Doctors told Rachel Peck that her chances of contracting papillary thyroid cancer were “one in a million.” When she was diagnosed with the disease last spring, she said she felt like a statistic.
After winning her battle with cancer, the junior criminology and criminal justice and psychology major is creating a cancer support group so other students undergoing treatments don’t have to experience similar feelings of isolation.
“When you have cancer, people just give you the cliché responses: ‘We’re here for you’ and ‘we’re praying for you,'” Peck said. “That’s great and all, but that doesn’t really help.”
The Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults — a non-profit organization that provides support programs and literature for young adults affected by cancer — first pitched the idea for a cancer support group last month. Peck endorsed the idea, knowing it could be a way to offer students the comfort and encouragement she lacked during her arduous treatments.
“The relatability helps you get through it so much better — I didn’t have that,” she said. “I had to endure a low-iodine diet and radioactive treatment while going to class full-time, and I just wish I had someone that knew exactly what I was going through.”
The support group will begin next semester, Peck said. Although a start date and location for the support group meetings has not yet been set, she said she has an idea of what types of activities the group will do each week.
“I picture the group playing soccer, going to happy hour, going bowling, going on a hike and other stuff like that,” she said.
Some students may be wary of joining a support group, Peck said, because they might envision a “group therapy session.” But she said the group is more about getting together and being in the company of other students that have shared similar experiences.
“This isn’t a thing where were going to walk around campus holding hands and singing ‘Kumbaya,'” she said.
Although the cancer support group is being developed and centered on Peck’s vision, the Ulman fund inspired its development. Lindsay Melvin, the marketing and outreach coordinator for the organization, said it already provides the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center in Baltimore with social workers who “guide students through treatment” with personalized meetings and home visits, so branching out to the College Park campus was a natural progression.
On Oct. 6, the Ulman fund hosted “Campus Cancer Chat” at Nyumburu Cultural Center, where more than 50 students gathered for dinner to discuss issues facing young adults battling cancer. Melvin said Peck was chosen as a guest speaker after seeing her introduction of President Barack Obama at his health care rally in September.
“Her speech was great and she brought attention to the fact that 70,000 young adults are diagnosed with cancer each year,” Melvin said.
After the speech, Melvin said she got “three or four e-mails from parents saying, ‘Hey, my kid is starting treatment and goes to the University of Maryland, and it would be great if they had someone to talk to.'”
Melvin said the Ulman fund would financially back any activities or events hosted by the group.
“We’re definitely going to put whatever [financial support] into it we need to,” she said. “It’s really all about these students finding other students just like them to talk to.”
dbotelho at umdbk dot com
