It is a pleasure to welcome you to our CPSP website. We are excited about all of the services that we are able to provide to cancer patients, families, caregivers and the community. Everyone viewing this has likely been touched by cancer directly or in knowing a family member or friend who has had a cancer experience. It is our goal to face cancer as a community and to insure that individuals and families do not have to stand alone during a difficult time.

CPSP provides quality professional clinical, education and nutrition services and limited emergency financial assistance together with a variety of supportive volunteer services which assist and support during the cancer journey. It is our goal to help cancer victims become cancer survivors and play as large a role as possible in making choices about their treatment and their future.

On this website we look forward to sharing what we are doing and to welcome you to be part of our cancer support community. We also hope to provide links to reliable resources on the Internet to assist in learning about the disease, its treatment and recovery. There are many ways to get involved and support our efforts ranging from volunteering to experiencing a wonderful evening at our annual Evening Song fundraiser. We thank all of you who have supported us in the past and urge others to join us in this exciting community. Giving of time or resources goes a long way toward helping those who need it and brings us all together in support and hope in facing this most difficult challenge. Enjoy the website and let us hear your thoughts and suggestions about our programs and any ideas for improving this website.

The Cancer Patient Support Program Board of Directors

Message From the CPSP Coordinator

In the Spirit of New Beginnings…

My name is Kathy McBeth, and I’m the new Coordinator for the CPSP, as well as a cancer survivor myself. I’m thrilled to be part of this fabulous program not only because of its innovative work, but because it has long been my own personal mission to give something back to the community that saved my life more than 10 years ago.

Before I was diagnosed, my role was that of a loving mother, wife, sister, daughter, business owner and dedicated friend to many. But looking back, in what now seems like an instant, all that changed. I became something new and foreign to me. I became a patient.

It was an unfamiliar, unwelcome and frightening change for me, one that presented incredible challenges—emotionally, physically and spiritually. One of the many sources of strength I found was a wonderful book titled, Cancer as a Turning Point, which resonates with me to this very day.

My turning point came when I was at my physical and emotional bottom and my Oncologist said, “Kathy, I’ve never been through what you’re going through.” A voice inside of me—almost reflexively, instinctively—cried out, “Well find me someone who has!” I didn’t know it at that time, but in that moment, becoming ‘that person’ became my quest.

I once heard a caregiver say that her whole family was touched by cancer and, when one member of a family is diagnosed, the whole family is diagnosed. That can be an immense burden for the cancer patient. That’s why our mission at the Cancer Patient Support Program is to support those who have cancer, as well as their families and caregivers. Because only with their support can we truly thrive.

Among the many people who will surround you, I want to be a person who can truly empathize with a cancer survivor, from a place of experience. Each diagnosis is different and treatments vary widely. But the experience of learning you have this disease is a great equalizer. It is what we as survivors have in common. It is our starting point. From there, each of us finds our own turning point.

My ability to be ‘that person’ for you—that someone who has actually experienced what you’re experiencing—is inspired by my own struggle, informed by all of the emotions, fears, unexpected strength, humor and determination that I experienced myself.

On behalf of the CPSP, I want you to know, to feel, and to take strength in the fact that you are not alone. It is a promise that will be brought to life through innovative psychological, nutritional and social support systems delivered in a uniquely human, compassionate way. We pursue one impossibly important goal here: to help you through the journey ahead.

For me, this Spring and this position truly is a new beginning. It is my dream, my honor, and a great moment in my own journey, to serve you in my new role here at the Cancer Patient Support Program.

Thank you so much, and welcome.

Yours,

Kathy McBeth