Episode 254 : Cancer Buddy: Where Tech Meets Compassion and Support
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Episode Transcript
Charlotte Bayala: Welcome to love your caregiving life podcast. I'm your host Charlotte B ayala and today I am here along with Christina Merrill. As a young social worker at Memorial Sloan Kettering cancer center in Mount Sinai medical center, Christina marrow witnessed firsthand the multitude of challenging hurdles patients have to navigate. Seeing the tremendous need for additional financial assistance and emotional support that most patients require, but aren't always receiving, she began trying to help even donating her own money to cover patients copays or transportation costs. Realizing that she could only help so much as one person Christina decided to start raising money to make a bigger impact on the lives of cancer patients. In 1992, Christina launched the bone marrow cancer foundation.
Today Kristina has expanded the bone marrow cancer foundation to offer solutions for every challenge. She sees patients spacing. The foundation offers counseling to support mental health crowdfunding to raise additional funds and patient navigators to connect with the right medical team. Cancer buddy.
Their peer support app helps patients, survivors and caregivers, bind resources, connection, and community with others, battling cancer. In today's episode, we're going to dive into the world of peer support and how modern technology is reshaping, the support systems for caregivers and those battling cancer. We'll be looking at the innovative cancer buddy app, which provides a much needed platform and helps individuals find support within the cancer community.
So, whether you are in the midst of your caregiving journey, a survivor looking for community, or simply interested in how technology is supporting those affected by cancer.
This is an episode you won't want to miss. Thank you, Christina, for
Christina Merrill: being here with us today.
I'm excited to be here with you as well.
Charlotte Bayala: I have you here because there is something that you put out in the world that I'm really excited about as specifically for the cancer community. But first I'd like for people to get to know a little bit about you.
Tell us a little bit about what you do and maybe what your connection with cancer has been. Okay.
Christina Merrill: I'm a social worker and I worked in the hospital system with cancer patients 35 years ago, and that really changed my life. And so I'm fortunate that I don't have a personal attachment to the illness, but it.
It did touch me significantly enough so that I wanted to help this community and provide lots of support. So in 1992, I founded the Bone Marrow and Cancer Foundation after working in pediatrics and also with adults. Um, specifically for patients that were going through a bone marrow or stem cell transplant at the time, and that was a really lengthy hospitalization and patients needed a lot of support around that.
It was kind of, um, in those days, it was a little bit of the boy in the bubble and of course, lots of advances. In medicine, it is a much easier process for patients to go through a transplant and then we helped with financial assistance and support services and education and information all around transplant and cancer and.
Pivoted probably in 2017 or 16 and went into all cancers. So we provide financial assistance and support to all patients that have any form of cancer.
Charlotte Bayala: Okay, that's wonderful. And so what was the main theme that you were finding in your work that kind of brought you to create the Bone Marrow Cancer Foundation?
Christina Merrill: Yeah. Really was the financial piece initially. It was patients, especially in pediatrics and adults, but specifically I had a real aha moment myself as a social worker in the pediatric unit and patients would be left, little children would be left in the hospital while their mom. Or their dad had to go off to work or care for their siblings, and they could not take leave of absence for, you know, six weeks or two months while their child was going through a transplant.
And it was heart wrenching for me to see these children just left in the hospital. So that was a real. It was a pivotal moment for myself thinking this is so unfair and should not be like this. But parents had to continue to work to put food on the table and electricity on and pay their rent. Or there were some families that would literally be just devastated by the disease financially.
It would have to go to a homeless shelter and things like that. So it was just on comprehension for me. And that's when that was the real pivotal moment that I thought I have to do something to help. Yeah. These families and so I. Um, started giving my own salary to a lot of the families and money to help them.
And, but that obviously was not going to be sustainable. So I founded the bone marrow and cancer foundation.
Charlotte Bayala: Beautiful. And so with the bone marrow cancer foundation, then are you still working at crowdsourcing money for patients and their families? And what other support is there? Is your organization giving cancer patients and their families right now?
Christina Merrill: So we have a whole really menu of programs that we've created over the years. And so we still have our flagship. financial assistance program for families. We also have an incredible program. Also, there's kind of like a GoFundMe, but it's specifically for cancer patients. And we give the families lots of support in helping them do this crowd fundraising for themselves.
