Jennifer Van Syckle  0:00  
A diagnosis of cancer might feel something like being struck by a truck. In the middle of the blinding Blizzard, you don't know where to go, you don't know what to do. But with the cancer support community of Montana, there's help, and it's help locally. Our guest today is Becky Franks. And she's going to share some of those insights and help with you. Thank you for joining us for this episode of Talking Health in the 406, where we're one community under the Big Sky. I'm your host, Jennifer Van Syckle, longtime health care worker turned health educator.

Start at the beginning of your story, how you even ended up working in the cancer world and this line of work?

Becky Franks  0:43  
Well, thank you for having me on this podcast today. I've been with Cancer Support Community for the last 17 years. And I started this journey, because my mom got breast cancer. And I remember what it felt like when she called me and said that she had breast cancer, my heart just sunk, I immediately thought she was going to die. Because that is what people think a lot. And what I've learned now is that more than 80% of the people live. And so cancers changed a lot. And as I learned about that, I also learned about a position that was available with Cancer Support Community Montana, and gave us the opportunity to change the trajectory of how cancer is, is dealt with and managed in Montana. And so Cancer Support Community Montana serves the whole state, but started here in Bozeman, which is where I'm sitting right now. And we provide services for people impacted by cancer to try to improve the ability to navigate cancer. And you know, it's interesting. Cancer brings on so much fear, so much anxiety, so much unknown, so much loss of control, loss of hope, and a real sense of isolation, and particularly in Montana, because you may not know other people who have cancer, especially if you live in a small town. So how do you manage all of this? And how do you find quality of life. And so cancer support community really has grown through these years to figure out how to how to address those things, and how to make cancer more manageable, and not only for the patient. But for the caregivers. And for those people who are listening today. And our caregivers. That's one, one part of the whole cancer journey that goes untouched in many ways. caregiver is not usually considered part of the patient experience at the doctor's office, in front of the nurse in front of the nurse navigator when you go to the cancer center, or in front of your primary care physician when you're talking to your doctor. But the caregiver is a huge piece of the puzzle, as are the children and family unit during the cancer experience. So so that's how we all got going with Cancer Support Community.

Jennifer Van Syckle  3:20  
And Becky, were you can you tell us how that started Cancer Support Community Montana? Can you tell us about the kind of the roots in the beginning of that entity, and how

Becky Franks  3:31  
we are extremely fortunate Montana to have a cancer support community. It is a national organization. But here in Montana, we're lucky to have it because two women who had cancer way back in the early 2000s, they had children and they felt very alone, just like I just described, and decided that they wanted to start a group called Bosom Buddies. And so it was breast cancer survivors that got together and met in her husband's office. And they decided, well, let's open a center where people can get get together and really understand each other. You know, it's interesting. And as people who are not cancer survivors, we can all be empathetic, we can all be kind and thoughtful and empathetic. But when people get together who have had cancer, it's a whole different level of understanding. That's where the sense of community can come in. And that's what these two women developed. They developed a sense of community and allowed people to be able to talk openly about their feelings, and, and also about their fears. So that's how it started. And then from there, it started to grow. And so obviously there's other people have cancer besides breast cancer. So cancer support community involves all different types of cancers, and we address those as well. And now we have a thriving men's group, and many men who come to our community and part dissipate both in person and virtually.

Jennifer Van Syckle  5:02  
So somebody on on the other end of the state would be able to still partake been everything that Cancer Support Community can provide and all the support it can give.

