Cancer survivor helps children cope with a parent's disease
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Ask Nancy Jones why she got involved with a program to help children of breast cancer patients and she'll tell you about a trip she made to Magee-Womens Hospital three years ago.
Jones, who lives in Marshall, was sitting in a hospital waiting room before her chemotherapy treatments were to begin when she struck up a conversation with a fellow breast cancer patient.
Jones said the woman showed her a photo of her children, and Jones asked the woman how her kids were coping with her cancer treatments.
"And she told me they didn't even know," Jones said. "And I'm thinking, 'People don't know how or are afraid to talk to their kids about this.' That's why I think the program is so important."
Jones now chairs the committee that is coordinating the Komen Pittsburgh Kids For the Cure program. Its goal is to help educate parents on how best to inform and support young children who have a parent with breast cancer.
Nationally, the program was established in 1998 by the Phoenix chapter of the Komen Race For the Cure.
Jones said the Pittsburgh chapter started this time last year and just got its Web pages up and running about a month ago.
She said she got involved because of her experience with cancer and because she thought she had something to contribute.
Jones was diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2000 when her daughter, Hannah, was 7 years old and in second grade.
She said she frequently talked to Hannah about her treatments and thought of her often while going through them.
"She was my inspiration and motivation," she said. "I'd look at her every day and think, 'This is why I'm doing this.' "
Jones said Hannah quickly took it upon herself to find a way to keep her mom's spirits high.
"Every day she'd come home and her thing was to find some way to make me laugh," she said.
Visitors to the organization's Web site at www.pittsburghraceforthecure.org will find lists of books and news articles for children to help them through the ordeal.
It also contains tips for parents to help kids cope and stories from kids whose mothers have had breast cancer.
Jones said most of the material is targeted for kids from preschool to about sixth grade. She said talking to kids about the disease is essential for cancer patients.
"It's such a prevalent disease," she said. "A lot of children are affected. Most people know somebody who is affected in one way or another."
Jones also is coordinating activities for the tent that will be set up at the Komen Pittsburgh Race For the Cure to be held on Mother's Day, May 9, in Schenley Park in Oakland.
Linda Charapp, program director for the race, said the event will include a live broadcast by Radio Disney, a kids' T-shirt design contest and giveaways.
Charapp said last year's race raised $1.4 million and drew 36,000 participants, including 2,200 breast cancer survivors.
The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation was established in 1982 by Nancy Brinker to honor the memory of her sister, Susan G. Komen, who died from breast cancer at age 36. According to its Web site, the foundation is a national organization with a network of volunteers working through local chapters and events across the country, fighting to eradicate breast cancer as a life-threatening disease by advancing research, education, screening and treatment.
Jones said today she is doing great.
"They tell me I'm cancer free," she said. "It was a bump in the road, and I'm moving forward."
First Published April 11, 2004 12:00 am
