At the Wellness Community, a free program with centers located in more than twenty U.S. cities, cancer patients find a powerful connection in supportive dialogues with other patients who “understand.” Identification with others who share your experience is profoundly liberating. We hear how people face — and counter — the natural fears associated with a diagnosis that is potentially life-threatening. The health dangers of allowing panic to go unchecked are considered as well. Also, a physician and best-selling author counsels cancer patients about the importance of maintaining a strong will to live. With Drs. Michael States, David Spiegel, Ann Webster, Malcolm Schultz, Rachel Naomi Remen, and others.

I was very angry and very frightened. And this has acted like a volcano in my life. It’s just opened up so many issues for me to explore. So I’m one of those people who talks about cancer as being a gift.”

—Cancer support group member