What is the Pink Bus?

heart-in-hand said:

It is a virtual bus.
It is a commitment to gather in spirit for the person for whom it was requested. And because we are a spirited bunch we often get in trouble when we gather. Our motto is: We MEET...we EAT. But always always our heart is holding close the one who is needing it, and we stay on the board watching to see the results of the test or procedure for our dear sister or brother.

We are the only ones that can possibly hold each other's hands with such devotion and compassion. We have all been through it or are going through it. Unfortunately it is cyber space but I have real relationships that are less loving, don't you?

Kay

disneyfan2008 said:

I have never booked in for
I have never booked in for any appt but I think my next appt (within couple weeks) i'll have your ladies join me..

I am going to mammo, Ultrasound & bone desity test...


LOST my pocket calender so have to call Dr office to find exact date...for everyone to ride along..

Denise

SIROD said:

The "Pink Bus" History, sort of... 12/03/2011
http://csn.cancer.org/node/231611


The “Pink Bus” is used by many online breast cancer support groups to help those who need buoying up in a virtual sense on their journey. I “google” the words “breast cancer “pink bus” and could not find any history. There were many busses painted pink for awareness.

There are many groups I am certain that will claim the “Pink Bus” as their own. One site on the internet claimed introduction to the “Pink Bus” went back to the Sept/Oct 2005 article in WebMD magazine.
In my original online breast cancer support group, it was Nancy who introduced it back in 2001 for one of our members. The “Pink Bus” was to accompany Lynne for her first treatment of Herceptin probably in early 2001.

Nancy listed all the items to comfort Lynne from a cashmere afghan to an Elvis cap to go around her shoulder. Sixty-one plus women traveled ... “will be right there with you in spirit. We hope this magical bus had made you smile, and give you something to think about as you start this new road. We love you so much, and I KNOW for sure that each and every one of us would be there in person if at all possible”. Love & hugs, Nancy

This group published a small booklet titled: “Breast Cancer Online: In Our Own Words”. On page 41 “Sharing with Other Survivors” The Bus to Lynne’s Appointment” post is mentioned. It is available to download if you want to read it. The booklet was originally published in 1999. Reprinted in 2001, the bus trip was not in the original booklet as Lynne’s recurred in April of 2000.

http://www.bcans.ca/booklets/inourown.pdf

I don’t remember where Nancy picked up the idea of a virtual "Pink Bus" perhaps another online support group or her own vibrant imagination. The bus travelled for years, helping so many women in the support group. When I first saw a mention of the “Pink Bus” last spring on this board, my heart stopped for a second. I was totally in shock to read that the “Pink Bus” was continuing it’s journey.

BCANS was a grass root operation, conceived by women with breast cancer who attended a support group. The internet was new when they began the support forum in 1996. I logged on in the fall of 1997, posed a question that was never answered. It was not active at all. I went back in February of ‘98 as a lurker and noticed that activity had considerably picked up. My first post was a month later. We were a small group for a long time when the internet was new. All the women became good friends, small enough of a group to know each lady’s story. Lynne was the leader of the group. By the summer of 2000, Lynne’s prognosis was not good but, she kept her Pollyanna attitude until the end. She died in January of 2005 and the next few years, so many women on the forum dealing with stage IV succumb to this disease. Those who had been there from the start and continue to do well began to post less and less.

The BCANS lost their funding and voted to close in the fall of 2010. Many of us are on Facebook, a closed group for old members of BCANS to keep in touch. When someone had mentioned the “Pink Bus” last spring. I mentioned to the group that it was still around on another support board.

The “Pink Bus” brought back memories of my old forum and outlasted it. The “Pink Bus” continues it’s purpose to help women with breast cancer issues who have a need of virtual support.

Won’t it be a grand day when the “Pink Bus” is rusty from lack of usage and repairs, gathering cobwebs in some forgotten bus junkyard of a time long past? There won’t be a need, for they will have found a cure. There won’t be any woman or man, young or old who will ever need to know what it is like to request virtual support to accompany them on where they never wanted to go in the first place. A rusty, old bus with a few flakes of pink, won’t that be a grand sight!

There were some interesting replies to that post.