Online Books > Mothers Supporting Daughters with Breast Cancer (MSDBC)

The Purpose and Mission of MSDBC

Let us begin by defining what a "mother" is. In the eyes and hearts of a woman with breast cancer, her mother may be her biological mother, her adoptive mother, her aunt, her grandmother or someone special to her whom she has always felt was like an "other mother." It is important to acknowledge all women who may fulfill such an important role for a daughter. Every woman needs all of the love and support possible to help her and her other family members get through an experience like breast cancer.

The purpose and mission of MSDBC is to assist mothers of daughters with breast cancer to be able to provide the optimum amount and type of support needed for themselves and, in turn, for their daughters so that they jointly can cope with the effect breast cancer has on each of them as women, and as mother and daughter. The support provided to mothers will be provided and coordinated according to their individual needs.

The goals of MSDBC are:

1. to provide mothers of daughters with breast cancer basic medical information about breast cancer as a disease and the various treatments that patients may receive. There is power in information and by having information the patient's mother is better prepared to know what to expect and how to help her daughter and herself to cope with each phase of treatment and care;
2. to provide a local, regional and national network for mothers and daughters to communicate with and to receive support from other mothers and daughters who are currently experiencing or have experienced in the past the impact that breast cancer has on them as women and as mother and daughter to one another;
3. to publish and distribute to volunteer mothers of daughters with breast cancer a periodic newsletter containing updates about breast cancer, research initiatives, innovative treatments, educational programs available about breast cancer and legislative information about regulations associated with breast care and treatment;
4. to participate in local, regional and national efforts to increase breast cancer awareness and to promote breast cancer prevention.

Purposes and Benefits of MSDBC
Local, Regional and National Network System

MSDBC Network system provide the opportunity to express emotional anxiety about the effects breast cancer has on a mother and her daughter. It allows a forum for mothers to exchange ideas regarding coping mechanisms that have been tried by others and found to be beneficial. The system promote open and frank communication between mothers who are jointly experiencing the same painful process that breast cancer has on a family. These This system provide a safe, confidential and supportive atmosphere where women can talk with others who are experiencing similar concerns. They discuss the difficulties they are dealing with associated with their daughters' diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. For mothers who are breast cancer survivors themselves, it provides an opportunity to express their guilt-ridden emotions associated with the genetic link and painful recall of their own personal breast cancer experiences.

Some of the Specific Objectives for the MSDBC Network System are:

• To provide a support system, facilitating communication through trust and belonging of understanding and empathetic mothers;
• To lay a foundation for continuing supportive networking beyond their daughters' treatment phase recognizing that recovery is a life-long process;
• To help mothers cope with the stress and anxiety they are experiencing;
• To provide a mechanism for the release of harbored emotions that can prevent them from being as supportive as they want to be for their daughters;
• To educate mothers about the phases of care their daughters may be provided as part of their breast cancer treatment and how they may be most helpful in each phase of this care; and
• To foster a spirit among mothers whose daughters have been treated for breast cancer to develop constructive ways locally and regionally to promote breast cancer awareness and education.

The forum for these this system includes but is not limited to: local, regional and national meetings; One-on-one telephone calls; private meetings of two or more mothers and daughters; Internet communication through existing bulletin boards such as Prodigy, America Online and CompuServe; communication by mail or fax; and communication through newsletters or private letters.

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