Perspectives from those who live it everyday.

Through a grant from The Women's Board of The Johns Hopkins Hospital, selected Kimmel Cancer Center patients are receiving ChemoCozy jackets this winter. The fleece jackets, stylishly and thoughtfully designed by cancer survivor Greg Hamilton and his wife, provide easy access to peripherally and centrally-inserted intravenous lines, implanted devices and pockets for surgical drains.  “We are always so excited when we know patients will get a little comfort during their treatments,” says Greg.  Nurses in the Infusion Center and Inpatient/Outpatient Program are distributing the jackets to patients receiving chemotherapy who could most benefit from them.

"The Cancer Center is very grateful to The Women’s Board for making these jackets available to our patients, and to the Hamilton's," says Sharon Krumm, R.N., Administrator/Director of nursing at the Kimmel Cancer Center.

(Photo at left: The Hamilton's at the Kimmel Cancer Center presenting ChemoCozy's to Sharon Krumm, R.N.)

**This blog post was written by Kimmel Cancer Center development specialist Allison Rich.

For Te(5A)m, the Ride to Conquer Cancer is about far more than the miles. The team was founded by the oncology nurses from Unit 5A of the Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore – but the team members’ stories are far more diverse than their namesake would suggest. While each teammate’s reason for riding is unique, what brings Te(5A)m together is their cohesive goal – to move us one step closer towards eradicating cancer entirely.

For team member Kathie Garben, an oncology nurse herself, this goal strikes very close to home. Having beat cancer not once, but twice, her own experiences are what inspired her to go back to school to study nursing. Working with research and clinical trials throughout her nursing career, Kathie has seen firsthand the huge advances that researchers have made in the past several years alone. Beyond the research taking place at the laboratory bench, she has also seen the bravery of those patients who know there is not a cure for them, yet willingly participate in research trials in the hope of helping someone else down the road.

This is the lynchpin of why Kathie is gearing up to ride this September – to make others aware of the critical research that is taking place at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, Sibley Memorial, and Suburban Hospitals, and to raise funds to support it. After first getting into cycling as a hobby, and then successfully taking on challenges such as the Five Borough Tour in NYC (twice!), the Ride to Conquer Cancer offered the perfect opportunity for Kathie to combine her desire to pay it forward with a sport that she loves.

For Ryan Close, the drive to participate in the Ride to Conquer Cancer is as deeply rooted as Kathie’s. Having battled cancer three times, Ryan first came to Johns Hopkins for treatment back in 2011. Having planned to get into cycling once he was well, Ryan received a bike from a close friend in celebration of conquering his disease. Since then, he has immersed himself fully into what is now his favorite activity – cycling – and has successfully completed a few centuries (100 mile rides), as well as a triathlon.

As Ryan describes it, the Ride to Conquer Cancer is a great way to pay tribute to the physicians and nurses who helped him beat his disease: “It’s a great way to give back – if it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be around and wouldn’t be able to enjoy cycling as much as I do now.”

Long after the Ride has ended, the funds raised by Ryan, Kathie, and their teammates from Te(5A)m will continue to help accelerate discoveries that will make a difference in the lives of patients and their families. With only a few short weeks left before the opening ceremonies on September 13^th, the team has a few more fundraisers planned to help them make it to the starting line.

To help riders and community members reach their fitness goals, the Maryland Athletic Club (MAC) has offered a “25 days for $25” deal, available to all first time MAC members, with proceeds going towards cancer research at Johns Hopkins.  Additionally, on Wednesday, September 3rd, Te(5A)m will be hosting a spin class at the MAC in Harbor East. The hour long class will start at 7:15 PM, and a $25 donation covers the class as well as all-evening access to the MAC’s numerous amenities, such as the pool and hot tub. The class will also be followed by a free cool-down yoga class taught by the team’s own yogi, Halley Friedeman!

With the Ride to Conquer Cancer just around the corner, now is the time to come together to support all of our riders, patients, and families as we prepare to ride to victory this September. As Te(5A)m demonstrates, no matter why we choose to ride, we cannot do it without each other.

**This blog post was written by Elisabeth Carrino-Tamasi. Elisabeth is a Clinical Social Worker at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center at Sibley Memorial Hospital and the proud daughter of Dominic Carrino

You have cancer.  Those three words turn the world upside down and leave patients, family members, and loved ones reeling from the news – and seeking sources of hope.  For each of us, hope comes in different forms.  Understanding and recognizing these individual distinctions and personal nuances is an essential component of optimizing oncology care at the Kimmel Cancer Center.  Because hope matters.

In 2012, the Kimmel Cancer Center unveiled The Hope Project.  The program is designed to incorporate each patient’s definition of hope into their treatment plan, while establishing a community of support that complements these hopes. This requires faculty, staff, caregivers, and patients to be fluent in the language of hope and its individual interpretations.

To further etch The Hope Project into the daily culture of the Kimmel Cancer Center, a sunflower was chosen to symbolize the program.  Bold and bright and always turning to face its source of nourishment, the sunflower is the perfect embodiment of what hope means and why it matters to each of us.  For example, pins featuring the sunflower have been widely distributed amongst the Kimmel Cancer Center community, frequently from provider to patient, as a means of initiating dialogue and increasing fluency in the language of hope.

Last fall, my dad – Dominic Carrino – passed away after a battle with melanoma.  To anyone who knew him, Dominic was larger than life and full of hopeful optimism.  Sitting at my desk one day, I looked down at a plaque he gave me that reads, "HOPE – choose to see through optimistic eyes.”  From there, an idea came to life. My family decided to support The Hope Project, and establish a lasting memory of Dominic through the creation of a work of art modeled on the project’s sunflower logo.

Thus, at this year’s Cancer Survivor’s Day, 200 patients wrote their hopes on the petals of a sunflower that was then assembled by two local artists and blessed by Rhonda Cooper, the Kimmel Cancer Center chaplain. The completed project now hangs in the Weinberg Ceremonial Lobby, and will serve to both honor the eternal optimism of Dominic and help educate the Kimmel Cancer Center community about hope and the vital role it plays in the face of cancer. Most importantly, the Carrino Sunflower will be a lasting reminder to all of us that hope is a reservoir of strength, a sustaining force, a guide, a positive state of mind, a peace-giver – and a lifeline.

Dr. Evan Lipson, Dominic’s oncologist, remarked that “Mr. Carrino was a warm and genuine man whose sense of hope brought joy and fulfillment to him and his loved ones.  A hopeful inner strength exists in every one of us; as an oncologist, one of my jobs is to help patients access their hope, to empower patients and families confronting a cancer diagnosis.”

As part of The Hope Project, the Carrino Sunflower will also be featured on posters which will hang in each exam room, displaying information about the Project that patients may use to help initiate conversations about hope with their physicians. Online teaching modules, and a video compiling interview clips surrounding the role of hope in patient-physician interactions, will further spread the language of hope throughout the Cancer Center and the community. A befitting tribute to Dominic, our eternal optimist, as well as to the battles being fought by each patient who walks through the Cancer Center, the Carrino Sunflower will continue to represent the optimism and hope that supports patients and families throughout their entire cancer journey.