Laurie Grout

You are just told " I am sorry, you have cancer".

I remember that day so vividly like it was yesterday. I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. I was determined to beat this on my own. That was not a good idea. I was having anger issues as well as guilt issues and was not sure how to handle them.

One day when I was talking with Ellen Fein she told me about the Kindred Connections program where they match cancer survivors with cancer patients who were just diagnosed.

I got lucky. My connection was with Beth Gambler. We talked on the phone for a while and had lunches together. She drove me to radiation treatments sometimes. The best thing she did for me was to give me back my pride and self esteem. I thought everything would be worse then before I had cancer. I was pretty down. When I was able to talk with Beth, she was one that DID understand what I was going through. We would get mad together. We contact each other by email often just to check up as we both have busy schedules. I know that if I had a problem and needed to get together with Beth she would drop everything for me. As I would for her.

Beth made sure that I understood what was going to happen to me so I would not be so scared. She told me once that no one or nothing could ever hurt us now, we had the strength to beat cancer. Cancer patients have courage that comes out better with a person from Kindred Connections. Having someone who understands what you are going through can give you suggestions on what to do to make things easier. I thank god that Beth came into my life.

The best part of Kindred Connections is getting a new friend.This is a wonderful program and very soon I hope to enroll as a Cancer Mentor. This is the best thing someone with cancer can do. I wish I was able to do this from the very beginning.