At the heart of Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization™ is the YourShoes® 24/7 Breast Cancer Support Center, the only place in the world where someone can call – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year – and talk to a breast cancer survivor and be understood in 150 languages.
“You have cancer” are the most frightening words a patient can hear a doctor say. For newly diagnosed individuals, support is crucial and it helps to talk to someone who’s been through the same experience, a “peer.”
Peer support is the cornerstone of Y-ME. We are survivors who have been in “YourShoes” and are here day and night. We cry with you; we laugh with you; we help you figure out what questions to ask your doctor; we can give you a wig or prosthesis. We provide breast cancer support today.
Call 1-800-221-2141 to reach the YourShoes® 24/7 Breast Cancer Support Center.
Despite advances in breast cancer research and treatment, there is still no substitute for talking to someone who’s been in ‘your shoes’ after a doctor tells you that you have cancer.
YourShoes® peer counselors are trained and certified peer counselors who are breast cancer survivors. We don’t give medical advice – we are not medical professionals – but we are trained to handle all types of questions and concerns related to breast cancer and provide emotional support.
We replace fear with facts and can match callers and caregivers with someone who has faced a similar experience with breast cancer.
Our mission to ensure no one faces breast cancer alone remains unique, and the need for breast cancer support today is as critical as it was when the organization was founded 32 years ago.
When our co-founders Ann Marcou and Mimi Kaplan met, they bonded as they discovered they had asked themselves the exact same thing when they each heard their diagnoses: Why me? What started with two women at a kitchen table in the south suburbs of Chicago grew to be a national organization of survivors helping fulfill the needs of hundreds of thousands of people seeking information and emotional support over the years.
“Even though my family is a great support system, I needed to talk to someone who had been in my shoes.”
–Actual quote from a YourShoes® caller
YourShoes® peer counselors can be e-mailed or contacted at 1-800-221-2141, with real-time interpreters available in more than 150 languages.
