Author: Lynn Joye
CanCare volunteers are cancer survivors and caregivers who engage with newly diagnosed cancer patients and their caregivers, providing one-on-one emotional support, practical advice and hope. Support volunteers are matched with clients by cancer type, treatment method, life stage, age, and gender.
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The September October 2021 issue of HealthLinks includes an article about CanCare Charleston. Written by Cindy Landrum, the article gives readers an understanding of what we do and why. Charleston’s CanCare organizer Lynn Joye was interviewed for the article and provides insights into what and why the organization exists.
“Meeting actual survivors on the other side of their cancer journey is reassuring to newly diagnosed patients…”
“The beautiful thing about CanCare is that you continue to heal as you help others,” she added. “It is helpful for us, and it gives the newly diagnosed and their loved ones the hope they may not have even known they needed.”
We recently invited one of Charleston CanCare’s first donors to write a letter explaining why he decided to contribute seed money to our new CanCare affiliate and we share his note with you to thank and applaud him for his philanthropy and caring.
“I am an 18-year survivor of multiple myeloma, a lethal blood cancer. For most of those years, I have looked for ways to use my story to encourage other people with cancer. Two years ago, I realized that CanCare could enable me to help people with the same kind of cancer I recovered from. I currently support six cancer patients, four with multiple myeloma.
As I became more invested in helping develop the structure and leadership of CanCare of Charleston, I saw an immediate need to build revenue to both support and expand our local program. I also knew that contributions from within our organization would encourage outside donors to offer us gifts and grants.
My wife Susan and I are committed to tithing — giving 10% of our income to Christian ministries. Most of that tithe goes to the church, but we also give to more than a dozen other nonprofits, especially those in which we are personally involved. Naturally, we felt the need to make a gift to CanCare. We hope that this “seed money” will support training, videos, brochures and other goods and services that will help us reach people who so desperately need survivors by their side.”
One of our local CanCare clients has crocheted all these blankets during her cancer treatment and plans to gift them to patients in the infusion center at Roper St. Francis Cancer Center.
This is a photo of our second CanCare class (#87).
In this class we had 13 volunteers who survived the following cancers:
And in this class we had caregivers to loved ones who had had the following cancers:
brain
Do you know the types of cancers our volunteers have experienced?
At our first training class, we had 12 volunteers attend who had survived the following cancers:
We had caregivers whose loved ones had had the following cancers:
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, please go to this page to get more information.
Jeannine M. Harrell, MA, a licensed professional counselor associate with offices in Mount Pleasant, is offering a complimentary session to local cancer patients, or caregivers, or CanCare volunteers.
Ms. Harrell says, “Human beings are naturally resilient, but it’s also natural to feel overwhelmed at times.” She notes on her website that counseling helps as you explore the emotions you have related to the issues in your life.
According to Cancer.net and the American Society of Clinical Oncology, getting counseling can help you:
Lynn is a former teacher, mother of three and proud wife of Todd Joye. She is a survivor of breast cancer and was a caregiver to her father with terminal lung cancer. Realizing how important personal connection is while navigating cancer, Lynn was inspired by Anne Turnage, who founded CanCare in Houston, and Kay Royal, who started a CanCare affiliate in Atlanta, to bring the convenience, compassion and quality of the CanCare ministry to the Charleston area.
Lynn’s family was blindsided in 2000 when her father was diagnosed with stage 4 non small cell lung cancer and heartbroken when he died only 4 months later.
Since her own cancer diagnosis in 2015 Lynn has been a passionate advocate for peer to peer cancer support. In 2017 Lynn convinced CanCare, Inc. in Houston, Texas to make it possible for other cities across the country to use CanCare’s successful volunteer training program AND its efficient peer matching database. She believes it should be the standard of care to connect those facing a cancer diagnosis with a compassionate survivor of the same or similar type of cancer.
As a homemaker and mother of 6 children, Louise has spent many hours volunteering with various nonprofits.
A survivor of breast and colorectal cancer and a caregiver to her husband, she has experienced both sides of the cancer journey and knows that sharing her story can bring hope to those who are beginning their own cancer walk.
Louise says, “I realized that my journey could be a way to help others who were facing a cancer diagnosis. Caring, encouragement and support is something we all need when life hands us a challenge.”
I grew up on the plains of Texas. When I was ten, my father became a cotton farmer. I learned the fine art of hoeing (which I hated), irrigation, plowing and harvesting.
The Lord called me into the ministry of the Methodist Church when I was a junior in high school. I graduated from McMurry College, Duke Divinity School, and many years later, American University.
At Duke I met a lovely Sophomore, named Janet. We dated for three years, graduated at the same ceremony, got married the next day, and moved to Maryland where I served as a minister in the Baltimore Annual Conference of the Methodist Church.
We have three children, nine grandchildren, eight great grand children and more on the way. We were married for forty-nine years until Janet went to be with the Lord.
I was a Methodist minister for thirty-five years—twenty-three of those years as an Army Chaplain. I retired in 1992 and we moved to South Carolina.
In 1996, I became an Episcopal minister and later entered the Anglican Church of North America, and am now retired. Although retired, I am an assisting priest at St. Andrews Anglican Church in Mount Pleasant, where I was on staff for six years.
Occasionally, I enjoy splashing watercolors on watercolor paper.
