By Autumn Gray
As the holidays approach, know this: Angels do live among us.
One of them is Eleanor Schick – though people more often refer to her as a resource, friend, or godsend. Schick is a one-woman helpline for Cancer Support Now, an Albuquerque-based volunteer community of individuals affected by cancer and dedicated to helping those impacted by cancer so that no one endures the disease and its ramifications alone. Though the nonprofit’s services include support groups, one-on-one support, referrals, and education, the helpline is its heartbeat.
“There are so many people going through cancer, and they don’t have anywhere to reach out,” said Schick, one of Cancer Support Now’s founders nearly 15 years ago. “What people often share in our groups and with me personally is that they have family who want to get them food and this and that, but they really don’t understand what (the person with cancer is) feeling.
“This is about the experience of having it and having to make choices about the treatment, and dealing with the side effects, and the emotional effect of dealing with cancer.”
Schick responds to calls between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. seven days a week from people diagnosed with cancer, cancer survivors, and caregivers. She refers to the service as a helpline, not a hotline, because she alone simply can’t respond to all callers, every day, in the moment, and also provide thoughtful responses to their concerns. Instead, she takes appointments to ensure that both she and the caller are free of distractions and aren’t pressed for time.
As anyone who has had it will say, cancer is not just a medical concern. It affects every area of life -relationships, finances, mood, and more.
“There’s no part of life that cancer doesn’t touch and it’s never really over. Cancer likes to come back,” said organization board president Anjanette Cureton. “Eleanor is the best listener I’ve ever met.”
Schick, whose voice resonates kindness and warmth, really does understand. She has survived breast cancer twice, the second occurrence happening in the “healthy” breast about the time the first one was announced to be disease free.
At 82, she operates the helpline 25 hours weekly – a limit the board imposes for Schick’s own well-being as she is prone to giving all of herself all of the time. Calls to her average about 130 per month, with around half of them being repeat callers dealing with every type of cancer. Schick knows the metrics because she files a monthly report for the Department of Health, the primary funder for Cancer Support Now.
“When a doctor tells a patient that he or she has cancer and that person comes apart and is inconsolable, the doctor can spend some time with them then, but there has to be some person they can call regularly, and I’m that person,” Schick said. “I become a trusted friend and resource who is knowledgeable about what they’re going through. They may say that they can’t stand the taste of food. I know what that feels like, and we can talk about that.”
Schick also helps people navigate or connect with resources across the state and country. If a patient is out of work because of their diagnosis and can’t pay rent, she has contacts for assistance with paperwork challenges and legal issues. If someone is diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and hopes to talk with someone, somewhere who has survived it, she can help with that, too.
“I can reach out to a list of organizations (i.e. MD Anderson and Sloan Kettering) to find them peer support from someone roughly the same age, often the same gender, and who has the same or similar diagnosis, and is being recommended the same treatment, and that person can become a supporter.”
Schick is not a licensed therapist. She is merely a woman who knows what it’s like to receive a shocking diagnosis, who has endured cancer treatment, who has faced the fear and discomfort that come with it, who has experience with a disease that rattled about 2 million new people in 2024 alone, and who is dedicating herself to listening to others.
“More than anything, it’s just being present,” she said.
If you or someone you know could benefit from speaking with Schick, she can be reached at 505.255.0405 or toll free at 855.955.3500. Just leave a message on her voice mail, and she will call you back. For more information about Cancer Support Now and its services, visit www.cancersupportnow.org or email [email protected]. All services are free.
“The experience of having cancer or caring for someone with cancer is something that isn’t covered in the medical profession,” Cureton said. “There are several cancer centers who send people to us because they can’t possibly give them all of the personal attention that they really need.”
Cancer Support Now also has volunteer opportunities that include representing the organization at a community health fair; providing peer support for a person newly diagnosed with cancer and/or for a caregiver of a loved one with cancer; assisting with marketing tasks (distributing flyers and newsletters to health clinics, senior centers, and other sites); finding resources and offering peer support on the Helpline; training to become a support group facilitator; and assisting with the annual Living With & Beyond Cancer Conference.
The 14th annual Living With and beyond Cancer Conference is scheduled for April 5 via Zoom. The event is free, but registration is required at cancersupportnow.org.
