Message from Lynn Joye,
Executive Director
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Why do I love gardening so much? Not only do I find the world of plants both beautiful and fascinating, but as an introvert, my garden is almost always a peaceful place where I can retreat from the world of people and be alone with my thoughts and prayers. In addition to the mental and emotional benefits of quiet and solitude, I also get to reap the physical rewards of fresh air, sunshine and exercise. There are, however, many challenges to gardening.
A gardener must always consider the environmental factors that affect plants such as light, temperature, soil quality, water and weather conditions. Living under a large tree, I look for plants that can tolerate a lot of shade. Living in the South, I look for plants that can survive our hot summers. Our winters, as we all witnessed recently, are a very mixed bag- One day the temperature outside can be 75 degrees and the next day it can be in the 30's. When this occurs I have to know which plants in my garden need protection from freezing temperatures. That's when you see ugly tarps and old sheets covering plants in the Lowcountry!
Plants also have different life cycles to consider- some live one season (ephemerals), while some live for one year (annuals) and others can live indefinitely (perennials). I'm a frugal gardener, so most of my plants are perennials. I've learned that some, but not all, perennial plants go into a state of dormancy, or winter rest, as a result of cold temperatures and shorter daylight hours in winter. My hydrangea shrubs, for example, lose all their leaves during January and February leaving behind nothing but bare, brown and spindly sticks coming out of the ground. Before I knew better, I assumed these sad-looking sticks were kaput and would never bloom again. I truly considered pulling them out and starting over.
I have learned, after 20 years of caring for my perennial hydrangeas, to trust that their seemingly spent sticks are actually very much alive and are restoring themselves before a very busy season of spring growth. It is now March and my hydrangea shrubs are putting out bright green buds which will grow into large beautiful leaves and then big beautiful balls of vibrant blue flowers will bloom becoming the glory of my garden all summer long.
People and plants, it turns out, have some things in common- We both weather occasional unforeseen threats and bizarre winters where we might lose our vibrant leaves and enter a sort of dormancy for a time. At times like these life can seem both fragile and resilient at the same time and we have no guarantee how things will turn out. As CanCare volunteers, we are most often invited into peoples' lives during a winter season, whether it be just after a cancer diagnosis has been made and they are feeling scared and overwhelmed or after cancer treatments and surgeries have begun and they are feeling compromised, perhaps discouraged and depleted.
Please remember what a privilege it is to serve people when they are feeling their most vulnerable. It is never easy to invite a complete stranger in, least of all when you are facing the unknowns a cancer diagnosis brings. Follow up with your client(s) regularly and attend to them with the utmost care and compassion. If you find your compassion is waning, please visit one of our virtual support groups for volunteers, attend our weekly prayer time by Zoom or let someone on our staff know. CanCare ministry is challenging and we want our volunteers to get the support they need too.
It is always my prayer that cancer treatment will work for everyone and that our clients and volunteers will all experience the eradication of disease and a complete recovery of the mind, body and spirit. I have to remind myself though, that Earth is not our eternal home. Heaven is our true home. But let's never cease bringing a glimpse of Heaven here to Earth as the Holy Spirit transforms us into a community that manifests love.
"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Hebrews 10:24-25
In His Service,
Lynn
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CanCare Charleston Is Growing!
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- A warm welcome to our newest members:
Marie Ockerbloom and Jennifer Handwerker.
- According to our new portal, CanCare Charleston has supported over 160 clients!
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Volunteer Spotlight: Jennifer Handwerker
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 Jennifer was only 30 when she followed her intuition that a lump in her breast needed attention and fought to get a mammogram. She was diagnosed with Stage 3 Est+ and Pr+ Breast Cancer. Because she also tested positive for the BRCA gene (gene that can cause breast and ovarian cancers) Jennifer underwent double mastectomy surgery one month prior to starting chemotherapy and later had both her ovaries removed. Jen and her husband John have since adopted their second son and moved to Mt. Pleasant. When Jen met her new oncologist here she was told she had reached the 10 year mark and no longer needs check-ups! We are also grateful Jen met someone in the waiting room that day who told her about CanCare. Welcome to our family, Jen!
