Cancer foundation aims to empower: 'Recovery happens in your head'

When Susan Sutton sees cancer patients - "battleship gray with no hair" - she knows how they feel.

"I've been there," she said.

But she also wants them to know they have the power to feel better.

"A medical diagnosis is an educated guess," she said. "What happens in your mind is what happens to your body. A lot of recovery happens in your head."

She hopes to spread that message to fellow cancer patients and their caregivers through a nonprofit foundation, Empowering Lives through the Cancer Journey.

When Sutton was diagnosed five years ago with follicular lymphoma, cancer of the lymph system, she was devastated by the news.

When she shared her fears, a doctor recommended she join a support group. "I didn't need therapy," she said. "I needed to be empowered."

She changed her diet and focused on exercise. She repeated daily an affirmation that begins: "I'm happy, healthy, whole and complete."

Having come through, she wants to help others through the process. "I truly believe I didn't die because God wanted me to do this," she said.

The foundation is housed at the Sierra Nevada Cancer Center, 1460 Curry St., and includes a library of inspirational books and magazines donated by people throughout the community.

She came up with the idea, she said, while sitting through six-hour treatments of radiation and all she had to choose from were gossip magazines.

"I want something that's going to help me understand I'm going to get through this," she said. "You need to read things that jazz you up."

She is also working with Western Discovery Tours, a tour operator company, to organize outings for patients and their caregivers.

The first is a trip to Apple Hill on Nov. 10, which includes bus transportation, lunch and visits to High Hill Ranch and Abel's Apple Acres.

"When you're going through it, you just want to do something normal," Sutton said. "Even if you fell like crap."

Other trips are planned, including a Christmas ride on the V&T Railway.

A plot of land adjacent to the cancer center will be developed into a Healing Garden.

"There are a lot of healing qualities about digging in the dirt," Sutton said. "Plus, you've got to stick around to watch it bloom."

Although not officially affiliated with the cancer center, staff there will be working with the foundation.

"When you treat any kind of medical condition, it's important to consider the whole body," said certified physician assistant Kane Deem. "You need to do anything you can to help a person cope and recover not just physically but emotionally and spiritually."

Office billing specialist Crystal Lopez said patients need to do more than just show up for appointments.

"It's about education themselves," she said. "Also educating the patient's family. It helps the patient in the long run."

Sutton describes the last five years of her life as a "metamorphosis," but she doesn't like to refer to herself as a "survivor."

"I'm a celebrator," she said. "I'm an absolute celebrator of this incredible body I get to live in.

"I'm 63 years old. I'm water-skiing better than I ever have. People ask what I'm yelling back there. It's, 'Thank you, God!' "

To learn more about the Empowering Lives through the Cancer Journey foundation or to donate books or time, call Susan Sutton at (775) 297-3780.