Breast Cancer Resources Patients & Supporters
Receiving a Diagnosis of Breast Cancer… You are not alone!
Resources for Breast Cancer Patients
Here are a list of resource sites, support groups, and financial assistance programs by and for breast cancer patients and survivors. It is our hope that you find support and comfort from the blogs and resources below. We will be working to continually update this list, to offer you more support, wisdom and knowledge. If you know of any blogs, online support groups, or resource website dedicated to Breast Cancer, Breast Cancer Recovery and / or Breast Cancer related topics, please contact us so that we can get them on our list and share them with others.
Education & Empowerment:
Outcomes4Me
Outcomes4Me is on a mission to empower patients with understandable, relevant, and evidence-based information. By harnessing their experience and expertise to create an intelligent solution that will use real treatment guidelines and state-of-the-art machine learning to empower patients with clarity about their best treatment options – based on their specific condition. By sharing experiences and interactions with the platform, patients can help us to continuously generate even deeper insights and better outcomes for themselves and others.
Breast360.org
Breast360 – The American Society of Breast Surgeons Foundation is pleased to present its patient website, Breast360.org! As breast care experts, we want to share our knowledge with you and serve as your “go to place” for reliable, helpful information.
Surviving Breast Cancer
Empowering breast cancer survivors, and their caregivers, from day one and beyond. Survivingbreastcancer.org is committed to providing the resources and platform for navigating a breast cancer diagnosis.
Cancer Hope Network
Cancer Hope Network provides one-on-one support to cancer patients and their families undergoing cancer treatment from trained volunteers who have survived cancer themselves.
SHARE
SHARE is more than just a breast cancer awareness site. They strive to provide the information you need be an active and informed partner in your breast cancer care, and the support you need to sustain your emotional and psychological wellbeing throughout your diagnosis and treatment. Below, you can access all of our free breast cancer support and education offerings, from our peer helpline to our clinical trial assistance program. Breast cancer awareness month comes just once a year, but SHARE is here for you all day, every day, until we’re no longer needed.
Breast Friends
Breast Friends’ mission is to ensure that no woman goes through a diagnosis of cancer alone. Regardless of where you are in your journey, we are here for you. Helping you navigate this new and challenging path in your life with support and understanding. Breast Friends offers a variety of programs to help women and their families. To learn more, visit their website.
Patient Advocate Foundation
Patient Advocate Foundation – Provides education and legal counseling (relative to a diagnosis) to cancer patients concerning managed care, discrimination, insurance, and financial issues.
Breast Cancer Resource Center of Texas
Whether you just found out you have breast cancer or received your diagnosis years ago, BCRC is here to help. They’ll match you with a BCRC Navigator – another woman whose personal experience with breast cancer makes her the perfect guide to help you chart a course that’s right for you.
BCRC Navigators are here to meet your needs. She’ll provide guidance, support, and help you access the community resources appropriate for your situation. Whether you need help for an hour or all day, she’ll be by your side in all the moments that count.
Living Beyond Breast Cancer
Living Beyond Breast Cancer is a national nonprofit organization that seeks to create a world that understands there is more than one way to have breast cancer. To fulfill our mission of providing trusted information and a community of support, we offer on-demand emotional, practical, and evidence-based content that is meaningful to those newly diagnosed, in treatment, post-treatment, and living with metastatic disease.
For The Breast of Us
On a mission is to empower women of color affected by breast cancer to make the rest of their lives the best of their lives through education, advocacy and community.
Caring Bridge
Caring Bridge – Offers personal, protected websites that can be used during a health journey to share updates with family and friends. Your personal CaringBridge website is your place to share health updates, photos and videos with the people who care about you.
myCancerConnection
MD Anderson Cancer Center’s myCancerConnection – Matches cancer patients with others who have had the exact same diagnosis for support.
Find Cancer Help
No one should have to fight their cancer diagnosis alone. Find the resources, support, and inspiration your journey deserves from the people who have walked it themselves.
The IBC Network Foundation
Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) is a rare and very aggressive disease in which cancer cells block lymph vessels in the skin of the breast. The IBC Network Foundation was formed out of the efforts of Terry Arnold, an IBC survivor to educate everyone she could persuade to listen to her about IBC. As naturally as walking along a path, each step lead her to the conclusion that we could do more for IBC. We need a very proactive foundation that will fund research and share education
Online Support Networks:
Financial Support:
CFAC | Cancer Financial Assistance CoalitionSisters Network
The Cancer Financial Assistance Coalition (CFAC) is a collective of organizations dedicated to supporting cancer patients in managing their financial difficulties. CFAC’s mission is to improve the health and well-being of cancer patients by alleviating financial challenges. They achieve this by promoting communication and collaboration among member organizations, educating patients and providers about available resources, and advocating for cancer patients burdened by the costs of treatment and care. CFAC consists of 14 member organizations, including the American Cancer Society, CancerCare, and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
Sisters Network
As part of the Sisters Network, a leading voice for African American breast cancer survivors, this program provides FREE services to women facing financial challenges during treatment, radiation and chemotherapy, including medical related lodging, co-pays, office visits and prosthesis. They also provide FREE mammograms
CancerCare Co-Payment Assistance
A national non-profit helps metastatic breast cancer patients cover the insurance co-payment cost of chemo and targeted treatment drugs. Patients must meet certain criteria related to their diagnosis, treatment and financial situation and must have private insurance or Medicare. If you do not qualify, the organization will refer you to other patient assistance programs that may be able to help.
