker, to more spiritual, nondenominational resources at places including Hospice Austin — which has a full-time Buddhist monk on staff — and Wesleyan Hospice, based in Georgetown.
In 2009, Olshein noticed an increase in the number of people at the synagogue who had been diagnosed with cancer. In response, she formed a group that initially attracted about eight people. Many of them told Olshein that they "couldn't relate to the language of other faith traditions," she said, but they found common ground with other Jews coping with cancer.
When Barbara Sleet, a lead facilitator for Bosom Buddies, was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2006, she had trouble finding any Christ-centered support groups. Then she met Merry Nell Drummond, who co-founded the group with Hazel Miller in 1995.
"Our main thrust is that we pray for one another, and we talk about our faith," Sleet said. "Medicine is great, but we put our hope in both faith and medicine. We're not whiners; we're prayer warriors."
Jones was diagnosed with the disease when she was 51, and doctors called it early stage — a less severe diagnosis — but she found out later that her cancer had been more severe all along. When cancer has reached the late stages, it usually means that it has spread to other parts of the body.
Jones' cancer had reached her liver, the only place where it remained after her mastectomies, she said.
Until that point, Jones had been attending Grace Covenant Church in North Austin. Her church family was very supportive of her during the acute phase of her illness, when she was getting chemotherapy treatments, she said. Church members cooked and cleaned and visited her often for more than a year. But she said it was hard to talk to them about the realities of cancer.
"When my hair began to grow in and I began to look 'normal' again and go back to most of my previous activities, people were not as comfortable with me talking about the chronic state of my disease, that I was stage 4 and the cancer would likely return," she said. "It was more comfortable to think about my being cured miraculously and no disease being present.
"Christianity is very positive," Jones said. "People want to talk about life, and that's great. But when you live with cancer, that (positivity) is not grounded in reality."
When a fellow congregant heard that Jones had liver cancer, she connected Jones to Drummond, who also had liver cancer and had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Drummond died in March.
Jones said the group allowed her to talk about both her cancer and her faith and discover a "spiritual connection that brought us together." With Bosom Buddies, she found that she could talk with other women about the possibilities of early death and the hard truth that she might not live to see her children grow up.
"It was much more comfortable even to me to talk with (women in the group) who had gone through this or were still dealing with it and shared my faith because they knew what I was talking about," she said.
Jones counts herself among a small percentage of breast cancer survivors who live longer than doctors said they could. As one of the survivors, she said she feels compelled to help others, which is why she helps the group create care packages to send to women with breast cancer in Nicaragua — taking the challenges of their own journeys and battles with breast cancer and making something beautiful out of a terrible condition, she said.
In the process, her belief in God has increased dramatically, she said.
"I believe God is a very scary, very specific person," she said. "And very, very cool."
jsanders@statesman.com; 445-3630
Spiritual support groups for cancer patients in Central Texas
Bosom Buddiesis a Christian breast cancer support group that meets weekly at Westlake United Methodist Church, 1460 Red Bud Trail. Contact:Barbara Sleet, bosombuddiesaustin@gmail.com
Breast Cancer Encouragers is a Christian breast cancer support group formed at the First Baptist Church in Georgetown to ‘encourage others who are going through what we've been through.' Contact:Charlotte Watson, missions director, (512) 869-2586
Congregation Beth Israel offers a Jewish chronic illness support group that meets weekly. Sometimes Rabbi Cookie Lea Olshein includes programming from the national organization, Sharsheret (www.sharsheret.org). Contact:Olshein, coordinator, 454-6806
Hospice Austin is the largest hospice organization in the city and has a Buddhist monk, David Zuniga, on staff. Hospice Austin accommodates families and patients of all faiths who request spiritual support in dealing with end-of-life decisions. Contact:Melinda Marble, communications coordinator, 342-4726
Wesleyan Hospice is a faith-based, nondenominational, nonprofit organization that provides hospice care and bereavement support for families. Contact:Mariesa Kanetzky, outreach coordinator, 863-8848
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