Breast Cancer and Team Inspire

I will never forget the first time that I read an inquiry from a woman whose doctor had advised her that there was nothing else that he could do to help her with her advanced breast cancer. She was reaching out to inquire whether there was anyone who might be able to help her. After I got over the emotions that I was feeling just considering what it would be like to receive such devastating news, I embarked on what would be my first research project to look for answers or help or input or just about anything that would provide this woman with some hope for a different outlook and perhaps a brighter future. That was the first time that I referred someone to a site that I found that day at the Advanced Breast Cancer Support Community titled “TEAM INSPIRE”.

The bottom line is that if you are a breast cancer survivor or someone who is supporting or advocating for a survivor and are looking for an online support community of others who collectively have an endless amount of knowledge with regard to treatments and their effects, Team Inspire is the place to be. Barbara Jacoby

There are so many feelings that I get when I think about this most unique online support group. Over all these years since I first discovered this very special group of women, I continue to be impressed with the help and support that they offer on so many levels. When someone posts for the first time that they have received a verdict from a doctor that he/she can’t do anything more for them and they are feeling fear and despair and all loss of hope for the future, these women immediately jump in with hope and encouragement because many have been in the exact same position. They encourage the newbie with stories of their own situations and how they have continued to deal with their own situations for years beyond being given such news. Then they jump right in and give this new person the best advice possible and that is to find another doctor. And it won’t be long until they discover that while there are doctors who would rather just throw up their hands and walk away when a patient needs help beyond their current expertise, there are plenty of doctors whose efforts to help will always exceed their grasps.

There is also another huge service that these women provide to each other and that is the sharing of their personal treatment experiences. As anyone in this community soon learns, there are so many individual drugs and combinations thereof that are prescribed to patients and the outcomes can prove to be the very best treatment or of absolutely no value on an individual basis. And when someone writes about how something isn’t working for them, others will chime right in and say that they had the same experience but that they were switched to something else that has been truly effective. It soon becomes evident that these women have so much knowledge and experiences with the vast array of drugs available and they keep providing ideas and suggestions to others from their vast wealth of knowledge of suggestions that a patient can take to their oncologists for discussion.

Side effects and how to deal with them is another major topic that is discussed here. It doesn’t take long for a person to learn that whatever side effects they are experiencing, someone else here has had the same situation with which to deal. Ideas are offered regarding therapies that have eased the symptoms for others in the past. Or they may find that others have indicated that the solution for them was a change in the drug itself as in moving from a generic form to the brand name of the same drug.

And should they lose a member of the community to breast cancer, they are there to let the family members know what a difference their loved one made in helping and supporting others and what a difference they made to those in the breast cancer community. Additionally, they offer their prayers and words of sympathy to the surviving family members and reach out to help in any way that they can.

The bottom line is that if you are a breast cancer survivor or someone who is supporting or advocating for a survivor and are looking for an online support community of others who collectively have an endless amount of knowledge with regard to treatments and their effects, Team Inspire is the place to be. And in addition, this group will support and advocate for and encourage every single person who chooses to reach out to them whether as a patient or caregiver or as just plain in need of the kind of inspiration that only they can provide. And speaking from personal experience, I always have and will always refer every single person that I know who has breast cancer to this group. They ask nothing of anyone, give of everything they have and hope that when they are most in need on an individual basis that someone will step up and help them if possible. Now that is a community that I wish to support in any way that I can.