Sharsheret Financial Wellness Toolkit
Are you struggling with the financial burdens of a breast cancer diagnosis? Sharsheret, a national not-for-profit organization supporting young women and their families, of all Jewish backgrounds, facing breast cancer, offers a FREE Tool Kit addressing the often complicated issues of health insurance, disability rights, financial planning, and estate planning. Sharsheret’s Financial Wellness Tool Kit includes guidelines from experts in the field, tools to record and organize your personal information, vital resources and helpful tips from other Jewish women who have faced illness.
The CARE Project, Inc.
The CARE Project, Inc., is a non-profit organization created by a breast cancer survivor to emotionally and financially support male and female breast cancer patients.
Support for College Students with Cancer
Cancer does not discriminate. It doesn’t care about age, race, religion or anything else— and it certainly doesn’t care if you’re a college student. In fact, many of the 72,000 individuals between the ages of 15 and 39 diagnosed with cancer every year are students; today, it’s estimated that one of every 100 college students is a cancer survivor. The good news is that college students facing cancer can find a wealth of support, from understanding teachers to accommodations and support groups. This guide is for those trying to pursue their dream of higher education— despite their battle with the Big C.
Apps & Tools we Like
Keep A Breast
Self-Check Scheduling and Direct Connect to Telehealth Professionals
The Keep A Breast app focuses on information, support, and, most importantly, access. For the first time, a breast self-check app now connects users who think they may have discovered something during their check with a telehealth medical professional via a partnership with Carbon Health, a technology-enabled healthcare provider that combines smart technology with inviting clinics and a robust virtual offering. This means you’ll have direct, instantaneous support in the case you find something that is not normal to your self-check.
B-THERE CONNECTION TOOL
B-THERE – ANYTIME – ANYWHERE
The b-there connection tool is available for free online to help patients and their support network communicate and stay connected 24/7 from anywhere. Patients easily share their status, desire to connect, manage activities, and request needed items, and friends and family provide the support that best matches these needs.
Breast Advocate
Are you facing surgery for breast cancer, or considering surgery to decrease your risk of breast cancer?… If so, Breast Advocate® is for you.
Co-created by leading specialists and patient advocates, Breast Advocate® is a free breast cancer surgery app that provides ALL your surgical options along with evidence-based recommendations, personalized for you.
Voted ‘one of the best apps for managing your breast cancer’ by Health Centeral and MUO!
Free Stuff for Breast Cancer Patients
Cancer is an Expensive Illness… Once you are diagnosed, not only do you have to worry about your health, but also about how you are going to pay for the costs associated with your surgery, treatment, medications, co-pays and more. Thankfully, there are generous people and organizations whose mission it is to make the journey a little easier and take the burden off your wallet. Enjoy these perks. Please consider making a donation to the non-profits featured so they can keep giving freebies to others like you.
Hope Lodge: American Cancer Society
Facing cancer is hard. Having to travel out of town for treatment can make it even harder. Yet the American Cancer Society has a place where cancer patients and their caregivers can find help and hope when home is far away – an American Cancer Society Hope Lodge.
Each Hope Lodge offers cancer patients and their caregivers a free place to stay when their best hope for effective treatment may be in another city.
Currently, there are 31 Hope Lodge locations throughout the United States. Accommodations and eligibility requirements may vary by location. Society at 1-800-227-2345 for more information.
Fight Through Flights, Inc.
Fight Through Flights, Inc. aims to empower and support the healing of Black women living with breast cancer and breast cancer survivors by providing free wellness retreats and travel experiences as well as mental health, nutrition and fitness resources.
Their vision is to create a safe space for Black women to fight and heal from breast cancer and to easily connect them with black professionals in the mental health, fitness, and nutrition fields.
EBeauty Community
EBeauty’s mission is to enhance and strengthen the education, charitable and community support network for women undergoing cancer treatments. EBeauty works to improve the quality of life of women undergoing chemotherapy treatments through the implementation of its Wig Exchange Program and Hospital Partnership Program. Our primary goal is to provide all women, regardless of economic status or geographic location, access to wigs.
The Wig Exchange Program’s simple premise has a powerful impact on women undergoing treatment for cancer. Women who have completed cancer treatment donate their used wigs, which are then refurbished and distributed free of charge to women newly undergoing treatment. Along with the Wig Exchange Program, EBeauty has initiated a Hospital Partnership Program. The Hospital Partnership Program provides wigs directly to the hospital so that they can distribute them to their patients on site, thereby immediately placing wigs into the hands of the women that need them the most.
