1999 Thyroid Cancer Survivors Conferences

ThyCa '99 -- The 2nd Annual Thyroid Cancer Survivors' Conference: The ONLY conference in the world for survivors of this rare cancer.

Date: 22-24 October 1999

Place: Boston Marriott, Burlington, Massachusetts, USA

Cost: $25 per person / students free with identification. Scholarships are available.

Organized by ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association, Inc.

Web site www.thyca.org

Address ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association, Inc.
PO Box 1545, New York, NY 10159-1545

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE

From October 22-24, thyroid cancer survivors from across the United States and Canada will meet in Massachusetts for the world’s second annual meeting for the survivors of this rare cancer. The conference is organized by ThyCa: the Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to survivors’ issues. Sponsors include the American Cancer Society, New England Division, Knoll Pharmaceuticals and Genzyme Company.

The cost is only $25. Students may attend free. Survivors may register online at ThyCa’s web page at www.thyca.org, by e-mail at registration@thyca.org, or by writing to ThyCa ‘99 Registration, PO Box 243, Millersville, PA 17551 until October 1, 1999. Scholarships will be provided upon request.

This an informal, nuts 'n bolts conference where survivors will have a chance to talk face-to-face with other survivors and with leading thyroid cancer specialists in small, intimate group settings.. For many, this will be the first time since their diagnosis they have met someone else with this cancer. This is not a disease that effects large numbers as does breast and prostate cancer. In the United States, fewer than 15,000 are diagnosed with thyroid cancer annually. Of the estimated 200,000 survivors in the United States, fewer than 1,500 will die of the disease this year.

Professional facilitators include: Arturo Rolla, MD, an endocrinologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, and founder of the ThyCa Mailing List; Gilbert Daniels, MD, Co-Director of the Thyroid Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston; Donald Margouleff, MD, Chief of Nuclear Medicine at North Shore University Hospital, Manhassett, NY; Firdosh Pathan, Senior Attending Pharmacist, Massachusetts General Hospital Pharmacy Department; Lori Fresina, State Advocacy Director for the American Cancer Society, New England Division; and Judy Fleishman, Ph.D., Behavioral Scientist at Greater Lawrence Family Health Center, Lawrence, MA.

Unlike last year, when workshop topics were limited to surgery, radiation, nutrition, medication and caring for care givers, ThyCa 99 will add complementary alternatives to traditional treatment, including Yoga, Reiki and Healing Meditation and creative self-expression. Friday and Saturday survivors’ art from around the US and Canada will be on exhibit. And throughout the three day event, volunteers will be available in a special research room with Internet access to help participants learn to use the Internet to research medical issues.

Conference organizers are committed to help other survivors because thyroid cancer is a disease that impacts everyone for life from the time of diagnosis. They must learn to cope with a strict regimen of daily medications plus the impact of periodic tests and treatments that can significantly affect the quality of their lives temporarily. The conference is only one of the resources the newly incorporated nonprofit volunteer organization has created to help survivors around the world.

Talking with other survivors and learning from their experience, says Gary Bloom of Olney, MD, Chair of the ThyCa Board of Directors, and Facilitator of the Washington, DC ThyCa Support Group, is an important part of living with this disease. Until 1997, when a group of survivors began to build a worldwide network of free services for survivors, we lived in complete isolation. Now we have two mailing lists and a weekly chat room on the Internet dedicated to survivors’ issues. This year we created a web site at www.thyca.org with guidelines for radiation and other treatments. Now, within a few minutes, someone newly diagnosed can access information about their disease, learn about treatment options and find links to the best medical information in the world.

Those who join ThyCa before the end of ThyCa 99 will be a charter member of the Association. Membership costs $25 annually; a lifetime membership is only $225. Membership fees, Bloom says, pay for the cost of maintaining the resources available to survivors such as the web site and the toll-free telephone number that will be available this fall.