Jan/Feb 2015 • 38
Finding Strength in Community
Breast cancer support group offers comfort to men, the silent caregivers
Story and Photo by Kathy Melvin
I
n a small room at Gilda's Club in
Louisville, flled with warm light
and soft chairs, fve men sit together
exchanging all-too-familiar stories.
They have one very important thing
in common. They are men caring for
women with breast cancer.
Doug Drake of New Albany is
the president & CEO of "Together
for Breast Cancer Survival, "A Men's
Caregiver Support group. He lost
his mother to breast cancer in 1999.
His reaction to her illness, he says,
was to stick his head in the sand.
And then she was gone.
He remembers looking in the
mirror and making a promise to God that
if he ever faced this situation again he
would be a beter caregiver.
Unfortunately, he would have that
chance.
Nine months after marrying Janet,
the love of his life, she was diagnosed
with breast cancer. "I waited a long time
to fnd my soul mate and now I was afraid
I was going to lose her," he said. "I was
devastated." Fortunately, 14 years later,
they are still together, but it was a long
journey that they traveled side by side.
In keeping with his promise, the frst
thing he did was ask Janet what he could
do to support her. Her requests were sim-
ple. She wanted him to accompany her to
chemotherapy treatments and join her at a
support group for women with cancer she
had heard about at Floyd Memorial
Hospital.
When Doug and Janet atend-
ed the frst support group meeting,
Doug quickly realized he was the
only man there. He didn't want to
make the women feel uncomfortable
so he asked the leader, Deena Klee-
hamer and then the group, if it was
OK to stay. They welcomed him, made
him the unofcial mascot and joyfully
took turns at trying to make him turn red.
Special Feature
'The goal is not to try and fix
problems, but to be supportive
and share information and
understanding.'
Pictured (lef to right): Greg Rankin, Larry Maze, Doug Drake, Gerard Gephart, and Geof Wohl