After the diagnosis
Project31 helps heal breast cancer’s emotional wounds
It’s a Tuesday evening. Twenty or so women are gathered in a conference room at Mercy Cancer Resource Center in northwest Oklahoma City. They are breast cancer survivors assembling for the Project31 breast cancer support group. Tonight’s topic is managing pain. The women are different. Some currently are undergoing chemotherapy. Others are months, even years in remission. Some chat while others are content to be still. One woman cradles a newborn. There’s a sense of camaraderie and a feeling that belonging to this group would be enviable were it not for the circumstances. “It’s like a family,” said Janice Fultz, a survivor at the Project31 meeting. “Everybody in this room has been through this death sentence — ‘You have cancer.’ We all understand that we have had different journeys, but we can share that. I have my breast cancer friends, and I have my other friends. So, this is a safe place where you can talk about things that your other friends don’t what to hear about. And you can heal and go on with life.” Delana Aylor agrees. “We always joke it’s like a sorority that you never wanted to be a part of, but since we are in it, we are in it together,” she said. Michelle Tramutolo summed it up for many of the women here. “I’m alone out there until I’m in here,” she said. And that’s the primary mission behind Project31, founder and President Sarah McLean said. “I don’t want anyone to feel alone,” McLean said. “That’s the beauty of what we do. It’s peer-to-peer. I just want to be there for these women.”
‘They came to us’
Project31 grew out of McLean’s own breast cancer journey, which began when she was diagnosed with the disease in 2003. She was 25 years old.
Nine months into the process, it began to take an emotional toll.
“In 2003, there wasn’t a lot in terms of psychological support,” she said. “I finally went to a psychologist who also had had breast cancer. She helped me understand that I had been grieving. That opened a whole new world for me. I thought, ‘Why is no one talking about this?’ ”
So, McLean set out to help. At first, it was sending out gift bags called “Handles With Care,” tote bags full of items that are helpful throughout treatment and beyond. Then, in 2011, the director at Oklahoma Breast Care introduced her to Jane Wilson, another survivor, and asked if they would run a support group.
“We said yes, and 20-some came the first night,” she said.
But in August of that year, McLean was diagnosed a second time with breast cancer. Treatment and surgery, including a double mastectomy, hindered further work with Project31 until 2015 when McLean formed a board and began expanding the nonprofit in earnest. Wilson became chief financial officer.
Currently, the Project31 sponsors support groups in 10 hospitals and serves 700 women with a volunteer leadership team of 15 fellow survivors, McLean said. The staff has grown to five.
“We haven’t sought to expand to other hospitals. They came to us,” she said.
Project31 continues to offer Handles With Care gift totes, as well as financial scholarships for survivors and their families to attend professional counseling. One-on-one mentoring relationships also are available to those who would benefit by having someone walk with them through their personal battle with breast cancer.
Project31 is inspired by chapter 31 of the biblical book of Proverbs and the “woman of valor” described in verses 10 through 31. It is a faith-based organization focused on healing the emotional wounds that accompany breast cancer.
Sarah McLean, Project31 founder and president
That’s the beauty of what we do. It’s peer-to-peer. I just want to be there for these women.”