At Fight Colorectal Cancer we use the word community a lot but we don’t use it lightly. We know that a solid community needs to have trust, credibility and the best of intentions at its core.

So when we invite members of our community to check out the community at the website Inspire.com, we do so because we believe you’ll find something useful and meaningful there.

Get your questions answered. Find a supportive group of new friends. Laugh with others who know exactly what you’re going through. Compare side effects and learn how others cope with them. Follow posts by Fight Colorectal Cancer’s Kate Murphy and stay up to date on the latest information about your specific health concerns.

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Fight Colorectal Cancer has partnered with the Cancer Support Community (formerly The Wellness Community and Gilda’s Club) on the third edition of its highly popular book, “Frankly Speaking About Cancer: Colorectal Cancer.”

The book is part of a free educational program conducted by the Cancer Support Community that is dedicated to empowering patients and their families to effectively navigate life with colorectal cancer. It includes:

• The latest diagnostic tools and screening guidelines
• An in-depth look at treatment options and side-effect management
• Tips for patients and their families on how to communicate with their health care teams
• Ways to cope with quality of life issues
• Up-to-date resources related to the total experience of living with colorectal cancer

Order your free copy today (limit one per household).

Jimmie Holland MD

This week CR Magazine presents a series of five podcasts featuring interviews with Memorial Sloan Kettering psychiatrist Dr. Jimmie Holland.

Dr. Holland is a pioneer in treating the whole person with cancer, including meeting their social and emotional needs.  She has worked in the field of psycho-oncology since 1977, urging that cancer patients be assessed for distress at their very first oncology visit.

Each day a new episode will be available including:

• The Shock of Diagnosis
• Cancer Myths
• Doctor and Patient Relationships
• A Family Affair
• Life After Cancer

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Over the last 5 years many support groups and websites have been developed which offer information, resources, access to groups and chat rooms, and even radio stations.

It is not easy to navigate through the overwhelming information available on the web. It is even more important today that we evaluate these information sources to make a better decisions on treatment. Read the rest of this entry »

Average Happiness Network: yellow is happy, blue sad, green in-between

Happy people spread their cheer to people around them and to through them to an even larger network of connections.  Being surrounded by many happy people makes it more likely that someone will be happy in the future.

Researchers studying emotional connections and happiness in a large group of people over twenty years discovered that happiness not just due to happy people tending to gather with each other, but was a true contagion spreading from one person to another.  Analysis found that the clusters of happiness and unhappiness were not due to chance, but truly driven by networks of people in close proximity to each other.  Read the rest of this entry »