When Pamela was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2024, she knew treatment would be difficult. What she didn’t expect was how isolating life would become once she returned home after each appointment.<\/p>\n
Living in Manitoba, Pamela had access to excellent medical care through their provincial healthcare system. But once the chemotherapy ended for the day and she returned home, she found herself wondering what came next.<\/p>\n
“I felt so stuck,”<\/em> she recalls. “I didn’t know what to do.” <\/em><\/p>\n Then, during an online panel discussion hosted by CancerCare Manitoba, another cancer patient mentioned Wellspring.<\/p>\n “As soon as it was over, I went online.”<\/em><\/p>\n Within 24 hours of signing up, someone from Wellspring called her.<\/p>\n “It’s easy to say you’re not alone,”<\/em> Pamela says. “But you don’t always feel it. She made me feel like there was something I could do.”<\/em><\/p>\n That phone call opened the door to something Pamela hadn’t realized was possible: a nationwide community of cancer support she could access from her own home.<\/p>\n Because Pamela lives in Manitoba, every Wellspring program she attends is online. At first, she wasn’t sure what that experience would be like.<\/p>\n “I looked at the website, and there were so many programs,”<\/em> she says. “I didn’t know where to start.” <\/em><\/p>\n With guidance from Wellspring staff, she enrolled in Nourish, Cancer Exercise, and a Breast Cancer Support Group. Before long, she was also attending Chair Yoga, Qi Gong, Writing Workshops, meditation, art therapy, workshops on cancer-related fatigue and brain fog, and the Healing Journey program.<\/p>\n “Gosh, it’s really changed my life,”<\/em> she says. “And it’s not just a clich\u00e9. It’s real.” <\/em><\/p>\n For Pamela, online programs weren’t simply convenient\u2014they made support possible. Because she no longer drives, attending in-person programs would have been challenging even if they were available nearby.<\/p>\n “I can’t drive anymore, so it’s really great to have the online programs that I can just access so easily.” <\/em><\/p>\n The virtual format also allowed her to participate consistently throughout treatment, rebuilding both her physical strength and emotional wellbeing.<\/p>\n Exercise classes helped her recover after chemotherapy and a serious back injury she had suffered months before her diagnosis. Chair Yoga gave her a safe way to stay active despite balance issues, while Nourish helped her navigate changing taste buds and the confusion surrounding nutrition during treatment. Workshops on fatigue, brain fog and meditation gave her practical strategies for managing the side effects of cancer.<\/p>\n “It was so helpful just to have my mind rest and stop worrying about things.” <\/em><\/p>\n One of Pamela’s biggest surprises was how connected she felt to people she had never met in person.<\/p>\n “It’s a lot richer than I imagined,”<\/em> she says.<\/p>\n She formed friendships in her Breast Cancer Support Group and continues to see familiar faces in many of the classes she attends.<\/p>\n “It feels like you’re with friends,”<\/em> she says. “It’s amazing how you can get to be friends and feel so well looked after by someone you’ve never met in person.”<\/em><\/p>\n Her favourite program has been Healing Journey, which helped her navigate not only the practical realities of living with cancer, but also the emotional and spiritual questions that came with it.<\/p>\n “It’s body and soul, physical and mental,”<\/em> she says. “It’s practical, it’s psychological\u2014it’s everything.”<\/em><\/p>\n Pamela knows some people hesitate when they hear a program is online. Her advice is simple: “Jump right in.”<\/em><\/p>\n “The technology is easy,”<\/em> she says. “The only thing I feel like I’m missing is being able to hug people. Everything else is there.”<\/em><\/p>\n Today, she tells anyone who will listen about Wellspring.<\/p>\n “My whole sense of worth has come back,”<\/em> she says. “I felt like I had lost myself. I didn’t know who I was anymore.” <\/em><\/p>\n For Pamela, Wellspring proved that meaningful cancer support isn’t limited by geography. Hundreds of kilometres from the nearest Wellspring centre, she found expert guidance, compassionate facilitators, lasting friendships, and a community that helped her rediscover herself.<\/p>\n “I can\u2019t express enough how Wellspring changed my life,”<\/em> she says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Pamela was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2024, she knew treatment would be difficult. What she didn’t expect was how isolating life would become once she returned home after each appointment. Living in Manitoba, Pamela had access to excellent medical care through their provincial healthcare system. But once the chemotherapy ended for the day […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":14570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"location":[151],"class_list":["post-14569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-member-story","location-gta"],"yoast_head":"\n