Patients raise hundreds of thousands of dollars through it to pay for financial care for themselves and for their family, their family member that's going through cancer treatment. Yeah. And then we also have great support programs. We have direct counseling. We have a whole board of social work counselors and they provide direct oncology counseling to.
patients, caregivers, and survivors. And we also have this great peer support program that we just launched called Cancer Buddy. And we're really excited about that because there's been so much real data on peer support and the significance and impact it has with people going through different hardships.
Charlotte Bayala: I am really excited to talk about Cancer Buddy before we jump over to Cancer Buddy, just to circle back around the Bone Marrow Cancer Foundation is now not specifically helping people with specific cancers, it's cancer in general.
Christina Merrill: It's all cancers. So anybody who either a treatment of a bone marrow or stem cell transplant or traditional chemotherapy, radiation surgery, and, and then patients diagnosed with any form of cancer as well.
Charlotte Bayala: And do they need to be in a specific geographic area?
Christina Merrill: No. So we help families from all over the United States. Even internationally, we've helped families come over here for treatment or helping them. You know, when they leave, if they've been treated here and they go back home again. Um, but yeah, all families from anywhere and we help the caregivers, the patients, the survivors,
Charlotte Bayala: and
Christina Merrill: really give tremendous amount of support to the whole family.
Charlotte Bayala: Nice. That's beautiful. All right. Now, not that I'm not excited about all that, but yet there's more is Cancer Buddy. Um, tell us a little bit more about Cancer Buddy, what it is first. Well,
Christina Merrill: to go back a little bit, In the history of the foundation and why Cancer Buddy came about, we had a program here that we were matching patients with mentors, so kind of fully diagnosed with patients that have already gone through treatment.
But then, We, it was arduous and it was, it was slow going. So we would help, let's say a hundred families a year with that program. But I thought, how can we scale it to make it much more, you know, help many more patients, thousands. Cause we have so many families that turn to us for, for assistance. And there's, there's, um, 1.
9 million, People diagnosed every year with cancer and there's 19 million survivors in America. And then you have all those caregivers. So so many people need this support and to feel that they're not alone while they're going through this process. And so we, um, had this great program. So we, I started to think, how can we do this?
But then I also, in 2020, I went through a divorce Transcribed And I went on these dating apps and saw the beauty of the functionality of the technology of how people could be matched with each other filters. And I thought, how can we, you know, take that technology and bring it over into the cancer community and help patients find the perfect match for themselves to really find the support that they need.
So that's kind of the process behind it. So I started, I, I went out and I found great designers and we started to design this app specifically for You go in as a patient, or you go in as a caregiver, or you go in as a survivor, and Okay. And there's many filters. So you really filter it down how you want to be matched.
Charlotte Bayala: Now Cancer Buddy is available. It's out in the public for people to be able to access, right?
Christina Merrill: Yes, it is in iOS. So it's in the Apple Store and also available in Android. And so in the Google play store and it's a free download and it's run by the bone marrow and cancer foundation, but it, it it's, and it's amazing.
It's really easy and you can filter. So let's say you're a patient and you want to meet somebody that's also your specific age or diagnosis, or even at your specific hospital or geographical location or interests. All these different filters are available and the algorithm matches you with people and then we also have groups so we have a lot of wonderful groups as well support.
Okay,
Charlotte Bayala: nice. And so when someone downloads the app, is there an option to give as much or as little information about their health as they want?
Christina Merrill: Yeah. So there's an area that you put in your diagnosis, you put in your side effects, what your treatment's been, all the particulars of how you're feeling and really can match on all those things.
So if you're having, um, you know, side effects that you're really not able to figure out what to do, you could match somebody else's also having a similar side effect and get and find out what they're doing about that. Let's say you're a caregiver and you're in the hospital with your loved one and you're on the sixth floor and you're just isolated to that room and you have no support.
And you're, you know, is it challenging for the caregiver as it is for the patient as we know. So you can, let's say you're a caregiver and you're on the seventh floor and you're isolated and struggling through this whole process. You could go. I went to cancer buddy and you can, you can see another caregiver at that same hospital.
So you could, that's, Oh my gosh, you know, I would love to meet, you know, you're on the 10th floor and can we get a cup of coffee or go for a walk? That's like such great support. And you would never maybe meet that person otherwise. So. It's amazing. And that, um, is just one great aspect of the app is that you can really, you know, hone down to the exact match and where you want to match and what's important for you to match.
