Ask CancerCare

Connecting with other people who have been through the same emotions, feelings, and treatments that you have had can help you feel less alone and more understood. Here is a list of organizations that provide support groups and/or peer matching programs for people coping with thyroid cancer:

• ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors' Association, Inc. organizes support groups across the United States, monitors 12 online discussion groups, posts personal profiles and journals of survivors, facilitates an email support group, and runs the Person-to-Person Network, a peer matching program.

• Support for People with Oral and Head and Neck Cancer (SPOHNC) strives to raise awareness of issues related to head and neck cancer.

• Head and Neck Cancer Alliance (formerly the Yul Brynner Head and Neck Foundation) is a foundation that hosts an online forum, organizes support groups, and sponsors Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week.

• Cancer Hope Network provides free, one-on-one support to patients and their families. They match patients or family members with trained volunteers who have undergone and recovered from a similar cancer experience.

• Imerman Angels matches and individually pairs a person touched by cancer with someone who has fought and survived the same type of cancer. Cancer caregivers (spouses, parents, children and loved ones) also receive one-on-one connections with other caregivers and survivors. The service is free and helps anyone touched by any type or stage of cancer, at any age, living anywhere in the world.

And CancerCare offers general online, face-to-face, and telephone support groups for people looking to talk about a wide range of cancer experiences. Our groups are facilitated by oncology social workers.