Cancer survivors, families take Healing Journey

Writing program grows into variety of complementary therapy activities

By Ed Bearden

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There is a place where love has opened all its doors. It's called The Healing Journey and is sponsored by Memorial Medical Center Cancer Services and the Memorial Hospital Foundation Legacy Circle.

The purpose of the Foundation Legacy Circle is just what it says. Legacy gifts, as a part of estate planning, fund hospital programs and other activities supported by the foundation. Programs like The Healing Journey.

The Healing Journey began approximately four years ago as a writing program for cancer survivors, their family members and caregivers. Today, seven writing groups totaling 45 people have completed a 10-week writing course led by poet and playwright Lin Sexton. Each writing group consists of both sharing and writing. Interaction among participants is therapeutic, but the groups themselves are not therapy. Rather, they are safe places where people can learn to be themselves again, ending the isolation caused as a seldom-talked-about side effect of medical treatment.

If you imagine the best doctor you have ever known combined with the best bedside manner ever experienced, you will have some idea of what it means to be a cancer survivor who has found The Healing Journey.

Complementary therapies are directed by Drs. David Shiba and David Adkins, who manage a program that combines a belief in traditional medical therapies supported by complementary therapies. Complementary therapies are not used to cure disease but do help improve quality of life and minimize the side effects of conventional medical treatments. Think of it as treatment of the whole person, body and soul.

Cancer patients and those who have cared for them do not survive the experience without being changed in some way. An elderly woman once said, "We have so little time left, we have only to be ourselves now."

Entering into a complementary therapy activity feels as if everyone has left his or her coat at the door. These are the emotional coats once worn to protect ego or reputation, that after the experience of cancer no longer seem important or needed. It is a place where we have only to be ourselves.

The Healing Journey begins after the various medical therapies are in process or have been completed. In the four years since its inception as a writing program, the variety of activities has grown to include art, photography, yoga, music, walking, gardening and biking. The journey continues as a place where cancer survivors and caregivers can find comfort together knowing they have a common bond. The Healing Journey is a place where isolation is remembered but no longer endured alone or in silence. A place where normal is spoken of as the new normal but begins to feel normal nevertheless.

And yes, sometimes there are tears, and often laughter, but isn't that what makes a journey exciting? If your life has been touched by cancer, come join The Healing Journey.

For registration or information call 569-7789.

Ed Bearden, a retired social worker and current real estate agent who served 20 years on the Empire Union School District board, is a community columnist for The Bee. Contact him at columns@modbee.com.