In partnership with Cuisine for Healing, Cancer Care Services will be hosting a family cooking night.Join us as we learn a new recipe to cook together. While we enjoy our meals, we will learn some tips and tools on how to have important conversations around the dinner table.
To RSVP, contact: Megan Clifton, Director of Client Engagement
Únase a nosotros y con el Chef Noah de Cuisine for For Healing para una demostración de cocina saludable. Chef Noah le guiará a través de una receta saludable, a la vez que aprende consejos de cocina en el proceso. Después de haber preparado nuestra comida, ¡comeremos juntos y disfrutaremos del compañerismo de los que nos rodean!
Para confirmar su asistencia, comuníquese con: Megan Clifton, Directora de Relaciones con los Clientes
All singles and couples impacted by cancer are invited! Come join us for food, fun, break-out sessions, and dancing. We hope to see you there! *Free childcare is provided.
¡Todos los solteros y parejas están invitados! Acompañenos a la comida, la diversión, las sesiones de trabajo y el baile. ¡Esperamos verte ahí! *Tenemos cuidado de niños gratis disponible.
The way I learned that I had cancer was because on Christmas day, we had supper, and after that, I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t go to the restroom.
On the 27th, I felt really bad. I told my wife, take me to the hospital. And when I got admitted there, I thought it was my stomach.
The doctor comes out, and my wife is there with me, and he came out and said, “Mr. Soto, the masses we found are malignant. You’re stage four cancer. It’s metastasized. It went from your colon to your liver and now it’s in your lungs, and you got six months to live.” He just bluntly said it like that.
Not being able to drive, not having that independence, it’s very difficult. Through everything I’ve been through, I actually have valued my wife. When I first got diagnosed, people told her, quit your job. You know, give him a hundred percent of your time.
She’s like, I can’t. Maybe family members or friends can come help me, but I need to maintain my income – this income that helps us.
Also, the hardest part for me, I think looking back, was when she’d go – when she’d go buy groceries I was always the one that took the bags. I was the one that went with her and never let her carry anything. Not because she couldn’t, but that was me.
This was why to see her struggling with the bags, and I couldn’t even help her; that was hard for me. To see her clean the house, and I couldn’t even get up to help her. To see her cook, and I couldn’t even get up that I was shaking so much. I was so cold. And to see them look at me like, ah, he might be gone. I was fighting inside going, this is not it. I’m not leaving like this.
It changes everything. Your perspective, your ego, you become more humble. You become more sensitive to other people.
Before I got cancer, I never knew who Cancer Care was. It was not just paying for my medications, but it was more about embracing you and saying,” Hey, you’re not alone. I’m not just here to provide services. We’re here to tell you if you need anything, we’re here for you.” I can actually say that when I most needed it, that’s when you all were there.
But it got to the point where I started feeling much better where I could now cook for myself. The neuropathy became less. The church people would come and bring us food. When I started feeling that instead of taking advantage of the services, somebody else might need it more than I do.
And when I would go to oncology, and I knew these people didn’t even have to pay for their colostomy bags, and they didn’t have the resources. They didn’t have any family; they didn’t have a church family or anything. I thought, nah, I can’t be selfish. I gotta let go of what has been good for me, but now somebody else might benefit more, so I would tell them about Cancer Care.
That made me feel bad, but now I was giving back somehow. That is my goal before I leave, and I could be here six months, I could be here a year, I could be here 10 years, but till my last breath, I will always be there to help somebody.
You all were the ones that made me realize you can’t be prideful. You cannot just be a giver. You sometimes gotta receive because the Bible says it’s better to give than to receive, but there’s times you’re gonna have to. And that humbled me. It really did.
Once I’m okay, maybe I could pay it back. That’s why I’m doing this video. This is my way of payback because I want everybody to know that they’re not alone.
Join both Connect and Spiritual Care services for a Friendsgiving baking class! A chef will lead us through baking our favorite holiday pies. You will also take home the ingredients so you can make the pie during the holidays for your friends and family.
