Besides the medical and financial challenges mesothelioma patients face, they often are dealing with difficult emotional issues as well. Support groups provide a community where people who are grappling with similar problems can discuss their common issues – whether related to treatment, or money and other practical needs, or simply coping with their feelings.
Support groups can be face-to-face groups or online communities. The face-to-face groups often provide the deeper emotional support that comes from actual human contact. To find a local group, ask your oncologist. Because mesothelioma is a relatively uncommon form of cancer, a mesothelioma-specific group may not exist in your area. In that case, you might consider joining a local lung cancer or general cancer support group.
An online support group is another alternative. Though you’ll rarely meet face-to-face with other members from across the country or the world, you’ll have no trouble finding one to join, and no lack of people to talk to who are in your shoes. Members are often very active in discussing the latest treatment information and how they deal with the myriad everyday problems they face, as well as sharing their deepest feelings and helping one another cope.
Online Support Groups
Association of Cancer Online Resources (ACOR) – In addition to useful information and resources for cancer patients, ACOR manages a mesothelioma mailing list. Subscribers to the list are linked into a community where each member’s email to the group is received by all other members, An independent study revealed that the shared experiences in these types of communities help members feel less isolated by their disease.
CancerCare - Offering support for all cancer patients, Cancer Care has online groups specifically for men and for women, and for patients and for caregivers.
Cancer Hope Network - Although they can’t always match you with someone having the same cancer, they attempt to match you one-on-one with a Cancer Hope Network Support Volunteer. They are actively recruiting support volunteers with mesothelioma in case you’ve thought of reaching out to help another sufferer.
Cancer Survivors Network - Sponsored by the American Cancer Society, the Cancer Survivors Network has a variety of discussion boards and chat rooms for cancer sufferers and cargeivers. Although there is not a mesothelioma-specific forum, you can find discussions of mesothelioma by going to the lung cancer forum and entering mesothelioma in the search window.
LUNGevity – The LUNGevity Foundation offers extensive support resources for lung cancer patients, and a mesothelioma-specific discussion forum on its Message Board.
Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation – Joining the Meso Foundation community gives you access to discussion boards offering information and support, as well as the most up-to-date treatment information.
OncoChat – OncoChat offers a live chat room for anyone whose life has been touched by cancer.
The Wellness Community – The Wellness Community provides a discussion forum and online support groups for cancer sufferers and caregivers. They don’t yet have a mesothelioma-specific forum, but many of the current forum topics apply to most any cancer patient. Their unique support group format enrolls a maximum of 10 people in each group and is led by a trained counselor in a 90-minute once-a-week live chat.
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