Reader Survey Winners

2011 Winner: Support Group’s Relay for Life Team Selected for PRP Donation

Invaluable Encouragement Provided to Survivors

This year we congratulated Lisa Shannon as the winner of our 2011 Reader’s Survey. Lisa lives in Anderson, IN, and is herself a cancer survivor. She discovered our guides while in the St. John’s Cancer Center, where she received her treatment and is an active volunteer as a Cancer Journey Companion for other breast cancer patients.

Lisa worked for 25 years for the Guide Corporation, which made headlights and tail lights for General Motors, until 2002 when she retired on disability. She is now an avid amateur genealogist who has traced lines of her family back to the 1400s. She is also the proud mother of a daughter and five teenage grandchildren.

In 2007, at the age of 53, Lisa was diagnosed with breast cancer. Fortunately, the cancer was caught early, and she was successfully treated with a lumpectomy and targeted radiation therapy. She has had no recurrence of disease since her treatment.

Lisa’s cancer diagnosis and treatment led her to join the St. John’s Hands and Hearts Breast Cancer Survivor group, and she has selected the group’s American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life Hands and Hearts team to receive the $1,000 donation. Hands and Hearts’ Relay for Life team has a friendly fund-raising competition with other groups in the city, and Lisa is hopeful her donation will give them the winning edge.

Hands and Hearts provided Lisa with a group of women who could share her journey and she in turn supports her fellow survivors. The group meets monthly for fellowship, educational presentations and to raise funds for Relay for Life. She publishes a monthly newsletter for the group and is the Hands and Hearts historian.

“When I went into my cancer office for the last treatment, it felt like all of sudden, everything was over and I was getting sent out into the world and left on my own. I started crying in the doctor’s office and he immediately put me in touch with one of the nurses who started Hands and Hearts,” Lisa explained.

“It’s nice to have other people to talk to who are going through similar situations. If any of us gets into trouble ­— has a bad mammogram report or is even fighting cancer a second time — we like to be there for one another. We also can bring our caregivers with us. My grandkids like to go, and I had to start flipping a coin to see which one gets to come with Grandma! There are ups and downs for all of us in our group, but Hands and Hearts has helped me from day one!”

2010 Winner: Two Minutes Can Alter the Course of Another’s Cancer Journey

Denise Yoshihara took just a few minutes of her time and answered the Patient Resource Cancer Guide reader survey. We said “Congratulations, Denise!” and announced her as the winner of our 2010 Reader's Survey. In the 2009 Fall/Winter edition, we invited our readers to submit their suggestions and opinions about the Guide, and in exchange, Patient Resource Publishing (PRP) — the publisher of Cancer Guide -— would donate $1,000 to a cancer organization of the winner’s choice. Her name was randomly selected as the winner from all submissions, and through her choice, she is making a difference in the lives of others.

Denise is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker/Supervisor in Oncology Services at the Virginia K Crosson Cancer Center at St. Jude’s Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif. Denise provides psychosocial care for cancer patients and their families. Her responsibilities include counseling, crisis intervention, support groups, coordinating care by setting up home health, palliative care and hospice, as well as helping patients with insurance and financial issues.

Having worked at St. Jude’s for nearly 20 years, Denise is well acquainted with cancer organizations. Of these, she has selected Breast Cancer Angels as the recipient of the PRP donation. Breast Cancer Angels provides emergency and long-term financial assistance with practical needs that include groceries, utilities and housing for women and their families as they are going through breast cancer treatment. Denise said, “I like Breast Cancer Angels (breastcancerangels.org) because it is a grassroots organization, and I know that 100% of all donations go to women with breast cancer.”

Denise makes available the Cancer Guides to her patients, and recently she gave one to her sister who was diagnosed with breast cancer. “The guide is such a great resource. I like that I can give a guide to a patient, and he or she can find out about their specific cancer, treatments and side effects. Patients also can see what resources are available beyond our local services,” she said. “I really enjoy the survivor stories — that our patients can read about another survivor so they know they are not alone.”

“I like that I can give a guide to a patient, and he or she can find out about their specific cancer, treatments and side effects.”

Denise Yoshihara