WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Coping with cancer online

September 6, 2011

When Mailet Lopez was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008, she felt completely alone.

"Although I had really wonderful family and friends and great doctors, I didn't have someone that I could connect to, someone that had been through my same experience," she said.

So she decided to do something about it. She launched a social networking site called IHadCancer.com -- a Facebook for cancer patients.

"We wanted to stay focused on connecting people," Lopez said.

Members can stay anonymous or share limited information with family and friends. They can also search other people by their type of cancer.

"I had a little pain in my stomach so I went to the doctor," Heatheran Christopher said.

Christopher joined after doctors told her she had ovarian cancer. She says family members tell you what they think you want to hear, but people on the site tell it straight.

"They know exactly what they've gone through and you're going to trust them because they spent the time getting sick and throwing up," Christopher said.

And it's not just for cancer patients, all those who care for sick loved ones can benefit.

Anthony Del Monte helped take care of his father-in-law before he died.

"Even though he was going through cancer, I was going through it myself as a supporter," Del Monte said.

And Lopez says there's a reason her site is called I Had Cancer and not I Have Cancer.

"It's looking toward the future, it's providing hope," she said.

And she says the response has been overwhelming. More than 1,500 survivors and friends have signed up around the world since the site went online two weeks ago.

Half of all men and one-third of all women in the U.S. will develop cancer during their lifetime.

CBS News