Journey Video Offers Support

Mon., June 3, 1996

Elana Jefferson Staff writer

There was no place to turn 10 years ago when Sandy Quinn first learned she had breast cancer.

“You barely talked about it,” she says. “There were so few resources that myself and one other woman started our own support group.”

This need brought Quinn and other breast cancer survivors together four years ago to create Journey: A Breast Cancer Survival Group. More than just a support group, Journey is a task force whose purpose is to meet the needs of other women recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

Mary Duff, director of oncology at Holy Family Hospital, sits on the Journey committee. She says that after surveying women with breast cancer, the group discovered four things they all lacked - information, resources, support and hope. Duff struggled with bone cancer in her own life. “It can be very overwhelming at the point of diagnosis,” she says.

The Journey committee decided to create a video that would serve as a positive and hopeful message for women in the community. A $20,000 grant from Women Helping Women financed production of the Journey video. It highlights the stories of five local breast cancer survivors. Narrated by Quinn, the video is now available for free through hospitals, clinics and community centers. “We distributed them any place we thought a person might enter the system,” Duff says.

Written resource materials and a journal to facilitate emotional and spiritual healing accompany the Journey video.

“This is devastating news, just as it was for all of us survivors,” Quinn says during her narration. “But many of these women have discovered a gift, a new sense of power and inner peace. They now have a different perspective on life.”

For more information about Journey, call 455-5490.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: Each Monday, Discoveries highlights people making a difference in Spokane. This column is inspired by the Spokane County Health Improvement Partnership, which is committed to discovering 10,000 initiatives that improve community well-being. If you a have a discovery that deserves recognition, write to: Elana Jefferson, Editorial Department, The Spokesman-Review, 999 W. Riverside, Spokane 99201.

Each Monday, Discoveries highlights people making a difference in Spokane. This column is inspired by the Spokane County Health Improvement Partnership, which is committed to discovering 10,000 initiatives that improve community well-being. If you a have a discovery that deserves recognition, write to: Elana Jefferson, Editorial Department, The Spokesman-Review, 999 W. Riverside, Spokane 99201.

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