Welcome to the Elka Best Cancer Foundation Patient/Survivor Center!

This page will take you into our comfortable online Patient/Survivor Center: a place where you can:

• communicate with other IPTLD™ patients, survivors, caregivers, and concerned individuals.
• share your concerns and fears.
• ask questions, or answer the questions of others based on your own experience and knowledge.
• share ideas and opinions, tell of your experiences with IPTLD™ and cancer, and learn about other peoples’ experiences.

The Patient/Survivor Center features a Forum that is comprised of a chat room area and a message board. The Forum also contains an online Library where patients can check in and check out reference materials on IPTLD™ and cancer. This Forum is a location where interaction between IPTLD™ patients, friends and family members who are supporting those with cancer, survivors, caregivers, and even interested members of the public, can meet to share experiences and ideas, ask questions, and hopefully find inspiration from those who have traveled this path before them. It is designed to facilitate the exchange of dialogue between IPTLD™ patients and provide a "human" component to dealing with the disease and treatment.

When I was first diagnosed with advanced-stage breast cancer in 2001, I was fearful, and I felt very alone. Due to the dysfunctional immune system that I have had since 1992, I knew I would not survive conventional therapy. Needless to say, I could find very few people to support me in my attempts to do something besides conventional therapy. With research, I found an anti-cancer diet and a few different nutritional products that sounded promising. However, the cancer never left, and in 2002, the doctors told me that they thought it was now in my brain and lungs, and that I should “go home and get my affairs in order”. I did more research and that was when I found IPTLD™. It sounded so reasonable and logical, and I found solace in the fact that it had been used successfully on cancer for decades. But, still, there was nobody I could talk to, not another patient that I could question. With conventional therapy, we all know at least one person we can ask about their experiences. However, I could no longer afford the luxury of delaying treatment; I would just have to take my chances. I started IPTLD™ on Labor Day 2002. The cancer was in remission by late March of 2003!

While I was going through treatment, I had so many questions. There are emotional and psychological aspects to being a cancer patient that nobody else can understand. There is also treatment and survivor guilt. Many times, I wished I had someone that I could talk to about these issues. In late December of 2002, I met another IPTLD™ breast cancer patient at the doctor’s office, and we became “bosom buddies”. We helped each other a great deal through shared experiences, concerns, and achievements. That is the goal of this Forum.

Rules
So, some general rules before you enter. You will have to register to participate. This information will be kept private and not sold as a list to anyone. On the sign in page you will find a "Forum Rules" link that will explain how we will govern the Forum. Next, you will give yourself a user name. Try to pick a name that will differentiate you from others, so that members of the Forum can get to know you as an individual as much as possible, while still protecting your privacy as much as possible. I have elected to use my full name as my username.

A password to enter the forum will be emailed to you automatically. When you receive it, change it to something of your own, and you are now ready to sign in and join with us in the discussions. If you do not receive a password from our system, please check your email address to ensure it is correct. Also be sure that any spam protection software installed on your computer is not prohibiting you from receiving the password.

Remember that this is hopefully a place for the positive exchange of ideas. We would like to keep the Forum free from influence by any of the members towards any other member(s). This is a place for comfort, joy, and sharing. If you wish to exchange specific information with another patient, please do it by email between yourselves rather than posting it on the boards.

These boards are as private as any messaging boards, and the words you post here will stay here. But while we monitor what is discussed for appropriateness, we cannot control who calls you if you post your phone number. Remember that advice given by others should always be carefully considered and researched, even if it is advice given by a health professional. Remember, too, that we are all individuals: what works for one person may not necessarily work for another. Also, the opinions expressed here are those of the individuals posting them, and do not necessarily reflect the ideas of the Elka Best Cancer Foundation.

Annie Brandt,
Co-Founder, Excecutive Director
The Elka Best Foundation

Welcome to our community!

Click here to register and enter.

(By entering I agree to abide by the Forum Rules attached here. My purpose for visiting is health related rather than commercial.)