Constanta, Romania
Survivor, CFTC Graduate, Community Grant Project Leader, Steering Committee Member
Leadership is an overrated word. I prefer friendship or facilitator. I am trying to help with my experience, and to make a difference in the lives of others”
Luminita and Ady Lupascu are pioneers. In 2006, they started the first support groups for breast cancer survivors and co-survivors in Constanta, Romania. Together, as husband and wife, they have faced Luminita’s breast cancer diagnosis at age 38, sought training through Course for the Cure™, and have dedicated their time to building a community of support for breast cancer survivors.
Romania’s second largest city, Constanta is a port city with a population of over 700,000 including 17 different ethnic groups. The incidence of breast cancer in Constanta, as of 2006, was 76.48 per 100,000 compared to the national average of 50.56. Within Romania, there are no public screening services for breast cancer and there are only four government facilities that will perform diagnostic services, such as mammograms, with a doctor’s referral. Upon her diagnosis, Luminita was faced with the reality of lack of information, screening, support, counseling, and rehabilitation options. She started the first and only two support groups in Constanta to address some of the challenges she faced.
“Participation in Course for the Cure™ has helped me to think differently about my work. At first, I was reacting to a need, now I have the chance to have a larger impact in the local community. The course helped me consider my experience in a structured way”.
- Luminita Lupascu
Luminita’s support group
Luminita and Ady started their support group and organization “Partners in Progress Foundation” with only three survivors. After months of reaching out to other survivors and families, often through hand written letters, they have over 150 women and family members traveling to attend their support group meetings.
Gathering Information to Share
Luminita and Ady joined the Course for the Cure™ in Constanta in the early stages of their support group work. As a high school Biology teacher, Luminita was eager to find answers to share with the women and families in her support groups. Upon diagnosis, women find that oncologists often do not provide adequate information about breast cancer. Also, information on the internet is only accessible in English making it inaccessible to many. Luminita combines personal and general medical and psychological information to share in her support groups to address the lack of information women face.
Working as a Team
Luminita and Ady were recently given the opportunity to expand their support groups when they became one of six global initiative community grant project leaders in Romania. Their project, “Together for a Better Life!”, has expanded and deepened the work they have already done in Constanta. They have trained 25 new facilitators and expand their support group services to new communities, enabling the group to support over 240 women since its inception. The project team also collaborated with Global Initiative and Komen teams to develop a guide for support group facilitators that is now widely used in Romania. Support groups have now formed in three cities with more than 70 survivors participating in these groups. In addition, Partners in Progress, which is the lead Global Initiative partner in Constanta, has gone on to secure support (www.tarusmedia.ro/bms.html ) from the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation to provide broad cancer support to their community with the help of skills and experience gained through the Global Initiative. With the support of these grants Luminita is building her dream:
there are so many survivors in need of a support group that my dream was always to establish new support groups that are able to provide care closer to home for survivors and their families.”
An Eye on the Future
Luminita speaks to group in Constanta
In her work with the Global Initiative and elsewhere, Luminita has a constant eye on the future and how her knowledge, ideas, and impact can reach more people affected by this disease. She has now finished a survivor’s guide that tells her story, shares vital information, and reaches other women in need.
I wrote this book after two years of experience as a survivor and as a support group facilitator…I wrote it as a teacher, aiming to teach. I wrote it as a survivor, hoping to encourage. I wrote it for myself and for all that seek support in times of trial”.
This is the first guide for breast cancer survivors in Romania. As a mother of two young boys and a high school teacher, she also hopes also to involve the younger generation in the breast cancer network so that they have the opportunity to access information and grasp the value of early detection.
With God’s help, I plan to continue to maintain this support group, to mentor some volunteers so they will be able to continue what we have started. I plan to be involved in prevention and awareness programs that I have already started to do with my high school students”.
-Luminita Lupascu