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Help Make CanCare Charleston Known
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Our local team of trainers are ready to offer in-person volunteer trainings again, but we need more volunteers to train! Folks seem to have gotten accustomed to the convenience of attending online trainings from the comfort of their own homes, not to mention the greater availability of online training dates. So... until we have enough locals wanting an in-person training, we will continue to ask you to choose from our online options.
Online trainings using Zoom will take place the following weekends in 2022:
March 26-27
May 21-22
July 30-31
September 17-18
November 12-13
Please encourage interested friends and family to submit applications on our website or share through the below portal.
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What's All This Talk about Portals?
A portal is essentially a website, a place to store and access information about a person, company or organization. So what's the difference between a website and a portal? A website is a public domain open to anyone whereas a portal is a private domain that requires a username and password to enter.
It seems like most healthcare providers now utilize portals so their patients can access their own personal medical history, medication list, appointments and test results at their own convenience. This is very nice, but because this information is meant to be kept private, you'll need your username and password to access it and this can of course be very frustrating when/if you don't remember what those are!
CanCare also offers both a public website and a private portal. Our website is the place where people can go to learn more about CanCare and our services whereas our portal is a place to keep our volunteers' records and their matches with clients. The goal is to increase accuracy, efficiency and most importantly provide better service to our CanCare community.
You may hear us refer to CanCare's portal as our VCMS (Volunteer Client Management System). All our volunteers can access this portal on any type of computer or phone. The portal allows volunteers to view and update your Volunteer Profile, add their Volunteer Hours, view CanCare's Events Calendar and view Resource Information.
If you need help accessing the Volunteer Portal, please let us know by sending us a message here:
VCMSHELP@cancare.org
To view our national CanCare website, click here:
http://Cancare.org
To view CanCare Charleston's local website, click here:
http://cancarecharleston.org
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Resources
- Share Our Suzy (SOS), honors the spirit of Suzy McGrane. This local nonprofit raises money and resources to support breast cancer patients in our state so they can focus solely on recovery and not the financial stress brought on by the very difficult battle. SOS helps patients cover the critical areas that insurance companies do not: assistance with everyday needs such as wigs, prosthetics, utility bills, childcare, gas cards, medication assistance and more. Learn more at: SOSLowcountry.org
- SheROCKS brings attention to ovarian cancer by funding groundbreaking research at UNC Lineberger in Chapel Hill and by helping patients who are undergoing treatment for cancer in the Wilmington and Triad, NC regions. SheROCKS founder, Cathy French, is also one of our beloved CanCare volunteers!
-National Cancare has a PRAYER AND PRAISE Program. You are invited to submit prayer requests to Daniellam@cancare.org.
You can also join the Prayer and Praise Zoom meeting held each Wednesday at 1:30 EST. This is a time of stillness and community with other CanCare volunteers. Join with this link and password: Meeting ID: 819 4853 3923 Passcode: 677749 https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81948533923?pwd=bU1WUE1mWkdiVWhPMTl4UzM2UisyQT09
- Access HealthLinks' article on CanCare Charleston here:
- Access previous CanCare Charleston's newsletters here:
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What's New in Cancer Care:
- Don't miss this great presentation by Dr. Arentz (Houston, TX). It's a powerful prompt to us all to get our genetic testing updated! View the presentation by clicking here and use passcode 1*4vQ&a2.
- During 2021 overall mortality rates from cancer continued to decline. Like many other cancers, the management of Cervical Cancer, Ovarian Cancer and Uterine Cancer continued to improve from advances in the use of immunotherapy and precision cancer medicines that target cancer growth driving genetic mutations based on NGS and biomarker testing.
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