Free services offered for cancer patients

Norwalk, Conn. (WTNH) - Monique Serrano is stronger these days, but battling thyroid cancer twice zapped her strength as she recovered from treatment.

"I was sleeping 18 to 20 hours a day," Serrano said. "My husband was missing work. My husband missing work, he's our main source of income, who's going to provide for my home, who's going to provide for my kids, who's going to take care of my kids."  

The answer to her prayers was the organization Help, Touch, Heal which offers acts of kindness with no charge.

Founder Melanie Douglas Seawright said, "We want to be able to fill in that gap when your family and friends can't do that for you."

A cancer survivor herself, Douglas Seawright started HTH after discovering she didn't qualify for free services, despite her own family facing tough economic times.   

She remembers quite clearly.

"We were told, first of all, there no free services that were available. Secondly, that the could only provide the services for me," she said. "Meaning that, they would cook two pieces of chicken out of a packet for me and they'd do laundry for me but they wouldn't do it for my children and my husband, which was the whole point."

Now, a legion of volunteers fan out from Stamford to New Haven.

Some are former patients themselves. However, Beatriz Jones donates her time out of the goodness of her heart.   

"I usually bring them a meal and then I get there and say what do you need me to do?  Whether it be vacuuming the floors, or wash their dishes, dust, and a lot of times it's just sitting down and talking," Jones said.

Other services offered, pastoral care and counseling to heal the entire family.

Most importantly, no one is turned away.

Douglas Seawright said, "We don't care if you live in a palace or if you live in a pit.  We just want to make sure that as you are going through this very tough time that you have support."     

Serrano said without HTH, "I would have became that depressing woman you see, the stereotype. I would have became the bald headed cancer patient that didn't know where to turn. I probably would have been another statistic who would have been divorced."
 
Like most non-profits, Help Touch Heal relies on volunteers.

For more information, go to www.helptouchheal.org