Wendy (left) with her Phone Buddy, Cecily (right)

Then the Phone Buddies became friends.

Wendy Williams and Cecily Hatchitt met through GO2 for Lung Cancer’s Phone Buddy Program. Then they became something more: friends.

Meet Wendy Williams, a Kennesaw, GA, resident who reached out to GO2 for Lung Cancer in 2020 for help. Like many people when they’re initially diagnosed with lung cancer, she felt lost. She saw a pamphlet in the doctor’s office about GO2 for Lung Cancer’s HelpLine and picked it up.

“I was scared to take it, because I didn’t want to get sucked into something that I didn’t know,” says Williams. “But I took it and it sat on my desk for weeks. Then I finally said, I have to talk to someone. I’m going to try it.”

She called and reached GO2 for Lung Cancer’s manager of support services, Miranda Goff, who suggested she might be interested in a Phone Buddy. According to Williams, “She said, there’s this one woman, Cecily, she’s from England. She has a bit of an accent.” Williams immediately said, hook me up please. Because it turns out Williams (who has no accent) is also from England. The two women hit it off immediately.

Meet Cecily Hatchitt, a Grants Pass, OR, resident who was referred to GO2 for Lung Cancer by another lung cancer patient. When she was diagnosed in 2019, she was, unfortunately, no stranger to cancer, having had breast cancer in 2014. When she reached out, Goff suggested that Hatchitt would make a good phone buddy. “I said, okay that sounds fun.”

Finding a lifeline in a time of need.

Need to talk to someone? GO2 for Lung Cancer’s Phone Buddy Program matches people with others who are going through the same diagnoses, are on the same drugs, and have been where you are now. It’s a place to ask any question, no matter how strange it may seem, such as: Did the treatment give you heartburn? Do you experience scanxiety (aka, anxiety the night before your next scan)?

“They had started their treatment and they wanted to talk to somebody who was already in treatment and who could tell them about their experiences, what side effects they had, and how family and friends reacted,” says Hatchitt in describing her conversations with Phone Buddies. “It really reassures them to talk to somebody who’s going through exactly the same thing.”

This was Williams’ experience. “I’d never known anyone who had cancer and chemo. And it was all very scary to me. All I was hearing was that it was the end. Hatchitt was positive and encouraging. And she had survived it so I could survive it too.” She adds that Hatchitt encouraged her to make plans. When we caught up, she and her husband were in Florida on vacation. (And her husband’s planning future trips for the couple.)

Both women stress that the Phone Buddy Program is a lifeline. “There’s no judging. Just encouragement,” says Williams. Hatchitt adds that, “people should know that anyone can get cancer. If you have lungs, you can get cancer.”

As for Williams and Hatchitt, their friendship is strong. So strong, in fact, that the two couples met up in person for dinner on the East Coast. And, yes, a good time was had by all.