CaringBridge offers family members, friends and other loved ones a way to stay connected with those undergoing extended medical treatment by offering patients a free, personal Web tool.
Family and friends are also able to send messages of encouragement to their loved ones through the CaringBridge message book, found on each individual's page. There are thousands of people who have had tremendous experiences with CaringBridge and the following stories give a snapshot of those experiences.
Communication Overload
In January of 2008, Clarice Stein suffered from sudden cardiac death. She was unconscious for some 70 minutes with no pulse or heartbeat, but did have some shallow breathing. In the emergency room, she was pronounced dead. Miraculously, after moments had gone by, the staff hooked up the heart monitors again and found that Clarice had a steady heart beat.
After such a traumatic event, Clarice's family, including her daughter Beth, took on the daunting task of communicating the shocking miracle to their family and friends by making many, many phone calls.
After a suggestion from a friend, Clarice's family decided to start a CaringBridge site for her loved ones in order to save time. "We were making all these phone calls; setting up the site made it a lot easier to get the message out," said Beth.
James Shaffer shared a similar experience when his inbox became flooded with e-mails, hours after being diagnosed with a spinal cord tumor in February of 2006. James and his wife Christine became increasingly overwhelmed with the task of informing their loved ones.
That's when Christine turned to CaringBridge. It helped save energy by sending out one, central message. Christine recalls, "Being able to put my energy into one message was great because I was able to have more energy to focus on my husband and kids."
Convenience
When Linda Cariveau underwent intensive back surgery in the spring of 2008 at a hospital hours away from her home and work, Linda decided to set up a CaringBridge site for herself for its convenience. When Linda's four-day stay at the hospital turned into a 19-day stay due to complications, Linda's sister faithfully kept the site current with daily updates.
Because Linda was receiving treatment hours away from her home and work, many family members and coworkers were unable to visit her during her time in the hospital; however, CaringBridge allowed her to keep in touch.
"It was the perfect avenue to communicate with my friends and family," said Linda.
Like Linda, Nicole Oye also utilized CaringBridge for its convenient options when she went into early labor in February of 2009. Nicole and her premature twins stayed at MeritCare's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for some 40 days.
Nicole used CaringBridge because it was the easiest way to keep in contact with family and friends, especially in the NICU where it can be hard to keep in touch with family and friends because of the limited use of cell phones. Nicole instead used MeritCare's Consumer Health & Business Center to complete daily updates of her children with the computers and internet access provided.
"When you're up in the NICU, it is really hard to keep in contact with people," said Nicole, "And CaringBridge lets you keep the information flowing."
Getting Support
Larry Mitchell knows all too well the messages of support that CaringBridge can give from friends and family. After being diagnosed with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in January of 2008, Larry set up a CaringBridge site and continues to use it today, over a year and a half later.
Getting feedback from all the people viewing the site is an important piece of CaringBridge. "Every response you get is a positive one, every comment makes a difference" recalls Larry, "It is just like getting a letter in the mail, it reminds you that there is a reason you are fighting this battle."
Linda Cariveau's husband Greg gained tremendous support through CaringBridge too. While in the hospital, Greg spent countless hours at Linda's bedside reading CaringBridge messages to Linda from family and friends. Those hours spent reading the messages helped him cope with the seemingly endless time spent in the hospital.
Beth Vrem was amazed at the added benefit of gaining support through the communication that came from people she wouldn't have expected.
"While it was a great way to talk to everyone and get the information out, I had no idea how uplifting the communication coming in would be. The messages that people post on their sites are so uplifting – it's unbelievable!" said Beth.
After having the site for over a year, Beth has been able to go back and read some of the initial entries.
"Although it brings up some emotions, there were things in there that I had forgotten about and it was so nice to be able to read it," says Beth. "My family and friends are very thankful for the recourse of CaringBridge!"
CaringBridge has touched many lives. Not only is CaringBridge used as a communication tool, it is used as a mechanism for messages of hope. The messages and well wishes that patients receive throughout their journey provide them with much needed support and encourage them to continue on. For more information about CaringBridge and how you can get started, visit
caringbridge.org.