Help for Cancer Patients After A Hurricane

A b5media colleague of mine, Hope Wilbanks, recently had to evacuate her home when forecasters told her Hurricane Gustav would be coming dangerously close to her hometown.

Thankfully she’s home now, and back to posting on her weblog, Weighting Line. Here’s a snippet from today’s first post on life ‘Post Gustav’ that I thought I’d share with you (she’s gone onto post a second and third time about her ordeal):

Gustav hit our little south-central town in Louisiana and ripped it to pieces. Thankfully, the home we rent sustained very minimal damage. However, several people in our community lost everything they had.

People with cancer have very specific problems and being rocked by a hurricane in the midst of everything else is downright horrifying. There’s medication to pack, should you have to evacuate. There’s chemo and/or radiation therapy schedules to rearrange or perhaps change completely should your medical facility be destroyed. There’s a greater risk of infection and less control over the germs you might come into contact with … it’s truly unreal to ponder the consequences for someone with cancer in the wake of a storm.

The American Cancer Society website has posted an article with Help for Cancer Patients After Hurricane Ike; it lists the answers to frequently asked questions for cancer patients and their caregivers.

In addition, people can also call the cancer information hotline at 1-800-ACS-2345 if they have questions.

If you have had to postpone or delay your treatment because of Hurricane Gustav or Ike … or Katrina a few years ago … please share your experiences with me and my readers here online in the comments section below.

Thank you … and welcome home, Hope.

(Image: Newscom)