October 3, 2018
Pathways, a program of The Connection, provides an oasis of hope for women with cancer. For over 24 years, Pathways’ mission has remained the same: to provide support, education and wellness
programs for women with cancer, creating a community in which shared experiences lead to personal growth and healing. Pathways is the only local cancer organization that provides direct services on a personal level to women in our area with cancer or a history of cancer.
The variety of programs offered by Pathways free-of-charge make it easy for every woman to feel at home, regardless of her diagnosis and no matter where she finds herself in her cancer journey. As a breast cancer survivor, Pathways Director, Lesley Andrews, understands first-hand the struggles a survivor faces. She also knows how much Pathways can help a survivor find the strength to persevere and make meaning of her disease, as it did for her.
- Pathways Cooks provides nutrient-rich, organic, delicious meals to women undergoing cancer treatment and their families every week from September through June. These meals are prepared and delivered by dedicated volunteers. Women who are too ill to shop and cook for themselves and their families can instead focus on healing.
- The Pathways Financial Assistance Fund offers direct financial support to women with any type cancer in critical need of assistance to pay for necessities while undergoing cancer treatment. Recently, Pathways helped pay the rent of a woman undergoing metastatic cancer. Writing on her behalf, her husband’s email had the re line of “God Bless You”. He expressed how grateful his wife was for Pathways’ financial support during this very difficult time.
- The Pathways Women’s Cancer Teaching Project allows women with breast or gynecological cancers to share their journeys in panel and interviewing sessions with doctors and students studying medicine in over 17 healthcare institutions in NJ. The Project supports patient-centered, humanistic healthcare in a way that textbooks cannot. As one participating 4th-year obgyn resident said, “This put things into perspective and helped me remember that our patients should be treated like our mothers, sisters or grandmothers.” Since 2003, our survivors have spoken to more than 6,000 healthcare professionals and students, empowering women with cancer to make meaning of their disease.
- The Pathways Dragon Boat Team – Team SOS (“Save our Sisters”) inspires women with a history of any cancer to get exercise on Lake Parsippany with a weekly floating support group from April through October. As explained by one Team SOS member, “Pathways Team SOS is my therapy on water. I found strength, support and unconditional love from a group of women like myself. Pathways Team SOS is a family that supports me beyond cancer.”
- Pathways’ Therapeutic Yoga Classes are offered twice a week at The Connection to women with a history of any cancer. The gentle yoga classes give cancer survivors the opportunity to manage stress while increasing strength and flexibility.
- Pathways Support Groups, led by a trained facilitator, are offered for breast and gynecological cancer survivors when interest is expressed by enough women to form a group.
For more information about Pathways, or to make a tax-deductible donation to support our invaluable free programs and the women we serve, call Lesley Andrews @ 908-273-4242 ext. 154, write to her at pathways@theconnectiononline.org