Becky Franks  5:14  
Absolutely. So let's fast forward 17 years to present day 2023. And now we have a center, which is a building that looks like a house, people walk into the building I'm sitting in right now and ask if someone lives here, it's so nice and comfortable. So we have a center here in Bozeman, and one in Missoula, and all of our services are free of charge. Probably the only benefit to me of the pandemic is that people got used to participating in telehealth and virtual programming. So we've always wanted to serve the entire state. And now we are more than ever, because most of our programs are available in person, and virtually. So if you live in Circle, Montana, or in Havre, or in Plentywood, you can participate in almost all of our programs, and everything's offered free of charge. That ability to connect virtually is really amazing. We have a few retreats every year, and one of them is called Mending in the Mountains. So this is a time where this year, women can gather together from all over the state and only we only serve Montana, so so we reserve every single chair for people in Montana. But we can all meet together at Fairmont Hotsprings for Mending in the Mountains. During the pandemic, we held it virtually. And so we had 45 women on the virtual space with all the little squares. And I was leading that group. And I thought, Oh, this is silly. This I don't know if this is a good idea. It was all weekend long. Friday night, all day, Saturday, all day Sunday. And the connections that the woman made, really demonstrated the ability for us to be able to connect virtually, while in person I still believe is better. When we are able to connect virtually, it's priceless, particularly during the cancer experience when isolation is so so big. You know, many times when people get diagnosed with cancer, immediately, friends and family and people maybe in your faith community come just bombarding on in there, they want to help they're coming with hats and scarves, and brownies and casseroles from Minnesota. So casseroles and, and just so much support. And that last a few weeks, maybe a few months. And then when you go to the grocery store, people start diverting to the other aisle. Because now they don't know what to say. Now things are looking a little grim. They get confused and lost and unsure and afraid that they're gonna say the wrong thing. So they move away from you. And the other thing that happens is when people are diagnosed with cancer, immediately, they think they're gonna die just like with my mom, right? It is always in your brain. And it's that touch with mortality, we all have mortality in front of us. None of us are getting out here alive. But when you have cancer, then mortality goes boom, hello you're not always going to be alive. And so. So in that, that's running through the person's brain constantly and the caregiver, but no one wants to talk about that. Everyone wants to be a cheerleader, you're going to be fine, you're going to doing so great. It's just so wonderful. You look so great. But you can never talk about how you're feeling. But it gets sport community, even virtually, you can talk openly about what you're feeling. So that's the, one of the beauties of it. And you can laugh about really stupid stuff that no one else will think is funny people who understand will get it.

Jennifer Van Syckle  9:10  
Yeah, I could see that I could see where you would walk such a unique tumultuous path that I could see where you wouldn't even feel a person wouldn't even feel like they can talk about it to others. You know, in a way it made me think of paralleling some veterans coming back from from war and overseas, you know, service where I can't even talk to you about this, because you can't even imagine what I've just seen and been through. I can't talk to anybody because they don't have a clue. They haven't been there. So that's that's fantastic. And that's interesting that we're able to find that virtual was just as effective as for connecting. So that's that's fabulous. Do you guys now do it like a hybrid where you have a virtual option with your Mending in the Mountains or is it Yeah,

Becky Franks  9:53  
Mending in the Mountains is totally in person. But the brochure is now available on our website. So if there's any women listening who are cancer survivors, and you would like to attend. And you're thinking, Well, I don't have enough money to pay for gas to get to Fairmont hotspring, we have travel assistance as well. So we can help you get there. The the retreat, the weekend long retreat is also free of charge. And we also have two family camps a year. And that's free of charge. And then for men, we partner with a group called Reel Recovery and real is our R E E L fishing. So it's a fishing experiences. And so if there's any men listening, it is a wonderful experience. And it's, you know, men aren't as apt to talk about their cancer experience. And I think much to a detriment, many times we learn about men who are prostate cancer survivors particularly, and no one at work even knows they have cancer. So they're really carrying this burden, personally, inside themselves, until they get with other men. You know, just last night here at Cancer Support Community in Bozeman. There were 17 men who gathered for dinner, and they have dinner. And there's, there's a facilitator there who's a mental health professional, but it's just a casual dinner, but they talk about everything. And it's so freeing for them. And so for the men who have been to real recovery, every single time, they say, you know, I'm not that guy, who usually goes to stuff like this, but it was amazing. I'm so glad I went. So if there's any men who are interested in participating in that, they can reach out to us and learn more about how to do it.

Jennifer Van Syckle  11:35  
That's fantastic. And I imagine they can go more than once they can probably go every single year, or is it all

Becky Franks  11:41  
depends on Mending in the Mountains and Reel Recovery and the family camps. You know, there are a lot of women and men who are getting cancer in Montana, the rates are, you know, continuing up and the numbers are going up because our population continues to grow. And so because of that, we want to do two things. One is we want to serve people who are really in need of services who are closer to diagnosis, that means within the last four years probably of being diagnosed with cancer. If there's room, please come again. But if there's not that, we're going to ask you to step aside and and let others have the opportunity to participate.

