Agency Details:

BreastCancerStories.org

BreastCancerStories.org is a very website place where Breast Cancer Patients and Care Givers can write about their experiences, share their progress with loved ones, and read stories and connect with other Patients and Care Givers who are going through a similar experience.

Description:
Here's How the Site Works

• Breast Cancer Patients are provided with their own web space where they can upload chapters and photos as they progress through their treatments. This is an easy way to keep loved ones updated without having to relive each experience with each telling.
• Friends and Family Members can visit a patient's website, follow their progress and leave loving messages of support. It's often difficult to know what to say … this format gives them a comfortable way to reach out.
• Care Givers can share their experiences with other Care Givers. Sharing ideas and finding hope together can be very healing.

What Makes This Site Unique

What truly makes BreastCancerStories.org different from a traditional blog site is that the stories are all searchable by location, age, type of breast cancer / treatment, marital status, ethnic background and more. Imagine a single mother under the age of 30 who just had a mastectomy being able to find someone who is going through the same situation – it’s very therapeutic to read their stories and even connect with them directly through the website.

We are a non-profit organization and this is a free service.

History:
Since its official launch in June of 2006, BreastCancerStories.org has received overwhelming response from patients, physicians, oncology nurses and the media. To date, over 175 registered story writers and as many as 10,000 visitors reading their stories each month are using the site. We expect these numbers to dramatically increase as we continue to expand our outreach effort.

The website was started by Wendy McCoole who was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 42 (the same age her mother was when she was first diagnosed). She kept an online diary – affectionately nicknamed Bald Wendy – to keep family and friends updated as she progressed through her treatments.

She shared candid thoughts about how she was feeling physically and emotionally, and displayed photos of her head being shaved in preparation for chemo, her chemo treatments, the team at the cancer center, and even photos of her nieces and nephew painting her head like an Easter egg.

The site was shared by hundreds of people – many of whom she didn’t know – and was often referred to as "inspirational." Because she understood first hand the impact a breast cancer diagnosis can have on someone and their family, she decided to create a similar site so others could share their story as well.

Contact person: Wendy McCoole, Executive Director, (phone), (email)

Office fax number: (866) 559-3892

Address:

PO Box 1576 Portsmouth, NH 03801

Web Site: http://www.breastcancerstories.org

Miscellaneous Information

Name of Executive Director (or equivalent) if not listed above:
	Wendy McCoole
Type of organization
	Nonprofit 501(c)3
Is your organization a Health and Human Service agency?
	Yes

Last updated on September 3, 2009