Another one-third of the messages is devoted to serious discussion about breast cancer, where participants are encouraged to talk at length about their fears and their questions. The rest of the time spent in the chat room is simply for laughs, an important part of the meetings. Participants talk longer than they would have time to with a doctor and are able to ask questions that loved ones may not handle well. Three weeks later they're cracking jokes. While there are many publicized and horrible accounts of rendezvous that occur after people meet on the Internet, D'Andria has found her experience to be a positive one.
People call each other sisters.
Above, Pat D'Andria, left and Susan Frisius have put together a quilt containing the names of people they met on the Lifetime web site and will be giving it to an ailing friend they also met on the internet. Every year about 181,000 people are diagnosed with breast cancer and 44,000 die of the disease.