[sarah]

Hello,
I also was asked to help start an English speaking support group here in southern France by a psychologist who had cancer patients who needed support in English so I did. We meet once a month in the conference room of a cancer hospital. We always have an oncologist and psychologist present. We are available by email and phone also.
Our members come from all countries including France (they prefer us to the French support groups for some reason). We tend to be an upbeat group of survivors. However we lost a therapist right at the start to lung cancer and have since lost 2 other members to BC and one survivor's son committed suicide, all of which has been sad for us but because we are like a family it has helped us all come through it, especially the carers of those that passed away. We also had a financial emergency with a new member - something we were not expecting to need to deal with or equipped to deal with but we managed and found the throat cancer patient a caravan to live in free and money for food, the French system paid for his medical treatment since he had fallen ill while visiting France. So I would say it's a good thing to do if you have good support. Sometimes people just appreciate someone to listen which is what we have all learnt to do through "training" by our therapist and psychologist members. Medical advice is obviously something we do not give, although we will state what has helped us with side effects, etc. Mainly we feel our purpose is to give moral support and as our motto says "You are not alone" to be there for people.
So I would urge you to give it a try. I love everyone in my group, they are a family to me, as I feel the people on HER2 are to me and I know "I am not alone" because of them and because of you and so if I can help someone else through a difficult period, it is my joy to do so. I stay in contact with some of our past members to make sure they're ok but part of me is pleased that they have moved on and don't need us anymore.
Health and happiness
love sarah