This is a webpage for other cancer-related websites I have found during my searches or that readers have brought to my attention.

Here are two websites that enable you to create your own free personalised webpages and develop your own internet community for yourself or someone you are supporting.

CaringBridge at www.caringbridge.org  "is a nonprofit organization providing the oldest, most widely used free online service helping people stay connected during challenging times. More than 25,000 secure, personalized web sites have been created so friends and relatives can be there for a loved one, regardless of geographic distance. Over 148 million visits have been made to CaringBridge web sites. Visitors to these sites have written nearly four million messages of support and encouragement for the patient and their family. ... The CaringBridge community includes families in all 50 states and many countries worldwide. Up to 1,000 new Web sites each month are being created" (quoted from their website).

CarePages at www.carepages.com  - "CarePages are free, personal, private Web pages that help family and friends communicate when someone is receiving care" ... "... springs from the personal experience of its founders, a young family who used the Web to share news and support during the hospitalizations of their newborn son, Matthew. Now a happy, healthy child, Matthew has inspired CarePages - a personalized, private homepages for people facing hospitalization, chronic illness, pregnancy or extended care" (quoted from their website).

These two websites are very popular and worth checking out if you or someone you know has been visited by cancer and would like a rallying place on the internet.

Carol brought to my attention the magazine Cure and its associated website www.curetoday.com. This is what they say about the magazine on their website: "CURE: Cancer Updates‚ Research & Education is a quarterly magazine that combines the science and humanity of cancer for those who have to deal with it on a daily basis. CURE provides scientific information in easy-to-understand language with equally understandable illustrations. It is published by CURE Media Group. CURE has a distinguished editorial board of physicians, nurses and leaders in the field of quality-of-life issues." And "... the magazine is available FREE of charge to cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers." You can read present and past issues online at their website. There is also a monthly online publication.

I could find no information on their website about whether drug companies or medical facilities are involved in sponsoring or financing the website and the magazine, so please exercise caution when evaluating any information about drugs and treatments you may read.

Cure Media Group also publish other cancer magazines, these aimed at physicians, and you can find them on this website www.cancerinformationgroup.com/publications.html. The printed versions are not free and you have to pay for access to articles in the online versions.

If you area US citizen and "you or someone you know needs assistance with their insurer, employer and/or creditor regarding insurance, job retention and/or debt crisis matters relative to their diagnosis of life threatening or debilitating diseases", then the Patient Advocate Foundation at www.patientadvocate.org may be able to help you. Their mission statement says "Patient Advocate Foundation is a national non-profit organization that serves as an active liaison between the patient and their insurer, employer and/or creditors to resolve insurance, job retention and/or debt crisis matters relative to their diagnosis through case managers, doctors and attorneys. Patient Advocate Foundation seeks to safeguard patients through effective mediation assuring access to care, maintenance of employment and preservation of their financial stability."

They can also make available some valuable resources relating to financial management. "Patient Advocate Foundation seeks to empower patients to take control of their health care. Case managers work with patients to discover local, state, and federal programs that provide assistance for their individual needs. PAF has produced six major publications, several informational brochures, and several special sections devoted to certain health related topics to assist in this goal. Our case managers have also compiled a list of valuable resources that address several topics that you may find beneficial" (quoted from their website).

You might also be interested in looking at their "Empowering Events & Programs  Join thousands of Americans from across the nation by participating in PAF sponsored empowering events."

Here's something to smile about I found on their website - a wonderful piece of roundabout writing: "Oncologists must become engaged in the financial realities that patients face in order to insure the integrity of the patient's future financial stability."

Corporate Angel Network at www.corpangelnetwork.org - it's a US organisation that can arrange free flights on corporate jets. I imagine it operates only within US borders although I didn't find any info about that when I did a quick check of the website.

Here's some information from their 'About Us'. "Corporate Angel Network is the only charitable organization in the USA whose sole mission is to ease the emotional stress, physical discomfort and financial burden of travel for cancer patients by arranging free flights to treatment centers, using the empty seats on corporate aircraft flying on routine business.
Based in White Plains, NY, Corporate Angel Network occupies an office donated by the Westchester County Airport. 50 part-time volunteers and five paid staff work with patients, physicians, corporations, flight departments and leading treatment facilities to arrange 1,200 flights a year.
Eligibility to participate in our program is open to all cancer patients, bone marrow donors, and bone marrow recipients who are ambulatory and not in need of medical support while traveling. Eligibility is not based on financial need, and patients may travel as often as necessary.
Thanks to the generous cooperation of 500 of America’s top corporations, including 56 of the top 100 in the Fortune 500, Corporate Angel Network has coordinated more than 17,000 flights since it’s founding in 1981."

Don't know what a cancer-related word or term means or need to check spelling? The National Cancer Institute (US) has an online cancer dictionary with more than 4,000 terms related to cancer and medicine at www.cancer.gov/dictionary.

www.chemoangels.com - recommended by Candi - "Chemo Angels! We are a volunteer organization dedicated to adding a ray of sunshine to the lives of those undergoing treatment for cancer. We believe that people who are going through the physical, emotional and mental rigors of chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, or other cancer therapies deserve some pampering and special treatment!"
 

In October 2007 the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists (USA) published a document called "Statement on Risk Assessment for Inherited Gynecologic Cancer Predispositions". It says "This commentary provides guidance to physicians and other health professionals in the identification of patients who may benefit from hereditary cancer risk assessment for breast, ovarian and endometrial cancer predisposition associated with the Hereditary Breast/Ovarian Cancer and Lynch/Hereditary Non-Polyposis Colorectal Cancer syndromes."

To find the document, go to the Society's website at www.sgo.org and on the home page click on the link "View SGO's Statement on Hereditary Cancers Risk Assessments". It's written for health professionals rather than for those on the patient side of cancer and it does contain cancer statistics relating to hereditary cancers. So if you're not a health professional and you're not into reading cancer statistics then I suggest giving it a miss, but if you don't mind statistics and you're wanting to get a clearer idea of whether a person would benefit from genetic testing then it may be a worthwhile read.

More suggestions please

If you know of any other good miscellaneous cancer websites large or small, or active forums (message or discussion boards) or mailing lists you would like to see added to this page, or you find any errors or broken links, please send me an email at
everest@bestcancersites.com.

Ed Everest, Adelaide, Australia

Page updated 20th September 2006

everest@bestcancersites.com

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