Charlotte Bayala: Nice. So it's an app that you basically are in control of deciding what type of support you're looking for, for what specific part of your cancer journey you would like to get support on. Um, so you can get, Super specific about the person that you're trying to match with, and then the app will give you options.
Then I'm, I'm assuming of people that fit what you're looking for, and then it's your responsibility or it's for you to reach out to them to try to make the connection.
Christina Merrill: Yes. So once you put in all your filters of how you want to match, then the algorithm will also provide you with a whole, um, profile of all these possible matches.
And then you push a button that says connect and that will go out to them. And then, then they will come back to you and say, sure, I'd love to connect. So then it's up to both of you, both parties. And once you push connect, they're kind of. Out of sight, out of mind, like you're not like, Oh, I connected with Lisa, but she hasn't gotten back to me.
You kind of forget about it because you, you probably connected with a bunch of people. And then they kind of go out of your profile until they accept yes. And then they, then you see them in your profile and then you can start a conversation.
Charlotte Bayala: Okay. Okay. So then they won't keep showing up when you're when you're looking for more matches.
Yeah.
Christina Merrill: Yeah.
Charlotte Bayala: Okay.
Christina Merrill: Perfect. Made the initial connection. And so that's a really great aspect because it doesn't make you like feel bad. Oh, that person didn't. Yeah. Except my, maybe the last
Charlotte Bayala: thing people need,
Christina Merrill: maybe they didn't expect, maybe you're busy or they're not in the right frame of mind or whatever. Why?
So it doesn't keep them going into your profile. You just kind of see them and then you connect and then they're gone, um, till they connect. So that's really an aspect that's good that I learned from the dating, you know, I took a lot of features from these dating sites and. Really worked with our developers on the pros and cons of different areas of what we wanted.
And then of course, we did a lot of focus groups in the cancer space. So we did focus groups with patients and survivors and caregivers and doctors and nurses and social workers all through the nine months of building the app.
Charlotte Bayala: Wow. Wow. That's a lot of work, but actually shows how much care you put into it and then having the background of already having worked with people in this world of cancer really It shows that this isn't based on just someone wanting to create something for people to connect to other people who have Cancer or involved with a person that has cancer This is someone who's seen a need from working with other people in the community of People surviving with cancer people trying to be treated And trying to meet a need that was there with the empathy and with the care that comes from You Having had that experience.
So it's, it's an app based on your experience and your really want to help provide something that you, you couldn't provide in such a scale as you were before.
Christina Merrill: Yes. So the app right now, um, has about 3000 people on the app users. So it's, it's building and we just want to get it out there to more people because it's, it's available for thousands of people.
And so we're excited about that. You know, I've been in the space for 32 years, it's running the organization and then before that working in the hospital system. and just seeing all the different circumstances. I think also one of the barriers of trying to create a peer support program in a hospital with patients, like having a hospital run it, is that you have all these HIPAA regulations and you can't just share patient information without their approval.
So that's, you know, becomes a barrier to professionals introducing two patients together because they don't really have the capacity and time to do so. That's not their main focus or their main job. Having this app as a facilitator and without we're completely HIPAA compliant because patients are putting up their own information.
So their choice to, to share their information with others. So it really just makes it really. Effortless and easy patients to try to find each other.
Charlotte Bayala: Well, and, and let's talk about peer to peer support for just a second, because a lot of us know what peer to peer support is, but I think a big part of the cancer community has heard it, but doesn't necessarily understand what it means, how helpful it can be, and what it all entails.
So how does peer to peer support work with Cancer Buddy?
Christina Merrill: So peer support is really a validated science that has been studied and for all different areas of care. It's not just cancer, it's all different areas. But with cancer patients, you know, So many of the issues are feeling isolated, feeling alone, feeling that nobody else is going through what you're going through, being thrown into basically a job that you were never trained for either as a caregiver or a patient, having to just kind of navigate this, this whole experience without having any prior experience.
Right. Yeah. Into it. So by, you know, Being with other peers and connecting with people that can help provide that support and you, uh, validating like, yes, what you're feeling is, is normal. I felt that try these things to help support your, yourself. There's vulnerable populations. We have the AYA community, the, you know, adolescents and young adults.
