About eHope | Testimonials

"I am a 40 year old cancer (multiple myeloma) patient who has had the privilage of being the center of an eHope caregiver group for the past 3 years.

Having been adopted at birth, with no ties to my biological family, my eHope group is my family. This wonderful group of friends has surrounded me with love and care, helping me with household tasks, researching alternative cancer treatments, driving me to and from doctor appointments, and simply being there when I needed someone to talk to. Without them I would have had to go to a nursing home, with them I was able to maintain my dignity and stay in my home. There are not words to express what this group of friends has meant to me.

I have found no other agency or program within our fragmented health care system that even comes close to filling the role of my eHope group. Quite simply, they are my hope."

Mary Jo
Westbrook, ME

"eHope is not descibed with words, rather its an amazing journey.A circle of unique and loving people coming together to build a community around special people who came into and lovingly touched our lives.

Its a time when those special people have hit a road block in life and by the will of the spirit,love and compassion all working to help carry them thru.

Oh! did I mention the benefits? Not only does it greatly benefit our special loved ones but also each other.You see this was a answered prayer along with blessing and enriching of my life. Our eHope community will forever be a keepsake in my heart."

Sue
Freeport, ME

I am a hospice nurse who is continually heartened by my work; my life is enriched my my patients and their relationships. But I am also continually discouraged by the many gaps i care that I see in the area of health care. The largest and most distressing of these being the reduction of patients to their disease and its process. The health care profession many times loses sight of the simple truth that we are always dealing with human beings - people with relationships, responsibilities, and needs.

It is a patient's loved ones who step in to acknowledge needs and make every day as full of grace as possible. It is here where I have seen eHope be very helpful. I had the privilege to care for an ALS patients utilizing eHope services.

The patient had a community ready to help and eHope was instrumental in coordinating that community. eHope developed a web site specifically for the patient's family to facilitate communication between his caregivers. The web site was user-friendly and easy to navigate. The patient's needs were clearly posted and responsibilities divided up amongst his caregivers. Respite time for his wife was always covered. I am happy to have watched eHope make a difficult journey easier.

Rosalie
Portland, ME

"Joel and heard about eHope months before we joined. Why did we wait? We could do it all ourselves, we didn't want to burden friends who always seemed too busy with their lives, it had always been hard to ask...the old Yankee independence I suppose.

Once we did, a realization that the dogs could get walked when we didn't have the energy, we would actually eat something new and delicious made by a friend, someone would be over to help me lift something heavy. And unbenost to us, our friends were relieved that they now knew what to do to help us. They had just been waiting as well.

But we waited too long, Joel died a week or so later. I look back and see how less stressful the last couple months could have been for myself as the caregiver, and as a direct result, for Joel. He was the one insistent on starting eHope seeing how overwhelmed I was after 4 years of his illness. We were both so tired, and yet so in love. The time we did have together, especially the last 5 months, may have had more memories of being a couple, rather than patient and caregiver. Our eHope friendships were just starting to evolve to a new level and many good things would come from that as well.

This fills the gap that the medical world does not. I was involved in both my parents illness as well as a Hospice volunteer. No one tells you the day to day reality of what your life will be like once you are diagnosed. They send you home with the next appointment to write on the calendar. I encourage anyone to call eHope and ask to talk to someone who understands and begin the rollercoaster ride with a safety net of friends, family and neighbors whose lives will be enriched by your call for help thru eHope."

Marianne
Portland, ME

"eHope has been and will continue to be a very important part of our life.  This style of community building is amazing!  Without this service we just don’t know how our family could focus on the most important thing right now……us."

Susan and Jason
Casco, ME

"As I think back on Gwen's dying and our eHope web site, it was the ability for people who loved Gwen to share their experiences that mattered most.  With eHope, there is a place for those who love a dying friend to express their love not just to the patient but to all who knew them.  It creates a community of caring.  It is as much a source of support for the dying friend as for those who love her or him.  And in my experience, it has bonded people who had not known each other before, which is as lovely a legacy as any dying person could want."

Will
Seattle, WA