I had the good fortune to be connected with The Hand to Heart Project immediately after my diagnosis of breast cancer. At the time I was 35, and though I had had many massages before, I was surprised by how big a difference it made in my process to have the support of trained massage therapists.
Of course, those are not the circumstances I wanted, but what a relief it was to be able to get massage work free of charge while I processed the diagnosis, healed from the surgery, and dealt with the beginning of long-term treatment. The organization is flexible and its staff are kind, willing to travel quite a long way to come to my home. Out of all the wonderful things I could say about Hand to Heart folks, one I want to be sure to mention is their balance of serious, heartfelt presence in the face of suffering with an ability to bring lightness and even occasionally humor to the difficult world of having cancer.
They’ve witnessed and helped lots of folks through treatment, and that’s evident–the practitioners show up in ways that meet me where I’m at, emotionally, physically, and socially. I hope that more and more people dealing with cancer, of all ages, can learn about Hand to Heart early in their process and benefit from this service.