By Katie Perry, NDAA staff writer
This summer, the Notre Dame Alumni Association will team up with the Malibu, Calif.- based Simonton Cancer Center for a special retreat on campus. The Cancer Retreat Workshop (held June 15-20) will provide an opportunity for patients and their support person or loved one to gather for solidarity and strength.
“The University and its campus environment is a natural setting for this retreat,” says Tony Haske ’87, who serves on the Simonton Center’s Board of Directors and helped coordinate the event. “Being diagnosed with cancer can be a lonely experience and to invite people back to campus is rather fitting. This is where a lot of people had some of the best times of their life. It really helps people focus on preparing for the fight ahead.”
Haske experienced the benefits of the Simonton Program firsthand when he was diagnosed with metastatic kidney cancer in 2003. His physician recommended he read Getting Well by Dr. O. Carl Simonton—and the Notre Dame grad quickly related to the themes covered in the book. “It hit home,” Haske says. “I felt like he was writing about me.”
According to Haske, the Simonton Center helped make his cancer experience more relaxed and less stressful. “Without it, the experience would have been far, far more difficult,” Haske says. “Every cancer patient should have the chance to spend a few quiet days where they’re allowed to focus on preparing themselves psychologically for the challenge ahead.”
Haske also stressed that the workshop can be extremely beneficial to a patient’s loved ones.
To enroll in the Cancer Retreat Workshop or to receive more information, click here or contact Kathleen M. Sullivan ‘82MA ‘87PhD, the Alumni Association’s senior director of spirituality and service at sullivan.6@nd.edu. 
