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Looking for LTS support groups in South Jersey/Philly Area

MuadDib
MuadDib CSN Member Posts: 2
in Long-Term Survivors #1

Hello everyone,

My name is Matthew. I am 38 years old and a survivor of ALL Leukemia and Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, dx'd when I was 5 and in remission since age 8. I also contracted Hepatitis-C via transfusions (though I am doing well with that, and about to begin treatment--something I have been dreaming of for more than a decade as I awaited the latest treatments to reach FDA approval), and septic-shock (which I experienced in 2012, a complication unrelated to my other experiences).

Maybe like some or many of you who survived a childhood health trauma, and/or multiple traumatic health experiences, for many years I compartmentalized and boxed-off my 'survivorship' as something that happened in the past. Of course, as I learned with age, there have been long-term effects on the psyche that I have been coming to grips with for about a decade.

I have had difficulty finding others in the same predicament, and I regret that I skipped or dismissed the support networks that exist for children and their families. I did attend Ronald McDonald Camp in PA for about 5 years, but decided too soon to shirk it off as something I had moved past. The forgivable follies of youth. That said, I am now looking to connect with others--no matter what they survived or when, and specifically I am looking for support groups that I can participate in, in the South Jersey and/or Philadelphia (I was treated at CHOP) areas.

If anyone reading this has any ideas, and/or can point the way to at least another online resource, I would be forever grateful.

Thanks for reading everyone. If you are interested, this is is a narrative of my health experiences I originally wrote for the Sepsis Survivor's Network, and then submitted to a podcast's guest-journal:

http://mentalpod.com/archives/2175

Sincerely,

Matthew

 

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