In Cancer Treatment, Support is Half the Battle

As far as cancer treatments go, Bernie Schmidt has seen it all.

He's had soft-tissue sarcoma cancer, colorectal cancer, skin cancer and "you won't believe it," he added—breast cancer.

But this four-time cancer survivor and 71-year-old Sunnyvale resident has not let the disease beat him. Instead Schmidt has figured out that with a support system he can do his part to beat the disease and as a volunteer at the , he can help others try and beat it too.

"First of all, when you are ill you have nothing to do," said the sassy Schmidt, who began to volunteer at the Mountain View organization when it opened a year ago. "So, if I can put a smile on someone's face. that's important."

"When someone comes in for our Newcomers' meeting and they tell me they have breast cancer, I tell them I have it too," he said.

Schmidt and a few others have become part of the support network of the Cancer Support Community located at The Vineyard office complex on 450 North Whisman Rd. Many gathered on Tuesday, July 26 to celebrate the center's year anniversary with an official grand opening and to recognize the 350 people who have used their services to date.

"This is so fantastic to have something like this in our city," said Mayor Jac Siegel. "This is just one more thing that we are so happy to have here."

Part of the many things that the Cancer Support Community, which also has a location , offers in Mountain View include educational classes, stress reduction, fitness for the body, nutrition, yoga, poetry, art and also support for children of parents with cancer and caregivers. They also offer services in Spanish.

"We help people by supporting them," said Susan Wichman, president of the Board of Directors. "The word community in our title is very important."

Jim Bouquin, executive director, agreed that the word community was "opportune."

"This is our refuge, our home, a place that we can connect to other people who can connect to the cancer experience," said Bouquin, the husband of a cancer survivor.

The support that the Cancer Support Community offers to caregivers, gives them the opportunity to learn more so that they can help their loved as they go through treatment.

That's the kind of benefit that Elizabeth Weiss, 52, sought as she watched her husband Steve Weiss, 58, undergo treatment for multiple myeloma, a bone marrow cancer.

"Coming here even for the first time you'll feel like coming home," she said.

The current Redwood City residents, Elizabeth and Steve had first attended the Walnut Creek location when he got diagnosed in 2007. She explained they lived in the hospital the first three weeks after his diagnosis and then lived a month of house arrest in Davis because of his week immune system. That's when they got involved with support groups in Walnut Creek.

"There is something special to be able to talk to someone who has cancer," said Steve. "Modern medicine has made it a beatable illness, though a it has claimed many lives. Being in a support group is important."

Now that the couple lives in the Peninsula, the Silicon Valley location of the Cancer Support Community has become another home.

"It makes it less scary. You feel less vulnerable seeing other people go through it well and graciously," Steve said.