Single people with cancer often face the toughest battle alone

http://papillary-thyroidcancer.com/how-to-deal-with-cancer/
Single people with cancer often face the toughest battle alone
Claudia Peyton went to the doctor's office alone to receive the terrifying diagnosis.

Doctors told her she had an aggressive breast cancer, which would require surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. Treatments would be so intense she would need a ride to every appointment. And sometimes she would be too sick to get out of bed.

"All I could do was sob," said Peyton, 55, who is single and remembers coming back to her studio apartment afterward and collapsing in grief. "There was fear and anxiety and I wanted to feel supported."

So the former adjunct fine arts professor at Northern Illinois University and Harper College did what she had to do to get through her illness. She assembled a remarkable team of family, friends and, ultimately, strangers who drove her to chemotherapy sessions, brought over dinner and even did fundraising to make sure her bills were paid when she was too sick to work.