Jump-Starting a Financial Makeover

We are continuing our series of posts on financial challenges that cancer patients, their families, and survivors may face as they move towards their "new normal".

Nichelle Johnson, a single mom with two teenage children, knows what it’s like to stretch a dollar. When she moved back to Virginia Beach in 2008, she provided for her family with just a part-time library job.

Jobs were hard to find, and she was grateful for the work. When she heard about the Virginia Beach Mayor’s Action Challenge for 500 Families Financially Fit for the Future, she thought it was a   great way to jump-start her financial makeover.  By attending 10 monthly classes and meeting with her personal financial coach, she was able to create a financial plan to see her children through college without debt and to complete her own degree in the future. During the first class, which focused on the importance of having goals and establishing savings, Johnson signed up for Virginia Saves, making a commitment to saving and gaining the encouragement America Saves offers to develop new saving habits. 

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New Orleans Lympho-Maniacs Donate $90,000 to Local Cancer Causes

by Chad Landry | Jun 19, 2017 | Lympho-maniac Grant Awards, New Orleans Lympho-Maniacs

New Orleans Lympho-Maniac Cancer Fund announced today that they recently gave $90,000 to the following local cancer organizations: East Jefferson General Hospital’s H. Ryan Aucoin Financial Assistance Program, LSU Health Sciences’ Genetic Testing Cancer Program, and Ochsner Health System’s Adolescents & Young Adult (AYA) Cancer program.

“Our Annual Lympho-Maniac 70’s Party is not your typical Cancer fundraiser. It is more a celebration of life with goal to take the cancer survivor’s mindset mainstream for one evening,” said Chad Landry, founder of New Orleans Lympho-Maniac Cancer Fund. “From the great food to the crazy costumes to the Mardi Gras World venue our event showcases New Orleans fantastic spirit. All for such a meaningful cause.”

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One Practice for a Mindful Summer : New post from NOU

New post on NOU One practice for a mindful summer by Amy Green  Studies are showing that more Americans are reporting increases in insomnia, stress, anxiety, and depression. This summer, take charge of your wellness by inviting in more mindfulness and presence. What is mindfulness anyways?  According to the UCLA Mindfulness Awareness Research Center, mindfulness is “paying attention to present moment experiences with openness, curiosity, and a willingness to be with what is.” When we are able to become present and be fully in the moment, research has demonstrated a reduction in symptoms of anxiety, stress, fear, depression, and an overall increase in wellness. Where can you begin? Start a gratitude practice.  Gratitude has been shown to increase positive emotions, get a better night sleep, have a stronger immune system, and in general, people who practice gratitude are able to show more compassion and kindness in their lives. Gratitude goes beyond the typical ‘thank you’ to reflecting on what are you thankful for in your life.  There are moments in our lives that call in gratitude easier than others- for instance, if you have been waiting for a promotion for a while and finally get the call that you got the job!  Yes, you are thankful.  Or its your birthday and your best friend threw a surprise party for you, amazing and overwhelmed with gratitude!  It’s also the smaller things as well- things that sometimes we overlook.  The person that holds the door open when we are carrying our sweet toddler, coffee, purse, and all the things- thank you!  To your friend who knows you are having a season that is not easy right now and sends you a text to check in- thank you!  When you start this practice, it becomes easier to notice the range of things that exist in your life that you can find gratitude for. To create greater mindfulness and ease in your life, create a daily practice of reflecting on the things that you are grateful for in this moment.  Or maybe you create a gratitude jar so your whole family can participate, and then at the end of the year open the jar up and reflect on all of the things that you were grateful for together.  Maybe you decide to write a letter a week to a person you are thankful for in your life, and tell them why.  If we all were aware of the influence and impact we had on each other’s lives, in the good ways, what a sweeter world we could live in. Amy Green | June 29, 2017 at 3:43 pm | URL: http://wp.me/p7szYo-VH Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from NOU. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://www.noumagazine.org/one-practice-for-a-mindful-summer/

Tip of the Day: Make Dairy Part of Your Meal

Make dairy part of your meal. Use plain low-fat yogurt to top baked potatoes, as a sandwich spread, or in a smoothie. Recipes to try: Falafel with Yogurt Sandwich Batido Smoothie

A Closer Walk

Looking for something different to do over the July 4th weekend?

A Closer Walk is your online guide to New Orleans’ authentic music history. Discover more than a century of the city’s greatest musical treasures. Find historic sites near you, take a tour, or customize your own experience–you can filter by time period, neighborhood, or music genre, from traditional jazz to hip-hop. Follow the footsteps of legendary artists on your mobile device, or dig deep into videos, songs, archival photos, and curated links to other resources on the web.

Tip of the Day: Have tweens or teens at home?

