About eHope | Peeps We Serve

A NEED FOR COMMUNITY

Picture yourself as newly single, newly living in Portland, and newly diagnosed with cancer… How would you imagine navigating an intimidating routine of healthcare, never before experienced feelings, and a new need for others to come into your life to help in ways that you didn’t imagine were necessary? The fall of 2006 proved to hold all of these new things for former eHope care recipient, Priscilla Platt. “My doctor told me that I should be an optimistic realist about my illness, Priscilla remembers. “And as the reality of what I would be facing while living alone started to sink in, I knew that I would need to ask others for help.” A dear friend, Patricia Ellen, mentioned the idea of forming an eHope group. Priscilla knew that she would eventually have non-medical needs that would require the help of others, and she told Patricia to do whatever needed to be done to get the group going. What evolved from that decision is something that Priscilla never envisioned. A BEAUTIFUL SOLUTION eHope moved swiftly to assist Priscilla in forming a care giving group, and the process was aided by Patricia Ellen's selfless agreement to be trained personally as the group's facilitator. “My group did so much more for me than just meet my practical needs – which they also did expertly,” says Priscilla, whose group was eventually made up of over 100 extended family members, friends, neighbors, career and chaplaincy colleagues – all with tremendous geographic diversity. Through the group’s shared use of a private eHope website, Priscilla and her team found a forum through which they organized their care giving for her physical needs. Further, Priscilla was able to process her physical, psychological, and spiritual feelings about cancer and the idea of her own mortality. A prolific writer and lover of art and poetry, Priscilla found this outlet during her treatment was tremendously important. And many others were drawn into her process. “My eHope site became just the most lively, engaging website!” says Priscilla, “Group members shared their own stories…and fears…and poetry…themselves. It was beautiful.” With so many caring “Peeps” in her care giving group, Priscilla was also able to regularly and quickly update her large circle on her condition. She could communicate information very quickly to her group at any time of the day, when she had the best energy for it. HOPE EXTENDED In July 2007, Priscilla and her supporters happily and collectively put their eHope group “into remission”, along with her cancer. Significant in the eHope process, her website remains available to Priscilla and her group members indefinitely, so that they can walk back through its pages and continue to communicate there at will. This brings a lot of comfort to Priscilla, who today is herself a human art form of radiance, elegance, and health. She has plans to compile the many loving words found at her eHope site into a published book. It would surely be a precious testament to a difficult season of her life. The eHope Foundation is honored to have served in her beautiful story.