Walk with Me aims to assist cancer patients and their loved ones as they navigate through one of the hardest journeys of their lifetime by providing educational and personalized emotional support. Our initiatives are targeted for affected teenagers, as we recognize that the adolescent years are already filled with various challenges and expectations, and we hope to help relieve any additional stress that comes with cancer.
We recognize that those impacted by cancer may not have the financial resources to afford a licensed social worker and/or may not feel comfortable sharing their concerns with support groups. Our free pairing program matches teen patients with cancer, as well as teenagers who have relatives that are cancer patients, with volunteers, according to their preferences. We hope that this individualized support serves as a remedy for emotional relief and a safe place to openly discuss struggles and ask for advice.
Our information hub, Cancerpedia, presents cancer information in a simple but accurate manner, designed for a teen audience. All pages are modified from CancerQuest, a project at Emory University that aims to "save lives by ... educating the world's population ... about the biology and treatment of cancer." We hope that by making cancer biology more understandable, we can make the cancer experience less intimidating and decrease affected teenager's fears regarding cancer. Furthermore, we believe that preemptively educating the next generation on cancer will lead them to make better choices about their lifestyle.
Want to help us achieve our mission? Check out the three ways that you can participate in Walk with Me below.
Having had cancer ourselves or witnessed our loved ones' journeys with cancer, we have firsthand experience of the wide-ranging emotions and struggles that afflict not only the patients themselves, but also those around them. After our personal situations stabilized, we desired to create resources that could help navigate the challenges we faced, to serve others who are in the same boat as we were.
As teens who were uncomfortable sharing their private lives with others, we were hesitant in joining support groups and had disregarded our emotional and mental needs. Nevertheless, as we looked back on our journeys, we remembered the moment after diagnosis that felt like the world had halted and the cries of ecstasy as we received the news of cancer remission - all of which would have felt so much better if we had someone, who had been in our shoes, to confide in and celebrate with. We hope that our one-on-one support program will encourage affected teens to accept the support that they deserve.
We also remembered the caffeine-fueled, late-night binges as we researched causes of the diseases, how to change our diet, and the side effects of treatment, as well as the sighs of frustration as we attempted to comprehend mind-boggling medical reports. We hope that our support program and our cancer information hub can together mitigate experiences like these or, at the very least, make them less intimidating.
If our resources have aided you, touched you, comforted you, or brightened your life in any form, then we have already exceeded our expectations. Thank you for giving us some of your precious time, or more. It means the world to us.
Yours,
Mason Chen and Amelia Zai
Founders and Executive Directors
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