Help | What We Talk About (When We Talk About Cancer)

Help may be one of the hardest things to ask for and yet, one of the easiest things to give. A cancer diagnosis is a time for friends and family to rally around the patient and find ways to make their treatment more manageable. Assistance can come as food deliveries, rides, childcare, being there to listen, and much more. Help in all forms is vital to lowering stress and improving comfort of the cancer patient. How do you ask for help? How do you offer it?

An opportunity to help someone

Theresa M | Patient | 06-30-2016

For every independent person, asking for help is difficult. When faced with a life threatening condition it can add to your already existing feelings of helpLESSNESS. Continue…

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There is so much that I can never repay

Angela D | Patient | 06-15-2016

So much help is required following a cancer diagnosis. The help of our doctors, our nurses, our families, our friends. So often the fight goes on and on. People have their own lives. It is difficult to always “be there” Continue…

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Every Little Bit Helps

Anne B | Patient | 06-03-2016

Help is so important when you’re going through cancer, in every area of your life. Help with the kids, with the dog, with cooking, with work. Help with dressing, with clearing drains, with showering, with getting home from chemo. Continue…

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Our Mission

This is a place where anyone who counts themselves as a member of the Mass General Cancer Center community --- patient, family member, physician, nurse, researcher, social worker, care giver, administrator --- can come to read, think, and write about the words we all use, but which we don’t always understand in the same way. Often we use words and phrases that are common, that we use every day. Yet, their very familiarity creates the illusion of common understanding where, the fact is, we are frequently using these words in radically different ways, with radically different meanings. In our small way, WWTA is meant to help us work toward a common language and make the conversations we have about cancer more meaningful.

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