Jennifer Van Syckle  12:24  
Fantastic. And do those groups seem to? I would I would suspect, like, we're the group of 2021, or we're the group of 2022, I would imagine they must continue those bonds. And as you say, like the connections down the road. And so they have their they have their support group, then they have their home team, essentially.

Becky Franks  12:42  
Yeah, and for Mending in the Mountains, women share a room at Fiarmong Hot Springs. And so what we do is we kind of group people out by community are part of the state as well, because many times women and men feel like they're alone. Like they have no one else that they can connect with. And it's like, oh, you have cancer to actually you're kind of my neighbor. And now they can get together for coffee and, you know, connect his family, especially with our family camps, our families end up being friends, they end up connecting quite a bit outside of the camp. And that is just a gift. In fact, we have had unfortunately, a couple of mothers pass away in the last six months. Well, it was heartwarming, in the middle of the trauma of that was that all the children who came to Camp knew each other. And they showed up to the celebration of life that was held. And the fathers knew each other. And they showed up and supported each other just just organically. And that's the that's called community. You know, we've got this slogan called that says community is stronger than cancer. And those are the kinds of things we get to see every day. And so if you've been touched by cancer and willing to join in on this community, you can find that support and then ability to find strength and healing within the cancer experience.

Jennifer Van Syckle  14:18  
Wow. And so Becky, are you guys then connected with like all the oncologists and cancer treatment centers in the States? So how are you getting your word out? For all of this?

Becky Franks  14:29  
We do a couple of things. So I mentioned Bozeman, and Missoula. But what I didn't mention is that we're connecting with rural rural communities and critical access hospitals to be able to be a resource center. And what does that mean? What that means is that we're getting our materials to the people who work with people who have cancer in small communities, to help people all over the State of Montana find us so that they can connect with us. And so when community wants to say, Yeah, we want to be a resource center, they can just give us a call. And then we can set up that it's like a formal referral process that we have available. Right now we have one in starting from west to east, in Sydney, Lewistown, Livingston, Butte, Ronan, Kalispell, Libby, in Fort Benton. So those are areas where we're actually doing outreach through the people on the ground who are helping people with cancer, it could be the Comprehensive Cancer Contractor with the state who helps people get screenings, it could be the critical access hospital and the primary care physicians there. Some of those places actually have infusion and oncology services. And so it's through them as well. And we have right now nine resource centers, and we're trying to get 15. So if anyone's listening and says, We need to get our people connected in our community, just give me a call. And we also help them set up in person opportunities in their own community. So like, for example, June 28th, is community stronger than cancer day across the country. And we're having a, there's a big celebration in Bozeman and there is one in Missoula, and then also local communities can say, Yeah, we want to throw a picnic, we want to celebrate cancer. So cancer survivors, and have a picnic in our community on that day. Those are all opportunities. And you know, Jen, I haven't even told you what we do.

Jennifer Van Syckle  16:35  
No. Let's hear it Becky.

Becky Franks  16:38  
I do want to share that just a little bit. So we have five pillars of programs. And I've talked about support, we do support groups, we have like 10 support groups a month for breast cancer and prostate cancer, and metastatic, and blood cancers. And, you know, just friends and family. And so lots of different support groups. And, and those are all facilitated by a mental health professional. So it's not therapy. But it's a place where people can feel safe and comfortable just talking about how they're feeling, and share stories and also share tools, tools and skills. How do I manage that? Oh, you managed it that way? Oh, wow, that I could try that. That kind of thing. We also have a second pillar is education. And our education is really important. One of the things that's really interesting about cancer, you're talking about veterans, and there's all kinds of different diseases and things. Cancer is unique, because many people lose their hair. And there's also a ton of really bad information about what do you do if you have cancer, and you're afraid of dying. So when you put those three together, people walk up to the grocery store and say, You know what you should do, you should eat five crates of asparagus a day. If you don't, you're gonna die. You should buy my supplements, and eat tons of it. And if you don't, you're gonna die. Or you have to get out of state, or you have to do this, or you have to do this as people are telling you stuff all the time. And you don't know. You don't know what to trust. Well, you can trust our education programs, because we work really hard. Anything on our website. And any classes that we offer, we vet very strongly to make sure it's accurate, best practice research based information.

