Surgical Associates -- One-On-One

It could be your sister, your grandmother, your friend, your co-worker...it could be you whose world has just been turned upside down by a diagnosis of breast cancer.

In an instant, your life is changed in a way you cannot completely comprehend. As those first difficult hours and days immediately after diagnosis and prior to surgery pass, you begin to struggle with a roller coaster of emotions and fears you can hardly express to yourself, let alone someone else.

"...What I had was an article on Ann Jillian in like a McCall's magazine. That's how primitive it was."

Barbara H.
Breast Cancer Survivor
Since 1986

During this critical time, support and encouragement from your family and friends are extremely important. However, it may be difficult to share your thoughts and feelings with those close to you right now, or you may not have a family member or close friend to turn to.

"One-on-One," a breast cancer outreach group which pairs newly diagnosed breast cancer patients with one of the group's members, was organized by Surgical Associates to meet this need.

"You're scared to death...but it's the unknown that's so difficult."

Doris S.
Breast Cancer Survivor since 1986

"One-on-One" volunteers offer the newly diagnosed patient a chance to share her thoughts and feelings on a one-to-one, woman-to-woman basis, with someone who can truly identify with the emotional turmoil a diagnosis of breast cancer brings.

Each of the "One-on-One" volunteers understands all too well the tangle of emotions and fear you are experiencing, because she has been there.

She has walked down that same road, faced that same uncertain future, and asked that same stream of endless and often unanswerable questions.

Each volunteer is a breast cancer survivor.

"Women are in a state of trauma from the moment they are told. It's such a traumatic thing to be told..."

Pat O.
Breast Cancer Survivor
Since 1995

"A lot of women with breast cancer have a family history of breast cancer, and it was not a pretty picture. We've got to give them a new picture of how things are today."

Kathy B.
Past One-on-One Coordinator
Breast Cancer Survivor Since 1991

And her voice on the other end of the telephone line can be the life-line that helps you begin your journey through breast cancer treatment and recovery.