Hospital to start support group for cancer patients

Shirley Rogers remembers their faces: the woman whose husband was serving in Iraq; the man who intended to take his wife out for dinner that night.

One way or another, she "holds onto" all the patients who have come to her in the hours after they receive  diagnoses of  cancer.

Rogers is a social worker at New Bern Cancer Care. And she's a daughter whose father died of lung cancer.

"Finding out you have cancer is like somebody grabbing you by the feet and holding you up in the air - and then shaking everything in you out," she said. "First it's a test, then it's a biopsy. All of a sudden you have cancer - and you're on an alien planet that you could not have imagined."

Beginning this month, Rogers, along with workers from Craven Regional Medical Center, will lead a free support group for patients with recent diagnoses of cancer.

The group will have its first meeting at the hospital on Aug. 28. It will meet six times over a 12-week period, with the last meeting being in mid-November.

Hospital chaplain Keith Little is a co-leader of the group.

"We recognize the journey to recovery is much more ... than treating the physical," Little said. "The emotional and spiritual patient must be tended to as well."

The theme of the sessions is "Foundations for Healing," and each session lasts an hour and a half.

The sessions are limited to just a dozen participants. Organizers believe small groups will be more beneficial for patients.

A second support group series will begin early next year.

"We realized this is something this area was missing," hospital spokeswoman Megan McGarvey said. "We realized that the first thing that comes with a diagnosis is a lot of unfamiliar territory for a patient to navigate."

Rogers said the goal of the group is to provide patients with a source of "credible information" and support from other people who are waging the same battle.

"So often, people become identified just with their cancer," Rogers said. "They are ‘the lung in room 334' or the ‘brain tumor in 617.'

"This effort is about helping them deal with more than just the body," she said. "We want to help patients deal with this tidal wave that crashes into their whole lives."

To get more information about the support group or to register for it, call (252)633-8790.