Community Magazine June 2019

38 Community Magazine Healing the Body and Soul Frieda Schweky Having a safe place to go when you’re fighting a life-altering ailment can make all the difference in the world. Especially when that place has been specifically designed to ease the hardships that you’re about to face. The Morris I. Franco Cancer Center is a retreat in Brooklyn where individuals with cancer and their family members can go to feel whole again. M r. D.J. Cohen aptly said, “It’s hard enough going through cancer. It's emotional, it is physical, it is spiritual, and it is very wearing on the body.” The Morris I. Franco Cancer Center recognizes this truth, and aims to tackle cancer and all of its effects on a person, not only the physical ones. The Cancer Center is dedicated to assisting cancer patients and their loved ones through diagnosis, treatment, and respite. The Cancer Center offers mind-body healing modalities such as yoga, reiki, acupuncture, art and music therapy, as well as providing counseling, nutrition, guidance, and support. The Cancer Center was established in 2009. Over 500 clients have walked through their doors. This reflects hundreds and thousands of doctor referrals, rides and escorts to doctor appointments, and dinners cooked on weeknights when mom is having trouble coping, etc. has become, if nothing else, somewhere to go. It provides patients a reason to get out, a place to meet people, to do crafts, and feel like themselves again. It is healthy to move, to interact, to make connections, and to smile. For many people, The Center provides the location for all of those things. Some people when diagnosed with cancer want to keep their illness a secret. They do not want anyone to know about it. For them, it can feel counterproductive to call a community resource, tell them their name, and ask for help. In this situation, The Center staff goes out of their way to make confidentiality their priority for that client. For example, when a privacy seeking patient is in The Center, all doors are closed and no one is allowed in the hallways for the times that client needs to visit The Center. No one should go at it alone for fear someone may find out. The benefits of support are too good to pass up. “ People out there are going tohave cancer whetherwe’re here or not – butwe canmake it a little bit easier. ” More than Just a Professional Resource Center When a person gets involved with The Cancer Center, they immediately gain a valuable friend in their corner. A volunteer from the Center will go to doctor appointments with them, not just as an onlooker, but as a knowledgeable advocate for the patient, who helps translate the doctor’s words for the patient. The volunteer will make sure to ask the right questions at an appointment, to assure the patient has all the information they need. Volunteers will even sit with patients through chemotherapy sessions, literally holding their hand through the entire process. Support is a key factor when it comes to fighting cancer. A hand to hold or a shoulder to cry on can make all the difference. When diagnosed with such a notoriously vicious disease, it’s easy to fall into a well of self-pity, become irritable, and be overall depressed. Some people find it difficult to get out of bed. The Center Going the Extra Mile The lifestyle of a person dealing with cancer can change rapidly. The Center has been designed to aid in most of these situations to help take stress away from an already ill individual. One example of this can be seen in the wig salon that is conveniently located within The Center itself. Chemotherapy often leads to hair loss. The Cancer Center provides an exclusive wig salon experience where clients can come, be fitted and styled with a wig, possibly have a manicure, and be treated to some makeup application too, to help them feel like themselves again. “I had my best friend’s wedding one day, and The Center told me come in, we’ll do your makeup and your hair,” said Joyce Beyda, cancer survivor and former client. “Everyone was around me at the salon, supporting me, telling me how gorgeous I looked.” Joyce recalled, “When I looked in themirror, I looked like a different person, and I forgot about a lot of things I was going through. It was a great day. I finally smiled for the first time in a long time.”