A Chaplain For Support

Story by Terry Poe for the 1994 Relay For Life

The location has changed a few times over the years, the people have come and gone, but Ben Belcher has been there at the center of the Support One Another group for almost 12-years. Belcher first organized the group with Glen Soule, the previous pastor of the Manette Community Church. Soule retired in the mid 1980s.

The Cancer Support Group which meets the first Thursday of every month is co-sponsored by the ACS and Harrison Hospital where Belcher happens to be the Hospital Chaplain.

Belcher began his association with cancer related causes in 1974. As a seminary student he was assigned to the Oncology Unit at the University of Kentucky, and since that time he's been drawn to the care of cancer patients. He has been a member of the Boast of Directors for the ACS, and has been involved with the relay since its inception.

"Good thing I wasn't assigned to pediatrics," Belcher said laughing,"I would have hated that."

They try to have a speaker every month but more often them not they just share their lives with one another.

"This is a support group, not a therapy group," says Belcher. "The therapy within this group comes from each other."

Support group members Ben, Bob, Joan, Gene and Leota all sat around the table at the American Cancer Society's office one evening early in May, with Belcher at the reigns prompting discussion.

"You have people coming here because they are looking for something, and others come because they feel they have something to share," Gene said, "and there's alot of people who come once or twice and we never see them again."

Bob started coming to the support group last fall when he received a bone-marrow transplant for leukemia from his brother. He took some ribbing from the other group members about the return of his hair but said with a laugh, "Feeling nauseated is the worst thing about the treatment I took. Feeling nauseated for six months straight just isn't any good."

Leota summed it up best when she stated, "It's the one place where you can go and talk about your illness and they won't be shocked."

"If you come here expecting to get everything a miracle or whatever, but aren't willing to put anything into it then you're sure not going to get anything out of it." Gene said.

Some of the members of the support group have attended for more than nine years, and over a third of the attendees do not have cancer themselves.

"Usually they're pretty interesting, but sometimes they sure drag." Belcher said with a laugh.