I mean, you know, you're in high school or middle school and all of a sudden you've been diagnosed with cancer. Where do they turn? They don't even know where to turn. And then there's so many, usually it's an adult area of support that it can't, they can't find each other. They can't find other adolescents or other young adults to, to turn to.
So that's a really vulnerable population. And there's about 89, 000 or more. Adolescents and young adults that get diagnosed every year, cancer, and they are really struggling. And in the app, it's so incredible. We have a adolescent and young adult group in our apps, and it's just, Really so impactful to see these communications going on in the group and it's hope that it's hosted.
We have it. We host every group with either professional or somebody that is experienced in that area. We are very connected as an organization to those groups. So we really help monitor everything to see the conversations between, you know. A senior in high school that just got diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma and then another senior and they are communicating and talking about shaving their heads or going through chemotherapy or missing the prom and all these things as high school kids and having identity issues with them, their bodies and all these issues that are coming up.
And they just. They're there. It's like a real impactful moment for a lot of these young people to find each other on the app. So that's been a really great, great experience. And,
Charlotte Bayala: and so the support groups that you have, um, through the app, how does that work? And how focused are they specifically? Is it specifically different types of cancer or outcomes that they expect or want or issues that they're having with treatments.
How are they organized right now?
Christina Merrill: We have probably about five groups right now going on on the app. We want to build out those groups, but right now, so let's say we have an AYA group, which is really great to see. We have a nutrition group. We have a pancreatic group. Group specifically to one disease. We want to start other specific disease groups, but we are trying to create these partnerships with other organizations to help us.
And so we're working on that right now. People, they can just opt into a group. Once you're in the app, you can opt into a group and then just, you know, introduce yourself and start the conversation. And then it's all monitored and hosted by individuals. So the host, Commute to the group and then you can start conversations and you can ask questions and then everybody really starts to kind of communicate and talk.
And we also have the ability to do a live stream from our group. So we're going to have different people come and speak in our groups and and kind of have more interaction with that as well. We're about to start that as well.
Charlotte Bayala: Nice. And so the, the groups right now, it's almost as if it's a group chat, but it's moderated by someone who's qualified to moderate the conversation, right?
So it creates the safe space for everyone to, to speak.
Christina Merrill: Yes. Yeah.
Charlotte Bayala: Okay. Perfect. Because sometimes there are group chats in our realm of disease that aren't always moderated by people who are qualified to do that. So it's always really good to know that that is there. And it, you know, when I get that a lot of people, um, are looking for a personal connection and be able to do things in person, but in reality, um, I feel that being able to have support in a way where it's not specific on time, that it creates the opportunity for everyone to have access, whoever can, who has a connection to something that brings them to that group in, in your case with Cancer Buddy, that they're able to check in whenever they can to ask, put a question out there, feel like it's a safe space.
But. To have that running on one side of all the rest of the care that they have, where it's the one thing that they don't have to be at at a specific time or have to miss, so to speak, um, because then, you know, they were really looking forward to going to, uh, the group meeting, but then couldn't because if they're a caregiver, you know, almost always there's something that gets in the way, um, Um, or there's treatments and things like that.
So I feel like it's really important. Yes, to have a personal connection, to be able to go meet people in person, but to have something like this, where not only it's, um, more at your own pace and it's there when you need it, but also that it's being moderated by someone who's qualified to moderate a conversation like that.
So I really appreciate that being. part of the Cancer Buddy app.
Christina Merrill: Yeah, we really wanted the Cancer Buddy app, not only the individual connections, but also a lot of great group support as well as resources. So we also offer different organizations and different resources so that patients can save them as their favorites and go back to a different time.
We also have the ability to go from the hamburger menu into the Bone Marrow and Cancer Foundation, our program. So you could get. One to one counseling with a lot of our counselors, you can get financial support. You can get all of our resources that are at our organization as well, which is really, I think, great to be able to go directly to our site from the app as well.
Charlotte Bayala: Yeah, it's really good for. Everyone to have all of that information that you're putting together and all the resources all in one spot because Oftentimes, you know, there's a lot of information out there but to go seek it and to all the links in one spot so for Everyone to have cancer buddy and then have those resources also there with Everything given by the Bone Marrow Cancer Foundation, but as well as the other things that you have and then later the live streams to have everything all packaged into one place so that a person can just open up one thing and find most likely it.
