HEALTH & BEAUTY
They can survive
Joined together by an invisible chord, members of one Barnsley-based choir really are singing off the same hymn sheet. They’ve got all their life to live and all their love to give, they are the We Can Survive Singers.
They’re not professional vocalists, they don’t read music, and they definitely don’t take themselves too seriously. Just real people, going through real problems, who want to escape from reality for a short while and enjoy the theraputic power of laughter and music.
What brings the chorus together, other than their love of singing, is that every member is either living with or has had cancer. They meet up, not to discuss their individual problems, but to encourage each other that a cancer diagnosis doesn’t have to define them.
In a bid to improve the social, emotional and psychological welfare of cancer patients, the group was launched last October by complementary therapist, Cheryl Roberts, who has worked in cancer care for over 20 years.
While undertaking treatments such as hypnotherapy and aromatherapy, a common thread began to unravel amongst Cheryl’s clients. Many felt isolated, lonely or lacking in self-esteem and Cheryl found herself becoming a therapist in more ways than one.
“When you’re diagnosed with cancer, everyone around you focuses on the physical journey and medically they want you to survive. But often it’s the psychological journey that hurts more and is harder to forget about.
“Even after treatment has ended, the emotional rollercoaster cancer patients may find themselves on is often still going,” Cheryl says. In a cruel twist of fate, Cheryl was diagnosed with breast cancer four years ago and so finally understood this difficult journey her clients would talk of.
During her own experience, Cheryl gained invaluable support from oncology services like The Well, a place where she had worked for many years. But she also found herself becoming a closed book around friends and family, not wanting to burden anyone with how she was really feeling deep down. “You try and put on a brave face but I’m sure anyone who has had cancer will understand there
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‘‘This burdensome journey we are on can be heavy at times and we want our singers to come and feel uplifted and positive. Many say they finally feel like they belong.’’
are days where you struggle to see any positives. After I finished treatment, people were always saying how proud they were of me and how I had to move on now I was ‘better’. But to be honest I just felt horrific.” Well, her real words ended in excrement and a pardon for her French…
After a few too many wines one night last year, Cheryl was talking with friend and sculptor, Liz Grundy, about starting a choir for people living with cancer to help them overcome isolation – particularly long-term patients who may have been discharged from NHS services but are still struggling.
Liz put her in touch with Creative Recovery, a Barnsley charity that uses creativity to support recovery and boost well-being. With the belief that we’re all in recovery from something, the team were more than happy to help Cheryl with funding applications to enable her to provide creative relief with her choir vision.
Professional musician Simon Grainger, who helps run projects at Creative Recovery, offered to be the
group’s musical director after having his own cancer scare and seeing his mother-in-law go through treatment for the disease.
Cheryl also contacted Macmillan Cancer Support’s engagement lead, Ian Margerison, whose role includes helping local people start self-help support groups for people affected by cancer, to see if there was any funding available. Amazingly, he came back with a £5,000 grant which would cover start-up fees and running costs for a year. “I bit Cheryl’s hand off when she mentioned the idea of starting a choir. It’s a fantastic initiative as not everybody wants to sit around talking about their feelings. I think they do more laughing than singing but it’s been great to see how much more confident and open the members have become in such a short time,” Ian says.
After approaching the idea at her anxiety management class at The Well, the singing group began with eight eager and excited members at their first meeting back in November last year and has since grown to almost 30 who regularly attend the weekly sessions every Wednesday at St Paul’s Church in Old Town.
The two-hour singing sessions are purely for that – singing. Members come to have fun and shut off from daily life for a couple of hours so sitting around talking about cancer is the last thing on the agenda. For those who do want advice and a friendly ear to talk to, Cheryl also runs a coffee morning every Tuesday at Asda’s community room at the Old Mill Lane store; the Asda team also donated £500 towards the singers’ green uniforms. “This burdensome journey we are on can be
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