BREAST CANCER Survivors reach out to new patients

One volunteer said she doesn't want anyone to feel as alone as she did.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CANFIELD -- "Reach to Recovery gives you hope that there can be life after breast cancer," said Carol Fagnano of New Springfield.
"Reach to Recovery volunteers let you know you are not alone," said Fagnano, 54, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in March.
Under the auspices of the American Cancer Society Mahoning Area Chapter, Reach to Recovery program volunteers, who are breast cancer survivors, offer comfort, understanding and information to new breast cancer patients.
There is normally just one visit under the Reach to Recovery program, but there can be more if needed, said Al Stabilito, Eastern Ohio Public Relations Director of the American Cancer Society. The Mahoning Area Chapter provides services for Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana, Jefferson and Carroll Counties.
"I swore ... I cried ... I experienced every emotion you could think of," Fagnano said of when she was diagnosed.
I wondered, "What do I do?"
Finding comfort
That is the No. 1 question patients ask, said Carol Carr, of Poland, a Reach for Recovery volunteer and 23-year breast cancer survivor.
Fagnano said talking to Carr of Reach to Recovery was invaluable.
"You don't feel quite as lost. You don't feel like you are the only one. It is comforting to know someone called, and you are not alone," Fagnano said.
"There is nothing better that you can do than show a new breast cancer patient a survivor. Just seeing someone who has been through the same thing helps them believe it is doable," said Carr, who was assigned as Fagnano's volunteer.
Fagnano said the hardest thing she had to do was tell her four daughters that she had breast cancer.
"It just broke my heart. I kept apologizing to them because I felt like I was creating worry for them about themselves and about me," Fagnano said.
Carr's similar experience helped her understand Fagnano's feelings and help her deal with them.
Carr was diagnosed at age 36. There weren't many women that young then with breast cancer, and there were no programs, such as Reach to Recovery, to which to turn, she said.
"I was horrified. I thought I was in a nightmare. I had two young daughters. They thought I was going to die," she said.
"That is why I do Reach to Recovery. I don't want anybody to feel as alone as I did," Carr said.
Making contact
A Reach to Recovery volunteer is often the first contact a new breast cancer patient has with another woman who has "been in their shoes and in their hospital bed. That's when they are most vulnerable," Carr said.
Carr said she and Fagnano talked a couple of times on the phone before they met.
"We just gabbed and gabbed," Carr said.
The Reach to Recovery program needs breast cancer survivor volunteers of all ages, races and walks of life. The program tries to match up patients and volunteers with similar circumstances, Carr said.
Carr believes her experience with breast cancer has given her a gift: the ability to help others in the same circumstances.
"I feel I can do for them what I would want someone to do for me or my daughters," Carr said.
Fagnano said her experience with Reach to Recovery has persuaded her to get involved in more American Cancer Society programs and support groups.
Fagnano, who says she has grown a lot as person since being diagnosed with cancer, says she appreciates the help from Reach to Recovery and gladly accepts help from wherever it comes.
"I'm taking all the hugs and prayers I can get," she said.
alcorn@vindy.com