Most if not everything that they're looking for in the moment.
Christina Merrill: Yeah, we, I find that that's really important cause it gets really confusing and overwhelming for a patient or a caregiver to be just searching so much. They don't even know, end up like who they've spoken to recently about resource or support.
They just, it's all overwhelming for them. And we really want to make it as easy as possible. And then we're also here because we also have created. Which is about to go as a new feature into the app is we have a concierge person. Okay. Her name's Eva, and she will go into everybody's profile and will be directly linked to us and be able to ask questions or get help from us if they need something through the app or any other.
Issues that they might be having. They can ask questions and it will be social workers answering questions. So that's going to
Charlotte Bayala: be
Christina Merrill: a feature that we're really excited about that's coming probably in the next couple of months.
Charlotte Bayala: Nice. Nice. So if there's something in the app that they they're looking for, but they're not able to find then the new service.
Ava, they can basically ask it and it'll shoot the information or the question over to the person that can actually help.
Christina Merrill: Yes. So we'll be able to, let's say they're looking for financial resources or any other resources, the concierge basically will be able to You know, directly with that. So I think that's going to be another layer of support that we're going to be able to offer and just try to make it easier for the patient and the family member and the caregiver to navigate this new experience of theirs and, you know, how to make it as easy as possible for them.
Charlotte Bayala: Everyone needs an Ava.
Christina Merrill: We all need an Ava in life.
Charlotte Bayala: Um, so with, with all of this then, what we're really seeing is you create, you create an opportunity for connection within the cancer community, right? Working on what I find sometimes is one of the biggest issues of, of loneliness, really, because if you can't see yourself in other people, whether it's you experiencing the cancer or you caring for the person who's being treated, there's a lot that's.
Of information out there, which you're helping now people to be directed to things that are specifically going to help them, but then also creating a space where they can find that connection in a world where now I feel. Making connections is completely different than when I was a young adult. There could be some people listening to this saying, well, I don't, I don't really know how that would work.
What am I swiping or pushing a button to meet someone? And I find that that is the way people are connecting now. There are so many dating apps out there. The technology is there. And so it's not like it's a, it's not technology that hasn't been. Proven to work right in connecting people. It's technology that now we're using maybe for a better, a better cause in the fact that now it's connecting people at a time in their lives based on.
a point of fact and pain sometimes that they may not otherwise feel like they can connect with other people on in person because of how vulnerable they can feel when they try to do that. Has the reception been really good? I know we have a lot of people on there. Are there Are there any kind of aha moments or stories that people have shared with you on the connections that they made with other people on Cancer Buddy?
Christina Merrill: Yeah. So it was last September we had met these two young AYA, they're in their 20s, cancer buddy users reached out to us just saying that they had made this amazing connection. They're from, you know, Texas and Florida. They would never have met normally if it wasn't for that. So that was really special.
And then we've seen a whole bunch more connections since, and we really want people that have found great connections to reach out to us and say, Hey, you know, we met on Cancer Buddy and we're providing each other with a lot of support and care because it's, it's so important to have that support. We're hoping that Cancer Buddy really makes cancer a little less lonely and provides that support that people need during this very, very difficult time in their lives.
Thanks.
Charlotte Bayala: Yeah, yeah. From the first moment that I heard about Cancer Buddy, I was always really excited about it. So I really appreciate you seeing the need and going through and putting in the work, which is not easy, to create an app for something as specific as this with as much care as I'm sure that you've put into it.
For any of the caregivers out there that are listening who are maybe thinking, It's all right. I don't need something like this. I don't have the time or maybe they're thinking, well, probably there aren't any caregivers out there. Is there something that you can tell them that you would like for them to know?
Christina Merrill: Yeah. Well, we have a great, great caregiver that runs a group on Cancer Buddy and she's amazing. She's an amazing mom to her son that has gone through cancer and she just has so much wisdom and is amazing caregiver. So she helps run a group on Cancer Buddy and being a caregiver is often as difficult or more difficult than actually being the patient and they need to find time for themselves and give themselves emotional care.
Charlotte Bayala: It's, it's really good to hear that there's a focus on caregivers on the Cancer Buddy app, specifically because sometimes caregivers are They are added in almost as an afterthought because, and sometimes it feels like it's because someone said, well, wait, what about the caregivers? So I love that there's a group for caregivers.
