Patient Stories: Anne

Anne was a healthy middle-aged woman who began suffering from severe chest and breathing pains after returning from a sled dog trip to Northern Canada. What she thought was due to exposure to cold turned out to be beginning stages of lung cancer. This story covers her during ages 58 through 60 years old.

Anne, age 58 - 60

Her Needs:

• Anne and her husband needed someone to educate them with respect to how they could be actively involved on her medical team and with respect to researching her disease.
• A support network to help her with day-to-day needs. Anne's only relative in the area was her husband. It was necessary that he maintain full-time employment, and as a result, he was sometimes out of town.
• After 1-1/2 years, her cancer progressed and was pronounced terminal. Reassessment of her needs was necessary.

What we provided:

• We provided them with a listing of resource agencies and showed them how to use the internet to gather information about both her disease and potential treatment.
• Anne had been an active committee participant in both her community and church. We created a letter listing the areas that Anne needed assistance in and mailed it to 150 members of these committees. After collecting the responses, we then created a pool of 75 volunteers who had each selected areas where they could be of some assistance. We became Anne’s one-stop call center. On a weekly and sometimes daily basis, we took calls from Anne listing that weeks' needs. We then would assign and coordinate volunteers to meet those needs. Some of her areas of need consisted of the following:
  • rides to medical appointments
  • care of Anne’s beloved garden
  • meals and laundry
  • weekly bible study and support group meetings
• When Anne was diagnosed with end stage lung cancer, we reevaluated her needs. We changed the Help Team to consist of 10 regular volunteers who each took ½ of a weekday. This was supplemented with 15 on-call substitutes. We brought in Hospice and worked with Anne in weekly small group counseling sessions for a whole year, until she went home to the Lord.

Anne’s family referred to us as “Anne’s Angels” and it was a privilege to offer our help and assistance.

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