YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Claire Jones is a six-year breast cancer survivor, but she still relies on the support of fellow survivors she met through Joanie’s Sisters.
“You might be healed, basically, physically, but emotionally, you still have that fear in the back of your mind that it’s going to come back,” says Jones, of Boardman. “And it definitely helps to talk to people who have gone through this journey before and who have come out at the other end of it.”
It offers hope and encouragement that a return to a normal life lies ahead, she says.
Joanie’s Sisters is a women’s support group that meets monthly at the Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Care Center on Belmont Avenue in Youngstown. The group is named in memory of Abdu and the center is part of Mercy Health.
“A lot of times, you’re done with your chemotherapy, you’re done with your treatment, you’re cleared, but that doesn’t end their journey,” explains Laura Boomhower, a community health educator at the center.
HOW IT HELPS
Issues arise after treatment that survivors aren’t comfortable addressing with a doctor or sharing with a family member. But other survivors may have the same issues so they’re able to offer insights.
“This is a safe place,” Boomhower says.
Yellow Brick Place on Canfield Road in Youngstown is a nonprofit cancer wellness center. Although it serves those diagnosed with any type of cancer, Kathleen Moliterno, executive director, says most are breast cancer survivors.
Moliterno says the center works with cancer centers throughout the region that refer patients to Yellow Brick Place. Center staff try to connect with people at the beginning of their cancer journey.
“If they’re going to be starting their chemotherapy, some people come before like, ‘I’m gonna lose my hair, you know, I want to be ready,’ ” Moliterno says.
They have a stock of wigs and turbans. They also offer makeup kits to help women learn to apply makeup particularly after chemotherapy makes their eyebrows and eyelashes fall out.
OFFERING SUPPORT
But they provide support too.
“A lot of times it’s a lot more in there than just talking about the wigs,” Moliterno says. “A lot of times it’s just having somebody to talk to that’s not a caregiver, not a family member, not a friend. They just need to vent, and that’s what we’re here for. Lots of tears go on in this place, as you can imagine.”
Finding the right wig can make a big difference, she says.
“It’s like a magic that happens,” Moliterno says. “They come in and they’re so sad and then, they’ll see a picture and be like, ‘Oh, do we even have anything close to that?’
“And then we find the absolute perfect wig, and they’re very happy.”
Yellow Brick Place services are free. The facility relies on donations, grants and fundraising.
There’s also a counselor available. Yellow Brick Place offers classes like chair yoga, reflexology, massage, art and sound therapy and support groups.
They offer a cancer support group and a caregiver support group, but they aren’t for specific types of cancer.
The cancer support group started as what they called a PTSD support group. People could talk about their concerns of recurrence, issues with chemotherapy or whatever else came up. It’s grown by word of mouth.
“It’s just a place where they can just talk,” Moliterno says.
While Moliterno and Madison Umble, development associate, see a lot of sadness, it’s balanced by the assistance they’re able to provide.
“I think the biggest thing with us is that we know that what we are providing for people is making a difference in their lives,” Moliterno says.
Moliterno recalls a young mother who had an aggressive cancer. She was depressed and came to Yellow Brick Place for a wig. Moliterno talked with her, helped her find a wig that was perfect for her, informed her about the services available and helped her apply makeup.
“As we were walking out, she said, ‘I want you to know you’re exactly where you need to be.’ ”
That sticks with her, helping her get through more difficult days.
FRIENDSHIP AND SUPPORT
Boomhower with the Joanie Abdu Center, says Joanie’s Sisters provides an evening of fellowship for members. It’s also open to women with ovarian and other cancers that primarily affect women.
“We have educational speakers come in quite a bit,” she says. “I try to ask everybody what they’re interested in hearing so I could try to find somebody to come in to talk to them about things that they’re concerned about or interested in.”
Topics have included stress management, healthy eating, yoga and meditation. It’s something Jones looks forward to. Meetings draw between 10 and 20 attendees for a typical month and Jones has a core group of members with whom she socializes outside of the group too. When they complete cancer treatment, it doesn’t mean the healing process is over, Jones says.
Talking to others who have been through the same disease and the same challenges, questions and concerns helps, she says. It gives you hope and encouragement.
“When you go through cancer treatment, your whole life changes,” she explains. “Your day is filled with doctor appointments, calls, treatments, days where you just don’t want to get up out of bed and you’re emotionally depleted from the whole thing.”
It affects your family life as well as your work life.
“And there are points where you think, ‘When is this all going to end?’ ” Jones says. “And when you get together with a group of women who have been there, done that, survived it, it helps you see that there’s light at the end of the tunnel.”
A woman may join the group at any point during or after treatment.
Boomhower says it’s important for women to have other women supporting them. And Jones agrees.
“It means everything because nobody should go through life isolated,” she says. “When you’re alone, going through something alone, you’re isolated. But if you go through it with support, there’s healing in that. So these friendships, these women are golden.”
A CHANGED LIFE
Since her diagnosis and treatment, Jones has become grateful for each day and for everything in her life. She also credits her faith for getting her through.
Jones reads the Bible and earlier in her battle, she would draw inspiration from healing verses. She had a favorite scripture about an ill woman who was healed by touching the hem of Jesus’ robe.
Her son plays violin on the worship team at their church, New Life Assembly of God in Poland. He wrote a song based on that scripture and the group performs it frequently, drawing a large number of congregants for altar call.
“I believe that’s why God put me through this journey, so that that song could be written and bring people to the altar to be touched, because prayer gets you through it,” Jones says.
25-YEAR SURVIVOR
Carol Apinis, a volunteer at Yellow Brick Place and its board president, is a 25-year breast cancer survivor. When she was diagnosed, Yellow Brick Place didn’t exist. It started about 10 years ago.
“At the time I was going through cancer, had there been this kind of support, it would have helped me amazingly,” she says.
Doctors don’t prepare you for everything, Apinis says. After her surgery, she temporarily lost the use of her left arm. No one told her that was something to expect. Now she, Moliterno and others at Yellow Brick Place can offer optimism.
Apinis underwent surgery and chemotherapy and radiation and a stem cell replacement. The disease had spread into her lymph nodes and it was a scary time.
As a 25-year survivor, she offers hope to others. She recalled a young woman who had been diagnosed with the same cancer that she had. The woman came to Yellow Brick Place with her two sons. One was too young to understand, but the older one had an attitude.
The mother told the son that Apinis had survived the same cancer that she had.
“He said, ‘Yeah, but she wasn’t stage 3,’ ” Apinis recalled. “I’m there, ‘Yeah, I was stage 3.’ And that day changed that kid’s life. It was the first time he had a strong hope his mother was going to be OK.”
Pictured at top: Claire Jones, a six-year breast cancer survivor, and Laura Boomhower, community health educator at the Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Care Center in Youngstown, stand in the courtyard at the center.