Now in its 23rd year, the Blake Medical Center support group has helped hundreds of patients and their caregivers navigate the turbulent life changes that follow a cancer diagnosis.
Founded in 1986 by radiation oncologists Dr. Tri D. Nguyen and Dr. Cornelius T. Turalba, Caring Friends' mission is to help people understand cancer and the treatment options available. On Thursday, Blake will host a special luncheon at noon to mark Caring Friends' anniversary and the doctors' commitment to serving cancer patients.
One of the longest surviving support groups in Manatee County, Caring Friends has been meeting every Wednesday at Blake Medical Center -- week in and week out through holidays, hurricanes and summer vacations -- for more than two decades.
"They have always been there for me," said Marilyn Young, of Bradenton, who had surgery for breast cancer in 2004. "Caring Friends is my family. I have no other family here. I love it. You can laugh, you can cry, do whatever you want to do and there is support."
"Caring Friends helps people adjust to the illness," Nguyen said. "It's so much better to go through an experience like this with others who are going through the same thing. Some of our members don't have families here, so the group becomes their sole means of support."
This year, Young marked an important milestone -- she has been in remission for more than five years. "When I made the announcement at the meeting, they all clapped; it was a celebration," she said. "I try to go every week. They have helped me keep a positive attitude and that is so necessary in getting healed."
For 23 years, Nguyen and Turalba have been taking turns attending the last half hour of the meeting each week.
"It's our mission," Turalba said. "We do this in our free time. It's a labor of love."
Turalba attributes the group's longevity to the camaraderie among members.
"They bond because they see a reason to support one another," Turalba said. "Dr. Nguyen and I are there to provide answers to their questions, but we do not give advice on specific treatment. We try to clarify questions on treatments available so they can have an idea if they are doing the right thing. We are there to give medical support, but we always advise them to talk to their doctors."
Caring Friends has recorded many success stories, says Richard Wright, who has leukemia and is now one of the support group's co-facilitators.
Wright shared a story about his friend, Ed Ambrogi, an integral member of the group until his recent death from brain cancer.
"When Ed came to our group he had just been told he had three to six months to live," Wright said. "A year later he was still with us, playing golf once a week and handball twice a week. Cancer did not take his life away, it strengthened him. I believe his spirit defended his life."
Wright called Ambrogi an inspiration.
"He had a good sense of humor and he was always telling jokes," Wright said. "He took up our challenge to write his memories and presented all of us with a copy before he passed away. He didn't suffer until the end."
Caring Friends is about living, about finding your way back to life whether you are a patient or a caregiver who has to deal with the passing of a loved one, says Bonnie Wright, who became Richard's wife just last October.
Four years ago, Richard and Bonnie, who had never met, signed up for Hospice grief support group after the death of their spouses. Richard was supposed to go to a group meeting on 26th Street West in Bradenton. Bonnie was supposed to go to one meeting on Mendoza Road. But both went to a meeting in Palmetto by mistake where they met. Soon they became "grief buddies" as Bonnie tells the story. Their friendship grew into a tight bond. Then Richard learned he had leukemia and Bonnie discovered she had heart trouble requiring bypass surgery. In taking care of each other they became members of Caring Friends.
"Being a caregiver is a tough job," Richard Wright says.
Turalba agrees. "Often the caregiver has a harder time than the patient," the doctor said.
The support of someone who has gone through the same trials and emotional turmoil helps a lot, says Bonnie Wright.
Some Caring Friends members have been coming for years, she said.
"It's the compassion and love they find at Caring Friends that helps," she said. "Sometimes people can be in such pain, they can be so emotional, it really helps just to have someone put their arms around you and hug you. We are a real family."
Bonnie Wright has suffered through not only the death of her first husband but also her two sons. She knows what it is like to be caught in the inescapable maze of emotions that serious illness and the loss of loved ones can bring.
"God puts us in places where he needs us the most," she said. "We never know what his plans are for our lives. All of sudden he puts us where we need to be."
The Wrights know they are in the right place at Caring Friends.
"There are a lot of hurting people out there and they just need someone to offer them some compassion and a shoulder," Bonnie said.
That's what Caring Friends is all about," said Marion Stewart, of the local chapter of the American Cancer Society.
"It's such a great group and it has lasted so long because of two dedicated physicians -- Dr. Nguyen and Dr. Turalba. People keep coming because they think if the doctors can make the commitment to be there every week, then so can they, and they soon learn they are part of an extended family that will always be there for them."
Donna Wright, health and social services reporter, can be reached at 745-7049. To see more of The Bradenton Herald or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.bradenton.com. Copyright (c) 2009, The Bradenton Herald, Fla. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Copyright (C) 2009, The Bradenton Herald, Fla.