Acompáñenos a celebrar Friendsgiving con una clase de pastelería con los grupos de Connect y del Cuidado Espiritual. Un cocinero nos dirigirá en la clase de cocina para cocer nuestras tartas festivas favoritas. También se llevará a casa los ingredientes necesarios para cocinar su propia tarta durante los días festivos para compatir con sus seres queridos.
Fire Family First is a monthly gathering of firefighter families impacted by cancer on the first Tuesday of the month throughout 2024. The evening is facilitated by Cameron Brown, a retired Fort Worth firefighter, and Cancer Care staff who will provide caregiver support and therapeutic activities for children.
Being a cancer patient, it’s cancer 24/7 because even if you’re feeling good, you’re thinking about it. It’s in your head, you know; it’s in your spirit.
Before cancer, my life was like– pretty much busy. I had my three little kids and my husband. I did notice I was tired all the time, and I suffered a lot from fibromyalgia, so I thought– in this neck area. So, my life was really being impacted before, and I didn’t know it.
I was actually sick with COVID, and I was taking a little bit longer to recover. I was having breathing problems, so we ended up going to the Emergency. When they did the scan of my chest, they did notice a mass higher up in my throat.
And so the doctor was pretty sure that it was only going to be a two-hour surgery. My surgery ended up being 6.5 hours. He knew right away that it was for sure cancer.
When I woke up from surgery, them being like, “Okay, well, you had cancer, but now you don’t,” it was just a rush of emotions because I didn’t know whether to be sad or scared or okay, now relieved because, well, it’s out now! So, it was just a lot to take in.
I think I actually found Cancer Care online. I ended up calling and immediately got connected to a social worker. Usually, you call when you need help anywhere, and, you know, you’re on a waitlist, or you’ve got to wait a while, or apply and all this. Cancer Care was on it and was like, “Yes, we can help you with this, this, this, this, so it all just moved really quickly.
The overall best help was counseling! And then my husband was able to get counseling, which, first of all, was amazing because I think the whole “cancer” thing affected him more than it affected me. He was able to get that counseling after hours.
As a mother, I don’t want to be crying at home or angry at home, you know, where the kids could see, so Cancer Care really provides that safe space where you can just talk about whatever is going on.
Everybody has different cancers, and everybody’s affected in different ways, but at the same time, it’s really relatable, and you understand each other and what you’re going through. Almost exactly to the year, I had another CT scan, and they found a mass again.
They were pretty for sure it was cancerous since I had just had it the year before. To be honest, I got in my van, and I let it out. I bawled my eyes out, I cried, had a chat with God. And mainly because the first time, I didn’t do that. I had more time to process it.
Cancer Care is absolutely phenomenal. It’s been a real blessing to not only me but to my husband and my children. It’s been an absolute necessity for me to be able to go through this.
Join us for art therapy night! Come hungry and ready to get your creativity on! Our Clinical Director, Brianna Silva, will be leading us through an art therapy activity. Dinner will also be provided.
¡Acompáñanos en nuestra Noche de Conexión para explorar tu talento artístico! Un terapeuta de arte nos acompañará para dirigir una actividad de arteterapia para ti y tus seres queridos. La cena será proporcionada.
Fire Family First is a monthly gathering of firefighter families impacted by cancer on the first Tuesday of the month throughout 2024. The evening is facilitated by Cameron Brown, a retired Fort Worth firefighter, and Tracey Willingham, who provides caregiver support. A child therapy professional will provide therapeutic activities for the children of firefighters during the gathering.
Fire Family First is a monthly gathering of firefighter families impacted by cancer on the first Tuesday of the month throughout 2024. The evening is facilitated by Cameron Brown, a retired Fort Worth firefighter, and Tracey Willingham, who provides caregiver support. A child therapy professional will provide therapeutic activities for the children of firefighters during the gathering.
All singles and couples impacted by cancer are invited! Come join us for food, fun, break-out sessions, and dancing. We hope to see you there! *Free childcare is provided.
¡Todos los solteros y parejas están invitados! Acompañenos a la comida, la diversión, las sesiones de trabajo y el baile. ¡Esperamos verte ahí! *Tenemos cuidado de niños gratis disponible.