Have tweens or teens at home? Take a break from cooking one night and let them plan and prepare a healthy meal. Activities to do with kids MyPlate, MyWins Tips: Making Family Meals

Breast Cancer Lingerie Designer of AnaOno Shares Story of Empowerment

By Robin Gardner

This is the story of a woman who refused to allow breast cancer to overtake her. Instead, she found purpose and strength from her ordeal. She used it to reach out her hand to other women by creating a unique line of breast cancer lingerie.

Dana Donofree was just a day from her 28th birthday and with only two months before her wedding, she was diagnosed with infiltrative ductal carcinoma. The diagnosis was quickly followed by a bilateral mastectomy, reconstructive surgery and a “grueling regimen of chemotherapy.”

Read Dana's Story

Movie Night In the Garden - Come See Sister Act 1 THIS FRIDAY

We occasionally like to highlight free and low cost events in our area as we know cancer patients and survivors often struggle financially. But we do live in New Orleans where we know everyone needs to occasionally go out and play.......

Join us for Hollygrove Market & Farm's first outdoor movie experience! We're bustin' out the projector and screening Sister Act! This is a BYOB event, and we'll have plenty of mixers, kombucha and soda. Come for snacks and drinks around 7pm  on Friday, June 30th.The movie starts at sundown, around 8:00.

Man with cancer fights for right to work

©Glen Whiffen/The Telegram

Ken Harding says he is unfairly being kept from going to work because Transport Canada refuses to issue him a marine medical certificate.

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Harding works as a cook on the Bell Island ferry service and is required to have such a certificate from Transport Canada to sail.

What gives them the right to keep me from going to work if I am able to work? … They are taking my job because I got cancer.

Ken Harding

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Harding said the reason he has been denied the certification is because he has been taking chemotherapy treatments to fight Stage 4 cancer, and he also takes medical marijuana on occasion.

Read Ken's Story

For More Information on this issue, go to Cancer & Career's website

Advice for My Teenage Self - 7 Things I Would Tell the Girl Diagnosed with Cancer at Age Sixteen

You never expect to be told that you have cancer, but on February 14, 2010, Valentine’s Day, it hap­pened to me. In a matter of days, I went from being a typical 16-year-old girl, worried about my upcoming driver’s license test, to a cancer survivor living in a hospital.

Read Julia's story - Coping:

Tip of the Day: Seasonal Summer Soups

Seasonal summer soups. Cool down with a refreshing and quick summer soup. Visit What's Cooking to search for recipes. Summer soup recipes: Watermelon Gazpacho Mango Cucumber Soup

Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden announce their new venture to make progress in cancer prevention, detection, treatment, and care

The Biden Cancer Initiative mission is to develop and drive implementation of solutions to accelerate progress in cancer prevention, detection, diagnosis, research and care, and to reduce disparities in cancer outcomes.

Through the Biden Cancer Initiative (BCI), Vice President and Dr. Biden will inject a sense of urgency into our cancer research and care enterprise and reimagine how the government, academia, non-profits and the private sector can better organize their resources and systems to collaborate to take on cancer, with the patient as the focus. The BCI will be a major convening force in driving new actions and collaborations toward ending cancer as we know it.

The Initiative will work closely with patients and patient organizations, cancer researchers, cancer hospitals and community health centers, research universities, governments and the private and philanthropic sectors to identify and address the critical issues in cancer prevention, research and care to achieve these goals. 

Check out their Website and Facebook pages

Have You Heard About "Casting for Recovery"?

The mission of Casting for Recovery®(CfR) is to enhance the quality of life of women with breast cancer through a unique retreat program that combines breast cancer education and peer support with the therapeutic sport of fly fishing. The program offers opportunities for women to find inspiration, discover renewed energy for life and experience healing connections with other women and nature. CfR serves breast cancer survivors of all ages, in all stages of treatment and recovery, at no cost to participants.

Why fly fishing and breast cancer?

The concept of Casting for Recovery is unique. On a physical level, the gentle, rhythmic motion of fly casting is similar to exercises often prescribed after surgery or radiation to promote soft tissue stretching. On an emotional level, women are given the opportunity to experience a new activity in a safe environment amongst a supportive group of peers. The retreats provide resources to help address quality of life issues after a breast cancer diagnosis, and a new outlet – fly fishing – as a reprieve from the every day stresses and challenges of their cancer.

Learn More

https://www.facebook.com/castingforrecovery/

In 2016, Casting for Recovery launched a regional program serving women with breast cancer from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Our first retreat was held in October 2016 in Loranger, Louisiana. .This year, we will host two retreats to serve more women: one retreat in Louisiana and another in Alabama. Both of these retreats are open to women from Mississippi.

