Canadian (Brain) Cancer Survivor Network

If you are a brain tumor victim or caretaker or friend or family member, I would advise you to read blogs and books written by other victims, caretakers, friends and family members. 

When I did, I learned that

• I’m not the only one struggling with _______ (pick your tumor)
• Others know how devastating the emotional hurdles are, let alone the chemo and radiation
• Other people have had these problems and survived

You can find a great listing of brain cancer stories on the Canadian Cancer  Survivor Network: http://survivornet.ca/en/groups/blogs/brain_cancer_2

John

PS – Importantly, they all ain’t happy stories with Hollywood endings.

Experience Project: “Find People who understand you”

Have a brain tumor or know somebody who has a brain tumor? Want to connect them with other brain tumor victims or caregivers? Experience Project is another online forum for sharing brain tumor experiences. Here’s their link: http://www.experienceproject.com/groups/Am-A-Brain-Tumor-Survivor/8106

 

Experience Project describes itself as “…the world's largest living collection of shared experiences and the premier passions-based network, experience project is a comfortable and supportive place for individuals to share and connect with others around the things that matter to them most. With over 24 experience categories, experience project is the definitive online social conversation destination for people to connect with others who really get ‘it’ -and them.”

Are they the world’s largest? Who knows? But their website claims that they have nearly 36 million “Life experiences from people like you.” That seems like a whole lot.

According to the site, “Armen Berjikly, a Stanford graduate, started experience project after first creating a support community for multiple sclerosis patients. How did he start down this path, you ask? Inspired by a friend's diagnosis with the debilitating illness, Armen built a positive community chartered on empowering patients through knowledge. Along the way, the forum portion of the site became the most powerful tool of all. It gave voice to a group of people known to suffer in silence, and the opportunity to be among new friends, those who truly understood each other's challenges.”

If you try it and like it, please let me know. My favorite brain tumor community sites are:

• American Brain Tumor Association site: http://www.abta.org/
• “It’s just benign” website: http://www.itsjustbenign.org/
• The Cancer Survivors Network: http://csn.cancer.org/
• National Brain Tumor Society: http://www.braintumor.org/
• Being Cancer Network: http://www.beingcancer.net/cancer-blogs-lists/brain-cancer/

Being Cancer Network: An Important Website

Feel like nobody else has your kind (Colo-rectal? Kidney?  Hodgkins?) of cancer? Want to read about ther victims grappling with the same problems you’re wrestling with? Go to the Being Cancer Network - http://beingcancer.net/ - and read one of the 1,500 or so blogs sorted by the following categories:

Brain Cancer            Liver – Lung

Breast Cancer          Lymphoma

Colo-Rectal               Miscellaneous

Grief Blogs                Multiple Myeloma

Gynecologic              Neuroblastoma

Head & Neck            Prostate

Hodgkin’s                 Sarcomas

Kidney Cancer         Skin – Thyroid

Leukemia

Personally, I tend to focus on the brain tumor blogs. Some blogs are well-written. Some are heart-felt, and many are a combination of the two.  

In addition to the 1500_ blogs there are also:  

• Guest posts by other cancer survivors
• Reviews of cancer books and movies
• Essays on living with cancer
• Honor Roll for Excellence in Cancer Writing

 I have this site bookmarked…and if you give it a look, I think you will bookmark it too.