Ongoing Support Groups
No one understands what a cancer patient is feeling and thinking as well as another cancer patient.
Realizing this, the Cancer Resource Center offers a wide array of support groups and programs that give the patients and their families the opportunity to gather and share.
Head & Neck Cancer Support Group
Oncology professionals discuss special challenges & concerns for anyone diagnosed with head & neck cancer. To register, call 703.558.6913.
4th Wednesday of every month 6:00 - 7:30 pm
Support Group for Breast Cancer Patients with Children
Join othermothers to discuss living with a breast cancer diagnosis & raising a family.
4th Friday of every month 1:00 - 2:30 pm
“Opening Windows” Recurrent/Metastatic Cancer
Share experiences, thoughts, concerns with other people with metastatic/recurrent cancer. Facilitated by an oncology counselors. Call 703.558.6913 to register.
1st and 3rd Tuesdays 1:00 - 2:30 pm
Us Too/Man to Man: Prostate Cancer Support Group
Discussion group for men and their spouses or significant others. Co-sponsored by the American Cancer Society. Facilitators: prostate cancer survivor and oncology social worker. No registration required.
4th Tuesday of every month 7:00 - 8:30 pm
NEW! Mindfulness and Stress
A support group for people interested in using mindfulness to reduce stress. In the Cancer Resource Library.
4th Wednesday 1:00 - 2:00 pm
Early Stage Breast Cancer Support Group
Women with breast cancer discuss sexuality, self-esteem, emotional changes, as well as effective coping techniques. Facilitator: oncology social worker. No registration required.
1st and 3rd Tuesday of every month 5:00 - 6:30 pm
Reiki
Enjoy a free half-hour of Reiki, a gentle, non-invasive, ancient form of healing.
Please call 703.558.6284.
Second Friday of each month 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Write Away Group
Writers or aspiring writers with cancer meet and share what they have written about diagnosis, treatment and survivorship. View a published poem, "Rose", by a member of the Write Away Group! Call 703.558.6913 for meeting dates and times.
Healing Through Art
Participants learn how to use artmedia to cope with a cancer diagnosis. To register, call 703.558.5555.
3rd Wednesday of every month 7:00 - 8:30 pm
All Programs are free to participants.
This web site has a wealth of information to help you better understand your disease and treatments. By searching under Medical Services, you can get up-to-date information on our personnel, technology and services for cancer patients, learn about support groups and seminars and read recent cancer-related articles.
Check out the Health Encyclopedia for understandable, reliable information on virtually every type of cancer, including illustrations of anatomy, procedures and tests. You can read about risk factors for various forms of cancer, and get step-by-step instructions on how to conduct breast self-examination and other self-detection procedures.
Under the Class & Events Calendar heading you'll find our Oncology Support Groups & Classes, which details the many events coming up at Virginia Hospital Center specifically for cancer patients. The American Cancer Society works closely with the Cancer Center to offer several of these programs and groups, in addition to hosting an Annual Breast Cancer Awareness Conference at Virginia Hospital Center.
The hours of operation are Monday through Friday 8:00 am to 4:30 pm or by appointment. For information on these support groups and other programs, please contact the Cancer Center at 703.558.5555.
A Poem From The "Write Away" Cancer Support Group
Rose
By Katherine Traynham
From: Can You Come Here Where I Am? Poetry and prose of seven breast cancer survivors E.M. Press, 1998
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My mother gave me a rose for my birthday.
A tea rose, Chrysler Imperial, blood red.
I planted it in the front yard
So I would see it, coming and going.
I'd just gotten married.
It bloomed every year, the most beautiful reds
On eighteen inch stems
(From June to September).
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My mother gave me a rose for my birthday
The year I stopped loving roses.
The year after my chemo.
I saw its perfection despite my neglect,
And though I have never put stock in such signs
I took it inside and put it in a crystal vase
And showed my daughter what I didn't believe:
This rose shouldn't be here, in May, as I said.
(They bloom here from June to September).
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My mother gave me a rose for my birthday.
John Kennedy whites, pale and creamy and lush.
I planted it in the front yard
So I would see it all summer long.
She told me white was for memory.
Grandmother was gone now.
It bloomed every year. I fed it, and the red
(From June to September).
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You feed them and tend to the canes when they're done.
I put them in the front yard, you know,
So you can see them coming and going
And the John Kennedy white, - that's for memory.
My mother gave me this rose for my birthday.
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