Cancer Support Group

IIllness can isolate, but talking brings us together
La maladie isole, la parole rassemble

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Since its foundation in 2006, the Cancer Support Group is there for all colleagues in need within the EU institutions and the agencies. It is not mandatory to be a member of our group, to reach out to us if need be. Everybody in need, is welcome. Our motto is: “illness isolates but talking brings us together”.
Ever since the lockdown many of us experienced what loneliness can do to a person, even to a person in good health. Seriously sick and being lonely is quite a heavy weight to carry, and our group of volunteers tries its best to ease off the pain a little by mainly listening by just being there for the colleagues in need.

Our mission is to help, provide support and relevant information on dealing with cancer to patients and caregivers among active and retired staff from the EU institutions & Agencies.
We are a group of Commission staff and former staff who have experienced cancer as patient or because someone close to us has suffered from cancer.

We are all volunteers, but we work in co-operation with the European Commission DG HR, Medical Service and Paymaster Office (PMO).

You can talk to us at any time. We are available to:

• Talk to you, your family and friends when times are difficult and provide you with information and advice;
• Help you understand your diagnosis and put you in touch with people who have been through a similar experience;
• Accompany you through the convalescence and treatment;
• Support you going back to the office after a long sick leave.

Our volunteers also accompany patients (on request) to the clinic and support them during the convalescence. If needed we can help book medical appointments or for a second opinion.
We offer wellbeing workshops and organise conferences. You can find more information about our activities in the events section.

Who we are…

The Cancer Support Group is an asbl. We are a small but dedicated team of volunteers and have accompanied sick colleagues on their medical path, we helped them with their reintegration to work and raised awareness on cancer prevention and treatment via fundraising events and conferences.

Most of us are cancer survivors having experienced cancer as patients, some among us have made the experience as caregivers of someone close to us suffering from cancer. We are all volunteers who work in co-operation with DG HR, the Medical Service and the Paymaster Office (PMO) of the European Commission.

You can reach out to us to talk when times are difficult. We can also support you when returning back to work after a long sick leave.
We are fi¬rmly convinced that the human dimension is of vital importance in the treatment of cancer and this is where we come in.
Our aim is to provide colleagues or their families facing cancer with emotional and/or practical support in a confidential and respectful manner. We can help you find answers to questions of which some might be more sensitive or difficult than others. We can for instance, help you cope with the shock of diagnosis, support you during treatment (in exceptional cases, we can help book medical appointments or for a second opinion, help you to find volunteers to accompany patients to the clinic and support you during the convalescence) on return to work (we can support you with the administrative procedures for reimbursement, recognition of a serious illness…) or on taking invalidity.

We offer wellbeing workshops, organise conferences, guide you on new ways of exploring your emotions and reality yoga, walks in the woods. Please check our event page for future activities.

Our activities are financed by a subsidy received from the European Commission, as well as donations and fundraising activities, that allow us to offer our activities free of charge.

Do you have a question? Do you need us? Do you want to become a member and/or volunteer for our activities? Email us and we’ll explain how to proceed.

Should you need us, you can always find somebody at the end of the line on the
CSG hotline (+32 2 298 07 41) during working days from 09:00 to 17:00h
or by email at cancer-support@ec.europa.eu

Useful information

Support

We have active members in some DGs/Agencies who are ready to help you at any time to cope with the anxiety and provide specific information.

We also put our experience at the service of the hierarchy, and we can provide advice about how best to communicate with a colleague suffering from cancer, organisational measures or how to explain the situation to the rest of the team.

Our colleague and member of Cancer Support Group Eleftherios Stavropoulos has composed specific Guidelines detailing how HoUs and colleagues as well as our HR team professionals can support overall well-being of our colleagues battling cancer. It can also serve as a guidance for handling all long-term and chronic illnesses.  Please find them here.

JOIN US
If you have had direct experience of cancer and would like to help your colleagues who are faced with the same challenge, you can help us. We meet regularly to draw up new projects and help as many colleagues as possible. If you wish to join us or attend one of our next meetings, contact us on CANCER-SUPPORT@ec.europa.eu

Events

Become a member

Do you want to stay informed about the CSG’s activities?
Just fill in your name and your email address, solve the small equation (to eliminate spam) and press the Send button.

Contact

You can contact us anytime via e-mail or phone.
We will try to respond as soon as possible.

Email:  CANCER-SUPPORT@ec.europa.eu

Telephone:  +32 2 29 80741