This is a sweet story about the value of online support groups. In my ten-plus years being on online support groups, I am grateful to many (not all!) who participate and share of themselves — both those with a diagnosis and their caregivers and family members.
In this story on STAT (statnews.com), Stephen Wheeler visited an online patient community called Inspire (inspire.com), after he was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer. After his death, his wife wrote to the administrators of Inspire. “Weeks later, they sent her the transcripts of the discussions he’d participated in. There were 1,000 pages. Some of Wheeler’s posts were whimsical. … There were many throwaway pages, but some passages were as deeply felt as you might imagine from a man facing death, including one in which he lamented the tendency to say that patients ‘beat’ cancer or ‘lost to’ it.” His family realized what a difference he had made in people’s lives.
Here’s a link to the STAT article:
https://www.statnews.com/2016/
ENDNOTES
After he was gone, a shy man comes to life in words left behind
By Bob Tedeschi
November 30, 2016
STAT