About Us
The CanSurvive GYN Support Group is for women with gynecologic cancers, their families, friends, loved ones and the professionals who treat them. We recognize that in addition to excellent medical care, there is a deep need for emotional, spiritual, and educational support when faced with the challenge of a life-threatening illness.
Therefore our goals are:
*Provide opportunities to learn about gynecologic cancers, its treatment and research being done.
*Create a setting in which patients can offer one another emotional and spiritual help.
*Make it possible for patients and professionals to interact in informal settings outside of the clinic.
*Attend national advocacy meetings, local events that support GYN cancers.
*Promote GYN Cancer Awareness Month (September) of each year.
Our Group was started in 1998 by Dr. Terri Pustilnik who saw the need for a Support Group in the Birmingham area. Founding members were Mary Ellen Nicholas, Charlotte Davis, Miranda Watkins, Carolyn Fiore, Susie Jackson, JoLane Gable, Beth Hosmer and Brenda Lamb.
The Group has grown over the years. We have lost many wonderful ladies and we have gained many wonderful ladies.
The group meets on the 3rd Friday of each month at the Birmingham American Cancer Society from noon until 1:00. Lunch is always provided. A speaker is invited every other month. A time of sharing and planning is the other months.
Many ladies will exchange email address and telephone numbers so they can talk further throughout the month.
We are a member of the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance. We try to attend the national meetings every year. We are also active in the community to promote awareness of ovarian, endometrial, and cervical cancers.
We have several members who are not able to attend meetings. I had a question from someone that made me realize that some of you may not realize the scope of what CanSurvive does.
As you know, the best part about the CanSurvive group is that someone with gyn cancer can meet (in person or even by e-mail or phone calls) other gyn cancer survivors and find support, encouragement, hope, and know they are not alone. It means so much to talk to someone who has "been there" .At our monthly meetings we sometimes have speakers; sometimes, we just share.
The whole impetus behind the fashion show luncheon and silent auction is to raise enough money for CanSurvive to operate for 2 years. For years it operated on a shoestring budget, mainly funded by the sale of cookbooks. Here are just some of the things we've spent our money on this last year:
- Lunch for the support group meetings (We typically have 20+ people at those.)
- Christmas party and a spring party or activity (It is important for us to be able to celebrate and forget about cancer for awhile.)
- Awareness literature & teal "It Whispers...So Listen" bracelets (We typically set up awareness tables and talk one on one to women at least one week during Sept. This past year we had a table at Kirklin Clinic and at UAB Highlands. Sometimes we set one up at the Harbert Plaza downtown. Every other year we try to have a table at the Southern Women's Show. We also provide literature for health fairs, like ones at a patient's church. Some of our members also speak to medical students. We give them literature and last year we also gave them pocket tokens that said "compassion" and "share the healing and the hope".)
- CareNotes. (We've purchased these notes of encouragement for patients to pick up for themselves or to send to another patient.)
- WalMart cards. (Last year we purchased 30 - $50 WalMart cards that are distributed under the same guidelines as gasoline cards.)
- Flowers. (We send flowers to members in the hospital.)
- Gift bags for patients undergoing chemo/radiation in Dec. (The past couple years in our Nov. meeting we put together 200 gift bags. This year the bag included a digital thermometer, hand sanitizer, lotion, "What Cancer Cannot Do" poem, candy, and personal notes handwritten by our members.)
- Special needs. (From time to time we'll hear of a patient's special need and are able to help with that need.)
- Yarn. (We reimburse some people for their thread when they make hats, shawls, or lap blankets for our patients.)
- OCNA National Conference. (We were able to send 3 of our members to this conference this year. They heard about current treatments and trials and also got to talk with our legislators about funding for research, etc.)
- We try to be very good stewards with the money we are blessed with. We also have had lunches donated. Our treasurer also had a lending library set up for our patients; it includes books, books on CD, and music CDs. She had all the materials donated.