Back in 1995, the father of Cathy Byland-Weeks, John Byland, was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. Eleven years ago, very little information about this particular form of cancer was available on the World Wide Web. So Cathy launched Cathy’s EC Cafe to help rectify that situation. That was on December 29, 1995.
Since its inception, the Cafe has helped thousands of patients and their families. It contains information gathered by esophageal cancer patients and non-medical caregivers. The purpose is to help others that are coping with esophageal cancer, possibly for the first time, to gain insight into this disease. The EC Cafe and the EC-Group, an online mailing list, are designed to let EC patients know that they are NOT ALONE.
Cathy’s father had surgery in 1996. Since then, John Byland steadily progressed from “No Evidence of Disease” (or “NED” as it’s affectionately called on the mailing list) to being declared cured in 2001. After 3 years of dedicated support, and her father’s recovery well underway, Cathy decided to hand over the reins of the Cafe. So on December 29th, 1998 Tammy and Marc Wolfgram took over.
The site you surf to these days is the third incarnation of Cathy’s original work. Now in its eleventh year, Cathy’s EC It is still maintained by Marc Wolfgram. Marc was also diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 1995. His story is one of the many from which site surfers will draw strength, hope and courage.
Individuals tell their stories in a similar manner: They discuss when and how they were diagnosed with disease; they describe the surgical procedure; what chemotherapy and/or radiation options were offered and performed; what happened to themselves, their families and their cancer afterward; and finally each person details what resources where available to them and what resources they hunted down.
As with any website providing emotional support for a particular disease, Cathy’s EC Cafe emphasizes brutal honesty. That means that some of the stuff contained here isn’t pretty. The statistics especially, can be particularly ugly. But a few things must be kept in mind: Statistics are only numbers on a page. The EC patient is reminded that he or she is a living, breathing human being “an individual possessing their own will and network of support. The patient may or may not beat this disease, but the Cafe says don’t let the statistics decide for you.
Cathy’s EC Cafe clearly does great work. On June 23, 2006 it was awarded the 26th OncoLink Editor’s Choice award for … “the particular emphasis we at OncoLink place on patients and families who empower themselves with information about their disease. Your site is exemplary of this philosophy, and serves as a model for others.”
Cathy’s EC Cafe is the Internet at its best. It’s the anecdotal experiences of many collected for the purpose of helping maybe just one. Thanks to Cathy, and Marc and Tammy, the Cafe proves the Internet can work wonders, for all of us.
While I love Cathy’s EC Cafe and think it is a great tool for all members of the family, we rate it a .com Dish! site surfin’ “T” for teens and above, due to the frank nature of some descriptions and also for the grave nature of esophageal cancer. Not that I advocate keeping the truth of disease from children. I just think that doing so should be in a well-supervised environment.
