Sometimes, we all need something to cheer us up. What better way then, than hosting your first Chrissie Party?

Local support group for carers of those with cancer, here4U, are this year holding their inaugural yuletide get-together for those living with, but not having, the disease.

The event will be discussed at an upcoming meeting of the group, which has had a change of venue for their next get-together.

The group hold monthly coffee mornings with the current meet being held at local coffee shop, Kate Jones at 119 (Moulder Street) next Thursday, October 20 at 10am.

For organiser, Ro (Rosemary) Sheardown, whose husband Keith was diagnosed with anaplastic thyroid cancer last November with a number of complications since then, the group has been a godsend.

“The support from the others in the group, it’s been quite inspiring, just to be able to get together and talk openly, is such a relief,” she said.

“They’re just wonderful, delightful people. With my husband, I simply don’t get out that much, but this is a chance to talk to others in the same situation as yourself,” Ro added.

Caring for someone with cancer, she says, is a duty for which many are called, but for which most of us have no background or training.

While psychological services, counselling, and support groups for those with cancer are undeniably better now than even 20 or 30 years ago, that is not the case for those living with, but not having, the disease.

“There is the sense, that we should be doing something, but no one knows what that is… I feel so useless, it’s a sense of powerlessness.

“You feel so guilty sometimes, but you don’t really know what for. It’s so utterly frustrating.”

The meetings, she says, are designed to offer empathy and emotional support which, in these troubled times, have made all the difference.

“It’s given me something to focus on that’s good… a sense of hope in which we can support each other.

“That’s the beauty of this group, we’re not burdening each other, because it’s a burden that we all share.”

Lifting each other’s spirits is another central role, with tentative plans for a small yuletide event in the works.

“Just a Christmas party, something for us to look forward to and celebrate.

“In the end, it could be just a few drinks in the pub. Even that would be something just to cheer our spirits.”

The event would also offer the chance to celebrate in a traditional way for people who often, by the nature of their caring role, can be socially isolated.

“I’m quite a positive person, a ‘people person’, that’s the loneliness of this, you’re doing it yourself.

“That’s why this whole thing is important to me, it gives me a purpose,” she said.

Meetings of Here4U are on the third Thursday of each month with the next get-together on Thursday, October 20 at Kates Jones, located at 119 Moulder Street from 10–12 noon. For more information, call Ro Sheardown on 0407 784 750.