No one should experience breast cancer alone. We know.
ABCD: After Breast Cancer Diagnosis was founded by a group of women – led by Melodie Wilson Oldenburg – who realized that having breast cancer is about much more than biopsies, surgery and chemotherapy. Most of ABCD’s founders are breast cancer survivors who discovered that the most valuable information and support came from others in similar life circumstances with similar experiences with the disease. Not everyone diagnosed with breast cancer knows where to find that kind of help. That’s where ABCD comes in.
ABCD trains volunteers to be Mentors who then provide personalized support and help through (a) our partnerships with key cancer centers and (b) ABCD's one-to-one nationwide Helpline and customized peer Match services. All services are for patients and loved ones.
Helpline Mentors are available by phone & email to provide immediate support and access to personalized services. Match Mentors provide ongoing support and are made on the basis of clinical information and personal life circumstances, prioritizing what is important to the caller. Mentors and ABCD staff work together to make sure that everyone's journey includes personalized support from diagnosis, through treatment and beyond. ABCD Mentors are supported at all times; as their giving back this is their survivorship journey, too.
Based in metropolitan Milwaukee, ABCD has trained Mentors residing coast to coast. Our services are available for free, anywhere, as long as you have a telephone or internet connection.
We are committed to wrap around personalized support but do not want to duplicate the work of others. ABCD focuses on directly providing personalized services that so often get lost in the breast cancer experience and connects those we support with respected resources for general support and complementary breast cancer services when needed - ideally, rooted in their own communities.
All services are free and confidential.
ABCD provides free, personalized information and one-to-one support to people affected by breast cancer – patients, families and friends.
While science searches for futures solutions, ABCD complements the work of healthcare providers by serving as a reliable, accessible and highly personalized breast cancer support resource for patients and their loved ones.
ABCD provides trained peer breast cancer support through its immediate one-to-one Helpline Mentoring service (800.977.4121 or [email protected]), its signature customized one-to-one Match Mentoring support service, Resource Mentoring with access to local & regional resources and its MORE: Mentor Outreach and Education program (available in any community nationwide that an ABCD Mentor calls "home.")
"Our signature Match Mentoring service, provides free, reliable, and personalized one-to-one support for all those affected by breast cancer – patients, families, and friends.ABCD was created to complement the work of healthcare providers by providing emotional support for those in need.We envision a world where personalized peer support is part of everyone’s quality breast cancer care, leading to a more confident, empowered survivor."
