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At times, Beachy Allen had trouble putting one foot in front of the other while she battled breast cancer this past year, but she never, ever had trouble getting transportation to her doctor’s appointments or to chemotherapy.

“I was the first of our friends to have breast cancer, and they just rallied around me,” said Allen, whose breast cancer was diagnosed in August 2008.

After undergoing surgery, chemotherapy and finally radiation therapy, Allen, who lives in High Point, finished her treatments in March.

“I can’t imagine having to get (to the cancer center) by myself,” she said.

Throughout chemotherapy, Allen was plagued by dehydration, which meant that in the days following chemo, she often had to go back to the doctor’s office to get fluids.

“I’d call Claire Horney and say 'You’ve got to get here,’ and she’d say 'I’m on my way.’ ”

Allen, 54, is married and has two adult children, but her husband, Dan, travels, and she’s alone much of the week. Her friends made sure she always had a ride and was never alone.

“It was just overwhelming,” she says.

Allen knows, however, that not every cancer patient is fortunate enough to have a network of friends who can provide such care.

“When I’d leave the cancer center, I’d always see chemotherapy patients waiting for a bus or for a taxi,” she recalls.

That memory haunts Allen, and now that much of her energy has returned, she’s doing something about it. She’s recruiting people to volunteer for Road to Recovery.

Road to Recovery is a project of the American Cancer Society that provides transportation to and from treatment for cancer patients who do not have a ride or are unable to drive themselves.

If you know anyone who has had cancer, you know that it’s the great equalizer. Cancer centers and chemotherapy room are filled with patients who are all in the same situation. They’re in the fight of their lives.

Many patients have supportive family and friends, but those family and friends don’t have the flexibility in their work schedules to devote hours, much less days, to taking a patient to and from treatment.

Some patients, already burdened greatly by the expenses of being sick, can’t afford transportation. And others are, quite simply, alone in their battle.

“Along my journey, I befriended other cancer warriors, many who survived and some who did not,” Allen recently wrote her friends. “Most of the patients had friends or family to support them with transportation and/or company. Others had no one. They would sometimes wait long hours for transportation when I know what they really wanted was to curl up in their own beds.”

When Allen asked about transportation for these patients, she realized the painful truth: There was none.

Now, with the help of High Point Regional Cancer Center, that issue is being addressed. The American Cancer Society will hold a training session for Road to Recovery volunteers from 10 to 11 a.m. Dec. 9 in the cancer center’s resource center, said Nicole Witten, mission delivery manager for the American Cancer Center. Registration is required. The Cancer Center is at 302 Westwood Ave. on the campus of High Point Regional Hospital.

Volunteer drivers donate their time and the use of their cars so that patients can receive the life-saving treatments they need. To volunteer, you must have a valid North Carolina driver’s license, be willing to undergo a background check by the Division of Motor Vehicles and have some flexibility in your schedule.

Witten says Road to Recovery will work with your availability. Road to Recovery accepts volunteers who can drive once a month or once a week. And they need drivers from the entire southern Triad because they pair drivers and patients from the same area. Drivers from High Point to Asheboro are needed.

Allen’s friends who so faithfully carried her through her battle with cancer are now offering their support to others.

“Within an hour of my e-mail, I had 13 people sign up,” she reported.

“I’m not asking for money, I’m just asking you to give your time,” she said.

“I ask each one of you to consider giving a little of your time to help someone else, just as you helped me,” Allen wrote in an e-mail to her friends. “What a gift for them … and an even greater reward for you!
 

“As my dad says, 'All we really have in this world is each other.’ ”

For information about Road to Recovery, contact Nicole Witten at 834-0844 or Nicole.Witten@cancer.org.

Contact Cathy Weaver at CWeaverNR@gmail.com