BROOKINGS – A diagnosis of cancer brings with it an array of challenges – physical, emotional, spiritual and relational – that impact not just the patient, but also the patient’s treatment team, family, friends and caregivers.

Now a pair of groups under the banner of “Together Strong Cancer Support Teams” are under way at GracePoint Wesleyan Church in Brookings: Patients/Survivors Group and Caregivers/Friends/Family Group.

“This is our third meeting; we’re brand new, just getting started,” Becky Eggebrecht, one of the founders of the groups, said Monday evening at GracePoint.

Asked about the genesis of and need for Together Strong, she explained, “I used to work as an oncology nurse, for several years. I was always looking for some kind of support for our patients in this area and never could find a specific group, cancer support group, even though you would think there would be something like that.

“So I teamed up with Matt Douglas from our church here and I traveled to a Cancer Treatment Centers of America outside of Chicago. I went there to get some training about starting a support group.”

What she came away with was the idea for a multi-faceted, holistic approach to the challenges cancer brings to the two groups.

“Our purpose here is to provide support,” she added. The treatment care team deals with aspects of cancer such as “treatment, nutrition and aspects of that nature, but there’s another piece behind that.”

“To endure the process, you really do need to have support,” she said. Sometimes patients are vulnerable to emotional feelings and not wanting to be a burden to their family and friends.

As an oncology nurse, Eggebrecht focused on the treatment of the patient. But in doing so she sensed that support was needed for both patients and caregivers.

And members of both groups are welcome to join the support groups at Gracepoint.

Patients, survivors, family and friends meet as one group; caregivers and health care providers meet as another. Then bonded “together strong” the two form “cancer support teams.”

Eggebrecht said the project is “receiving great support in the Brookings community. People have an opportunity to come and share.”

Two separate teams

“I wanted to do two separate teams. I wasn’t going to do it without doing two teams,” Eggebrect noted.

One member of the caregivers group is Brookings Mayor Scott Munsterman, whose wife Mary Jeanne, then 53, died of cancer in May 2016.

“I wanted to have someone who would have a heart for everyone who walks in through the door,” Eggebrecht said. “It was an inspiring thing I saw within their family in Mary Jeanne’s journey. It was very healthy.”

She asked Munsterman, who replied that he “was ready to do it.”

Munsterman explained that his group focuses on caregivers.

“What can we do to help them, give them hope, be a co-survivor with them and to really think about what’s the best way to love them through this,” he said.

In that vein the group considers the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the caregivers.

“It’s kind of everything on the table, no holds barred,” Munsterman added, laughing. “We talk about everything. Having been through it myself – on the caregiver side and on the grieving side – unless you’ve been through it yourself, you really don’t understand it. I think that would be a fair statement to make.”

“There’s a lot of experience for this group,” he said. “We have people who are caregivers for the first time but we do have people who have taken care of people on the other side. It’s really a neat mix. There’s a lot to learn from each other.”

‘On the other side’

While the caregivers group is meeting in one room, those people Munsterman noted as being “on the other side” – patients and survivors – are meeting in another room.

Eggbbrecht is there with five women who are patients or survivors: Lorna Karlstad, Stacey Hanson, Marilyn Moberg, Vicky Schneider and Jessie Koch.

Karlstad, a cancer survivor for 13 years, had melanoma on her back. She had two friends who died from melanoma. She had wanted to be part of a support group but hadn’t found one. Then Eggebrecht had the idea for Together Strong, and Karlstad helped her get it started.

“I went through bad times,” Karlstad said. “No matter what kind of cancer you have, you all go through some of the same things. The poor families, it’s hard for them to understand. … People don’t understand that you go through a period of time when you feel very secluded. It’s very hard.”

Koch was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2016. As to the five-year survival mark, a milestone for those fighting cancer, Koch said, “I think for me, any year is a good number.” She continues to undergo treatment and meet monthly with her oncologist.

“Every time I go in and my blood work is good and my energy is coming back, that’s an accomplishment in itself,” Koch added.

Being part of the patients’ group is helping her meet a need that wasn’t being met. When she saw in the church bulletin a note about the group forming, she knew she “wanted to be a part of it.”

Koch noted that while breast cancer is readily recognized, there are other cancers that women get that tend to be overlooked.

“You don’t just get breast cancer, you get other cancers,” Koch said.

“It’s just a local thing,” Eggebrecht said of the reach of the group. There is no connection to other national organizations that focus on the various aspects of cancer. But Eggebrecht is willing to work with local groups such as United Way to provide information about Together Strong.

Meetings are held at GracePoint, but church membership is not a prerequisite for volunteering. However, the church has been supportive of the program and provides meeting space for the teams.

“This is definitely a community-wide opportunity,” Eggebrecht said. “I hope it branches out to surrounding communities as well.”

Meetings are held the second Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at GracePoint Wesleyan Church, 1420 Orchard Drive, Brookings. For additional information about the support groups, contact Eggebrecht at egg5@brookings.net or call (605) 695-7788.

Contact John Kubal at jkubal@brookingsregister.com.