Awesome Breastforms
Created by a group of women who have come together for the single purpose of crocheting and knitting handmade prosthetic breast forms for women who have had breast surgery, including mastectomy, lumpectomy and explant surgery. Awesome Breastforms are made of high quality 100% cotton fiber yarn. They are cooler, lighter and much more comfortable than traditional silicone prosthetics. You have several color options when ordering, as well as choosing if your form is made with nipples. Awesome Breastforms are washable and easy to care for. When you place an Awesome Breastform in your bra, you will be surprised at how similar it feels to a natural breast. In fact, many women say they soon forget they are wearing them!
Knitted Knockers
Knitted Knockers are special handmade breast prosthesis for women who have undergone mastectomies or other procedures to the breast. Traditional breast prosthetics are usually expensive, heavy, sweaty and uncomfortable. They typically require special bras or camisoles with pockets and can’t be worn for weeks after surgery. Knitted Knockers on the other hand are soft, comfortable, beautiful and when placed in a regular bra they take the shape and feel of a real breast. Our special volunteer knitters provide these free to those requesting them. Knitted knockers can be adjusted to fill the gap for breasts that are uneven and easily adapted for those going through reconstruction by simply removing some of the stuffing.
The Cancer Card Xchange
The Cancer Card Xchange collects and distributes FREE gift cards to cancer patients around the country in the denomination of $10 to $100. They accept donations of restaurant, store, Movie Theater and gas gift cards that people have lying around and aren’t using. Donors can also make tax-deductible donations of money or gift cards in honor or memory of loved ones.
Casting for Recovery
Casting for Recovery is a fabulous organization that offers weekend retreats for breast cancer patients in all stages of survival and teaches them fly fishing. It’s a great bonding weekend where you have a blast, learn a new skill, and are spoiled by the volunteers who put it together. They offer retreats around the country and some overseas.
Chemo Angels
Chemo Angels offers support to those who are undergoing IV chemotherapy. Angels will send weekly postal mail, providing uplifting messages, supportive words and lots of positive energy. Applications can be found on their web site.
Cleaning for a Reason
Cleaning for a Reason will provide three free housecleaning services for people undergoing chemotherapy. You have to fax a note from your doctor. May be overbooked in some areas, (like mine) but is a very necessary service for those who can take advantage.
Look Good…Feel Better
Helps cancer patients improve their appearance during treatment. Free workshops across the country.
Voice: 1-800-227-2345
R.A. Bloch Cancer Foundation BLOCH Cancer Hotline
Connects persons with cancer to home volunteers with same type of cancer. Provides free books about cancer.
Voice: 1-800-433-0464
Breast Cancer Freebies
Bethany Kandel has lovingly put together “THE” resource for wonderful freebies for breast cancer patients. In fact, most of the resources listed above came from her dedicated research. Please visit her website – Breast Cancer Freebies – to discover more resources to help you on and in your recovery.
Reid Sleeve
If you have had a mastectomy and lymph surgery, you are forever at risk for lymphodema. You cannot have blood pressure taken or blood drawn from that arm. If you are going into the hospital and want to remind medical personal of the risks, you can get a free bracelet from ReidSleeve.com
Reading List
The Complete Guide to Breast Cancer brings together all the knowledge they have gathered as patients and as doctors to give you and your family a trusted, thorough and up-to-date source of information. Designed to empower you during your breast cancer treatment.
Drawing on the latest research in integrative medicine that blends conventional and alternative approaches, Servan-Schreiber concisely explains what makes cancer cells thrive, what inhibits them, and how we can empower ourselves to prevent their growth.
With Dr. Love’s warm support, readers can sort the facts from the fads, ask the right questions, and recognize when a second opinion might be wise. Explains advances in targeted treatments, hormonal therapies, safer chemotherapy, and immunologic approaches as well as new forms of surgery and radiation.
Many women believe that family history and genetics determine who gets breast cancer, but that’s not true for most people. In fact, 87 percent of women diagnosed with breast cancer do not have a single first-degree relative with breast cancer.
Help dealing with all the ups and downs of the breast cancer experience. From the shock of diagnosis to getting through treatment to getting on with your life, they pack it with plenty of straight talk and practical tips. This newly updated edition also includes advice from two prominent breast cancer surgeons.
If you are facing chemotherapy for the first time, reading this guide is the next best thing to talking with someone who’s been there. It offers practical tips on how to self-advocate, deal with hair loss, buy a wig, journal and more. It will help you get past your fear – at least a little bit past it.
Many breast cancer patients struggle with the same issues: fear, uncertainty, insurance, family, friends, work, intimacy, sex, identity, anger, depression, moving on after a diagnosis. Drescher combines medical and practical information, and shares wisdom gathered from fifteen years volunteering on a breast cancer helpline and from speaking to women around the world.
