Interview with Chris Ryan -The Founder of www.Cancer.im

Chris Ryan lost his dad to cancer and in his memory created a social network to support everyone affected by cancer.

Chris Ryan is a man who lost his father to liver cancer in the fall of 2007. In his quest to help his father find a cure he began collecting information from other cancer patients and oncologists which he has used to form an outreach support group on the web to help other cancer victims find ways to help fight this dreadful disease.

Karen Smith: Chris, what made you decide to do this, to start the online support group found at www.cancer.im?

Chris:  It was a labor of love, in memory of my Dad, and everyone who has endured or been affected by cancer.

Karen Smith: Chris, what is the goal of this social network?

Chris:  The goal of this social network is to increase a cancer patient's Quality of Life, by lowering anxiety while giving them the ability of regaining control via a socially vetted research process.

Karen Smith: How did you go about gathering information that helped you decide there was a need for something like this?

Chris:  In the process, (of trying to help my dad), I became friends with hundreds of cancer patients, their friends and family. I started to interview people affected by cancer in my spare time and started to see patterns emerge which made me realize that cancer affects everyone the same.

Karen Smith: What do you hope to accomplish from all of this?

Chris:  My life is dedicated to cancer research and I am in the process of filing a patent based on my findings, not for some commercial purpose but to insure that my findings will be available in an open source format, for the benefit of cancer patients everywhere.

Karen Smith: Tell us a little bit about the Mission Adaptive Plan also know as MAP.

Chris:  The MAP Plan is a step-by-step guide that cancer patients can use to help them learn to manage all aspects of life from diagnosis to recovery.

Karen Smith: What benefit are you getting from your efforts?

Chris:  The satisfaction of knowing I have given people a viable option that they can use to enhance their chances of survival by addressing all aspects of their cancer journey.

Karen Smith: Is there any cost to become a member of this web site?

Chris:  No, there is no monetary cost to the individuals and their advocates, we rely on partnership opportunities, donations, and investors.

Karen Smith: What are you in need of right now?

Chris:  We can always use cancer survival stories and volunteers who can get involved immediately and start contributing their ideas, time, and effort towards building a social network that can change the way the world views and manages cancer. and also people who can help us get the word out about this site.

As you can see, Chris Ryan is a man with a purpose who has put much thought in this undertaking. His will and unselfish determination to help make the lives of other cancer victims better is strong. His heart is most definitely in the right place and his efforts are an honor and a tribute to his father. Being able to help even one person beat cancer and continue on with this life is validation that his father's death was not in vain and even though a door closed for him, it opened thousands of doors for others.

Through the web site www.cancer.im, visitors will find helpful information that will point them in a positive direction. The premise of this site is to bring all kinds of people together for the sole purpose of forming a large and ever growing network of support for those in their battle against cancer. The information that can be gleaned from others who have either gone through it themselves or been advocates of those that have is invaluable.

From it's inception there has been a steady influx of support for this growing community. It's people helping people. People offering their time and working hard with one simple goal in mind, to help cancer victims become cancer survivors.

The MAP plan is an invaluable tool that walks patients and their advocates through a process that will help both become better acquainted with what it is they can and should do to help gain control over both their life and this disease rather than having it the other way around. MAP, brings up topics and offers suggestions that people going through something like this don't even think about. It gives the cancer patient something they can show their advocates, to help their advocates learn better how to help out during such anxious times.

The mission statement of this organization gives good insight in to what this whole program is about and what it plans to accomplish. Simple things like, giving every cancer patient the information and resources they need to customize their own strategy to beat this disease, to give cancer patients hope and teach advocates how to help, sharing the wisdom of those who have been through this journey, to teach cancer patients to organize and manage their support team to help them outlive this disease, and finally to give friends and family the tools they need to help improve the cancer patients quality of life by helping to reduce the daily burdens often associated with cancer.

Through the time and effort of one man, this web site has been created for the benefit of so many. To have so much helpful information in one place is amazing. Information that can be used and implemented immediately to begin giving the cancer patient that feeling of empowerment that comes from knowing you are doing everything that you can to better your odds. Many people want to do something when a family member or friend finds themselves in this situation but they just don't know what to do. This web site can and already is changing lives for the better. Volunteers are working hard each and every day researching new cancer cures and treatments, always looking for information that will benefit in some way. This site is providing each individual who visits here with the tools and knowledge they need to plan their course of action, step, by step, by step, all the way down the road to recovery. It is also allowing those who have already made this journey to give eye-witness accounts on what worked for them and how they did it. So many times things happen to people medically and they have absolutely no place to turn to ask questions except for their doctors. The doctors are versed in medical treatments and modalities but when it comes to all the other problems their patients are facing, in light of their disease, they are clueless. What better place to have questions answered than by the people who have lived it. This web site www.cancer.im has such potential, it has been created, it is up and functioning and much information can be gathered there. More help is always needed to get the word out so that more people can benefit from the knowledge and wisdom to be found there. Chris Ryan planted a seed, a seed of hope that he wanted to share and from that seed a wellspring of support, information, knowledge, and wisdom has blossomed. There is no limit on how far reaching or what impact his vision will have on the people who utilize this web site. Chris Ryan's dream of changing the way cancer patients view and manage their disease is now becoming reality and with continued support the possibilites are limitless.