Space is limited so pay close attention to the application deadlines

Advocacy Request from the Cancer Policy Institute

Republican Senators are scrambling to force the Better Care Reconciliation Act through their chamber without due process or time for hearings and debate. Today, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its findings about the impact that this bill will have on Americans if it is passed.  The report predicts that 22 million people will be left uninsured over the next decade. Senators can no longer deny the devastating impact that this bill will have if passed into law. Costs will be higher and coverage will be weaker-especially for individuals with pre-existing conditions like cancer patients and survivors. Today, the American Medical Association stated that this legislation violates one of the most important standards of medicine: "First, do no harm." Please call your Senators and tell them that they must vote NO on this bill! If you have called before, call again! It is more important now than ever before that we send a clear message that this bill is UNACCEPTABLE.  Call Now!  Sincerely, Elizabeth Franklin ​Senior Director, Policy and Advocacy ​Cancer Support Community

Tip of the Day: Prevent Summer Boredom

Prevent summer boredom. Have kids create an exciting event with friends. Hold a hopscotch, hula-hoop, or jump rope challenge. 10 Tips: Be an Active Family Be a Fit Kid: 10 Tips for Being Active Every Day

After Breast Cancer, I Just Want to Feel Normal

"Whether you face a new or old breast cancer diagnosis, whether you will have breast surgery tomorrow or had it ten years ago, we’re here to support you as you take charge of your life after a breast cancer diagnosis. Of course, by “after breast cancer,” we don’t mean life in which no fear of breast cancer exists. We don’t even mean a life in which no tumors exist.  However, as your breast cancer diagnosis become older and older news to you, we hope this page will be a resource for you in your long-term journey. Check back often as we deal with many of the challenges that life after a breast cancer diagnosis includes. Join in the conversation, comment, and share with us the things that have helped you discover your new normal."

By Robin Gardner

In I'm Taking Charge - Life After Breast Cancer, June 2017

If you haven’t been through a breast cancer diagnosis and mastectomy, you can’t really understand the upheaval that happens to your life. Because after breast cancer, your emotions change, your body image changes, and the peace in your life is turned upside down.

All those doubts and fears don’t go away at the end of treatment, or after the recovery from breast reconstruction.

So, where can you find your old normal? Well, that’s impossible, because it’s gone. Searching for that “new normal” seems so insurmountable, but it’s oh so extremely necessary to move forward.

Read the Rest of Robin's story

Differences and Disparities in Cancer - Cancer Today

By William G. Nelson, MD, PhD

"Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and inhuman.”
 –Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

​Nearly 1.7 million new cancer cases and roughly 600,000 cancer deaths are expected in the U.S. in 2017. The good news is that this reflects an ongoing 
1.5 percent annual decline in cancer death rates, likely having resulted in over 2 million fewer cancer deaths from 1991 to 2014. The more troubling news is that cancer does not affect all equally. African-Americans have cancer death rates 15 percent higher than Caucasians. Asian/Pacific Islanders, American Indian/Alaska Natives and Hispanics have higher risks of cancers attributable to chronic infections. Finally, low-income people disproportionately die from cancer.

Every person is unique. Analyses of the more than 3.1 billion base pairs constituting the human genome illustrate this point. Although any two individuals have DNA sequences that are 99.9 percent identical, there are at least 3 million differences (1 in 1,000 base pairs). Even identical twins, though beginning life with identical genomes, grow to differ in DNA sequences. And of course, no two people, including identical twins, have the same life experience

Read More- Cancer Today

Advocacy Request from the American Cancer Society's Cancer Action Network

	Cathy, It's bad. The U.S. Senate unveiled their secretly drafted health care bill, and now we know why they were keeping it a secret. The impact on cancer patients could be devastating: Insurers could stop covering treatments Re-imposing annual and lifetime caps on coverage Skyrocketing out-of-pocket costs for cancer patients Call your U.S. Senator - Senator Bill Cassidy - and ask them to vote no on this dangerous bill. It only takes one minute to leave a message with the receptionist or on their voice mail. Please call right now. It’s as easy as 1-2-3: Step 1: Call Senator Bill Cassidy at (202) 224-5824 Step 2: Leave the following message. You’re always welcome to add your personal story, but it’s not required. “My name is [your name] and I’m from [city]. I’m calling to ask you to vote against the Senate health care bill because it could take away cancer patients' and survivors' affordable health care coverage. Thank you." Step 3: Click this link which will indicate to us that you completed the call. Thank you, Erin O’Neill Vice President, Grassroots Strategy

Send to a Friend | ACS CAN | My Account | Unsubscribe | Privacy Policy Please do not reply to this email. It is sent from an unmonitored mailbox. Click here to contact ACS CAN. American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network 555 11th St, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC, 20004 1.888.NOW.I.CAN