Jennifer Van Syckle  18:34  
I can definitely see that or that would be a huge issue. Just a lot of things in life pregnancy, that you know, you name it, or I've got a lamp you need to do this. I could see where cancer especially were overwhelming and confusing. That's fantastic. What else do you guys have to offer? Becky?

Becky Franks  18:49  
Yeah. So we've got the support, we've got the end with the support. We also have one on one counseling available is short term cancer related counseling, and an education. We also have a lot of healthy lifestyle programming. And one of the things that is an old story is that when you're dealing with cancer treatment, you're gonna be stuck on the sofa for months. You're not gonna be able to ever go to lunch with your friends, you can't work. That's that's a story. Right? Cancer treatment has changed significantly. I've got an oncologist friend who said with all the new treatments available that help us stay alive. The number one thing that has been innovative over the years is the management of nausea, which is fascinating because there's huge increases in cancer treatment, huge advancements. So this is not your grandmother's cancer. Right? And not only can you manage a cancer treatment now, is it fun no. Is it something you want to do? No, I'm not I'm not adept diminishing the cancer treatment experience. It's not fun. But it's manageable, much more manageable now. And if you can keep exercising, find healthy nutrition and incorporate mindfulness into your life, you will do much better.

Jennifer Van Syckle  20:11  
That's fabulous. They have this tray full of options to help them succeed and get through that.

Becky Franks  20:17  
Yeah. And so again, you know, so what can I do? Well, we've got strength training, twice a week, we've got yoga four times a week, available, we've got Tai Chi. And all of those are taught by people who understand cancer, and who are trained in exercising cancer. So that again, you can trust that the person teaching knows what they're doing. And then people can learn their body, which is new to them now, as a cancer survivor, and as someone in treatment even, and you will do much better during treatment and after treatment than you would if you didn't. So the healthy lifestyle programming is super important. And mindfulness is about staying present. Because a lot of the fear and the lack of sleep that comes with cancer, both for the caregiver and for the patient, because the brain is just running, running. I mean, people have already planned their funeral by the time they get out of the doctor's office. Right? And that happens at 3am when you're trying to sleep. So how do you just stay present right now easy for us to say, right? So all of our mindfulness training and and we've got a really wonderful program about making meaning, and how to make meaning of what's happening to is is about really training your brain to stay present, particularly in those times of high anxiety and worry, right? How do I just sit manage today is? today is manageable, allowing my brain to fly in the future? Not so manageable, that's too hard. And then also, we are a resource place. Our job is to know all the services available for people with cancer across Montana. And so you can call and say, Where do I find a wig? I need to find a surgeon close to me. I wonder where to go for oncology. I don't understand how to pay for my cancer. I'm having trouble with travel. We have a travel assistance program. So all of those things are resources. And the state coalition has helped us with those resources.

Jennifer Van Syckle  22:27  
And what is the state coalition? Can you tell us about about that?

Becky Franks  22:31  
Yeah, I've been involved with the Montana Cancer Coalition for the whole time I've been with Kansas for community. So it's been around a long time, the Center for Disease Control, ask that every state haven't had as a State Coalition. And so in Montana, it is a group of volunteers. It is not a 501 C three nonprofit. It's just a group of volunteers across the state who want to think about how do we improve cancer care, from the time of of prevention and early diagnosis, treatment, quality of life, and even with children who have cancer. And it's interesting, Jen, when I first started in this whole experience, this was way back in 2006 2007. I attended a conference, and there was a woman talking there who was some big fancy pants cancer person. And she said, You know, it's interesting how cancer is changing. And if you live in Montana, it's the fly or die state, who I know by now, and I was like, what? Well, not anymore, my friends, because in a lot because of the State Coalition.

Jennifer Van Syckle  23:48  
On behalf of myself and our podcast team. We want to thank Becky, for stopping by and sharing about Cancer Support Community of Montana with us. For more information about this organization, or anything else you heard on our podcast, please visit our website at Talkinghealthinthe406.mt.gov. And if you haven't already, please go ahead and click subscribe. Wherever you download podcasts from join us again for our next episode, where Becky returns and shares even more with us. Until next time, take care.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai