Support groups ease the burden of caregivers, fights loneliness for Louisianans with cancer

Once a month, every third Wednesday afternoon in a six-story building down Jefferson Highway, a room is filled with chairs arranged in a circle and women holding white Styrofoam cups of warm tea and coffee. In this space, women share the most vulnerable parts of their lives: their journey through cancer.

Woman's Hospital, at 100 Woman's Way, Baton Rouge, began these "Reali-Tea Talks" this year to help patients in any phase of cancer treatment — from diagnosis to survivorship — navigate their lives. They talk about work. They talk about their children. They talk about their symptoms. They talk about their new realities. They talk about their treatments. They talk about the beauties of life.

They talk about anything at all.

Support groups like this are popping up all around Louisiana in a