Wider Circle’s Stories From The Circle: “It Felt Like I Was a Brand New Person”: How Loise Found Her Circle

Encouragement lands differently when it comes from someone who has been there. It can turn a diagnosis from something you face alone into something you face with a group behind you.

In this edition of Stories from the Circle, meet Loise, who moved to a new city knowing no one and came to her first Wider Circle event looking for company. She found people she describes as “just like I am.” When a cancer diagnosis came months later, members whose own families had been through radiation shared what to expect and stayed with her through every session.

Today Loise is cancer-free and more active than ever. Read her story to see who she’s showing up for now.

Loise S.

“It Felt Like I Was a Brand New Person”: How Loise Found Her Circle

New to town and rarely able to get out, Loise found a community that stayed with her through treatment. Today she’s more active than ever.

When Loise moved to Huntington, West Virginia, she didn’t know anybody and didn’t know where to start. A car accident thirty years earlier had left her using a walker, making it difficult to get out and meet people. Then her husband passed away, and leaving her apartment became even harder to face.

Her daughter kept encouraging her to get out and be around people. Then Loise received a call from Wider Circle inviting her to a local event, and she decided to go. 

At the events, she found people facing situations like her own, people who were “just like I am,” Loise said. She quickly became a regular, getting out more with her group and setting a New Year’s resolution with them to lose weight.

Months later, Loise was diagnosed with cancer in her throat. “It was a tough time for me,” she said. Loise opened up to her Wider Circle community about her diagnosis, and they rallied around her. Others in the group whose family members had been through radiation shared what to expect and their success stories. “That made me feel confident when I went through it,” Loise said. “People were very encouraging.”

During radiation and chemotherapy sessions, she would join Wider Circle events virtually and members would cheer her on. Loise said the community support gave her “strength and courage,” and “just having people tell me I was going to be okay” made all the difference.

While recovering at home, she’d tune into Wider Circle events and walk around her apartment to get her steps in. When eating became difficult during the treatment, her Wider Circle Senior Community Engagement Specialist, Jocelyn Williams, brought her protein drinks and fresh fruits and vegetables. 

Loise completed radiation and was told she was cancer-free. She texted Jocelyn right away and shared it with her group. “It felt like I was a brand new person,” she said. “People were so happy for me.”

Loise kept the resolution she’d set at the start of the year, losing over thirty pounds. She found her mobility again, too. “I’m more independent today, I move around a lot. I don’t use a walker or a cane,” she said. She walks as much as she can now, with her family and with her Wider Circle group. Ask her how that feels and the answer is immediate: “It feels wonderful!”

Loise recently became an ambassador, helping organize events and volunteering in her community. She has also started showing up for other cancer survivors. On a recent call for survivors that her community organized, Loise encouraged a member about to begin treatment, sharing the same reassurance she had received.

She brings her daughter and friends to pottery and healthy-eating workshops, and the conversations keep her on top of her own care. Discussions at events prompted her to schedule a mammogram and an eye exam. “Being a part of Wider Circle, it keeps me motivated,” she said.

Loise volunteers at local organizations and is moving more each day. “I’m doing really well now,” she said. Wider Circle is “one of the best organizations I’ve ever been a part of.”

Thank you, Loise, for sharing your story and reminding us what it looks like when a community shows up. And thank you to our partners for helping make stories like Loise’s possible every day.