You have a caregiver on staff working and running that group because lumping caregiver into the description of something is not hard for organizations and people to do. But then the support isn't actually there as you would expect. Like or expect it to, so I really appreciate you including caregivers in all of the work and I get it, you know, some places have to niche down because there's so much that has to be done that you have to focus on what your strengths are, but when someone is able to do it, I really.
Get excited to see that there are other options for caregivers out there. So I really appreciate that.
Christina Merrill: Yeah, and I want to say that with caregivers, we're going to do in our caregiving group, we're going to have some live streams and really talk with different professionals, psychologists and so forth that have, you know, really are making an impact in caregiving and books on caregiving and the importance of caregivers and cancer.
So. Love to share that with you when we do that. Oh,
Charlotte Bayala: definitely. Yeah, that will definitely go on the newsletter for everyone that gets it for sure. And all the links of all the things, especially the Cancer Buddy app links will all go on to the website with the transcript and also will be included in the newsletter.
So, if you're listening and you get the newsletter, there's no reason to search for anything. It'll be delivered to you on the Thursday that this has shown up. Is there any last thing that you'd like to share before we go?
Christina Merrill: Well, I just, I really want to get Cancer Buddy out there to all the patients. I want it to be a household name.
For, for Cancer Buddy, because I think that it is so incredibly impactful and peer support is so important to health outcomes and how somebody can kind of face this experience. And if they have the support that they need from the very beginning of their journey, it will just be so much more. More manageable for them to get through it.
If they have somebody by their side, kind of helping them and, and validating their feelings. I
Charlotte Bayala: am completely on the same page as you there. If we can catch people in the early stages of their cancer journey. It's the best time to do it. If we're catching people right now, someone listening, kind of interested in Cancer Buddy, I just want to make the point that it doesn't matter how far into it, how many years you've gone through it.
A lot of people have cancer as a chronic disease so that they have to live with it for the rest of their lives and treat as they go along. And I think sometimes that community feels like they don't deserve to be engaged or involved in any of this because they've had cancer or they've been a caregiver for so long.
And I think that it's a disservice to feel like you shouldn't take advantage of new technology or new organizations popping up because it doesn't matter how long you've been living with cancer or caring and supporting someone with it. That's You deserve support now, as much as you did when you first were diagnosed or your loved one was first diagnosed.
So if you're out there thinking, well, this is, this is all new and this isn't for me, I'm, I'm an old school cancer patient or caregiver, no, this is for everybody, sometimes things just change, but to get the support that you need now, isn't invalidated by the amount of time that you've, that you've been been in the position that you're in.
Christina Merrill: I completely agree. Yeah. It's often survivors that need as much support as somebody who's been diagnosed because they've all of a sudden been kind of in the trenches for a while and then they're just let go and go live your life and they don't know how to go live their life. They've been in the trenches of cancer and treatment and survival for so long that they now don't know even what the next step is.
So, um, this app is for much for survivors as it is for cancer patients currently, you know, in treatment, cancer patients or caregivers.
Charlotte Bayala: Yeah. Oh my goodness. So it, even if you're just slightly curious, don't hesitate to go ahead and look up Cancer Buddy on your app store and download it and just take a look around, fill some things out.
There's nothing. to say that if you don't enjoy doing it that you have to use it, but what is the harm in really looking into it and, and maybe possibly actually finding out how awesome this app is and seeing how much support it can give you and the people that you can come in contact with. So, Thank you, Christina, for coming on here.
And thank you so much for creating not only Cancer Buddy, but for also bringing to us the Bone Marrow Cancer Foundation to do as much as you're doing to help people in the community. Thank you.
Christina Merrill: This is my passion. And I'm, you know, I'm here wanting to provide support and the organization. So, um, we're really excited about Cancer Buddy and I'm getting it out to people that, that need our support.
Charlotte Bayala: Yes. Awesome. Well, thank you so much.
Christina Merrill: Yeah.
Charlotte Bayala: Bye.
Charlotte Bayala: All the links that are associated with the things that we talked about in this episode can be found on the transcript page @loveyourcaregivinglife.com.
Thanks for listening.
Links
Cancer Buddy - https://bonemarrow.org/support-and-financial-aid/support/about-cancerbuddy
