Support Group Information
Please join us for a FREE support group that can help you understand how to navigate treatment options and provide strategies for dealing with life changes due to nonmalignant brain tumors. The group provides outreach to the newly-diagnosed through our network of doctors, hospitals, and related organizations.
Where: Paul, Weiss, Rivkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
Conference Room 2905 on the 29th Floor
1285 Avenue of the Americas - UBS Building at the corner of 51st Street
New York, NY 10019-6064
Click here for a map and directions
(Note: you must present photo ID to lobby security)
When: 5:00 - 6:30 PM on:
December 6th and 20th, 2011
January 10th and 24th, 2012
February 7th and 21st, 2012
March 6th and 20th, 2012
April 3rd and 24th, 2012
May 8th and 22nd, 2012
June 5th and 19th, 2012
More information about the group from facilitator Rochelle Guttman:
All of us who have been diagnosed with a brain tumor can recall vividly the terror and dread we experienced at hearing the words "you have a brain tumor." In 1994 when I was diagnosed with a meningioma and needed to have surgery immediately, I could not fathom going through this ordeal and coming out at the other side. I knew of no-one who had had brain surgery. While I was blessed to have a brilliant and skilled brain surgeon, who explained the technical aspects of the surgery and what would happen if I chose not to go that route, (as he succinctly stated "paralysis and then death"), there was no addressing the emotional impact this had on me as a person.
At my post surgery visit I mustered up my courage and told him how it was essential to be aware there was a person there and deal with the feelings and my surgeon (not an uncaring person) candidly admitted that there was indeed a need to take the whole person into account but this was not his forte. I remain eternally grateful for his expertise as a surgeon. Yet this made me aware of the need for a forum to address the emotional and psychological needs of the patient pre and post treatment. So my decision to form and facilitate a support group for people with non-malignant brain tumors has its genesis in my own experience of recognizing the void that existed in helping patients navigate their brain tumor journey.
Our group has been in existence for seven years. We not only offer concrete, emotional support and resources to people with non-malignant brain tumors, but members accompany each other to medical visits and stand-in for family when there is none. The group as so many have stated has become a family. The Non-Malignant Brain Tumor Support Group (NMBTSG) is delighted to become part of the Voices Against Brain Cancer family.
What some group members had to say:
"All of uswho have been diagnosed can recall vividly the terror and dreadwe experienced at hearing the words "you have a brain tumor." My experience made me aware of the need for a forum to address the emotional and psychological needs of the patient throughout treatment. Our group is delighted to become part of the VABC family."
---Rochelle Guttman, L.C.S.W., Facilitator of Non-Malignant Brain Tumor Support Group
"Now we can give more help to more people."
--Neale Albert after learning the group had partnered with VABC
"NMBT is a place to learn, to laugh and know we are not alone."
--Mark Kupferberg
"Our Non-Malignant Brain Tumor Support Group has been my family, my heart, my future. They've been my answer to so many many questions I've struggled with through out my meningioma journey. I found the group shortly after my diagnosis and my "new family" offered me support and help finding answers to the multitude of questions someone with a newly diagnosed brain tumor is faced with. When the treatment plans offered to me were sometimes conflicting or just confusing, I was able to talk these options out with the group and find answers that were right for me. They showed me how to reach for a goal during my recovery and how to help the next new member joining our group find their way. We might accompany that member to a doctor's consult when they had no one else to take notes and support them during these sometimes scary days. Or we were there to just listen. Sometimes that was the best help anyone could offer...a willing and knowledgeable listener; someone who has walked-the-walk along the brain tumor journey. A family of friends who knew what was ahead...they were there for me."
--Pat Webb
Guest Speakers
Dr. Steven Pacia was a guest speaker at the October 12th meeting. Dr. Pacia is Director of Neurology at Lenox Hill Hospital and Associate Professor of Neurology at NYU Comprehensive Epilepsy Center. He addressed the management and treatment of seizures in patients with malignant and non-malignant brain tumors. Dr. Pacia is that rare Doctor who is not only brilliant in his field but has a way of communicating information so that it is clear and interesting to the lay person. Although his specialty is seizures, he covers a range of issues affecting the person with a brain tumor.
There was a brief overview of seizures and the state of the art treatment, followed by Q & A period.
Check back on this page for more announcements about special guest speakers at our suppor group!
More Information
Click here to visit the support group's website