Of all the breast cancer support group sessions Weston resident Jane Blakewell has attended, one clearly sticks out in her mind.

Last August, Blakewell, who is a two-year breast cancer survivor, met a woman at the Renaissance Assisted Living second-floor lounge who was fighting stage III breast cancer, she said. The woman, Denise Hackbarth of Birnamwood, said she was just going to live her life out and avoid chemotherapy.

After their conversation, Hackbarth, 47, decided to go through chemotherapy and since has improved her condition and her outlook on life, Blakewell said.

"I never got so much fulfillment out of anything in my life," Blakewell said. "I was there to tell her that it's OK. It was the most beautiful time I've had in a long time."

Blakewell's story is one of many that come from Wausau-area breast cancer support groups, which are designed to help women cope with cancer.

"Support groups give women an outlet to talk to other women who have been down that road," said Jill Depke, an oncology nurse practitioner for Marshfield Clinic, which runs a support group called Women Living With Hope at its Wausau and Weston facilities. "Support groups make people feel less helpless."

Hackbarth knows firsthand the value of support groups, though, initially she was resistant to attend one.

"I decided to go with a very good friend of mine and all I remember is slipping her a note that said, 'I don't belong here,'" Hackbarth said. "I felt completely out of place and wanted to run for the door because it just didn't feel right. But I forced myself to stay and attend the second meeting and the third and the fourth. Now I look forward to marking every other Tuesday of the month on my calendar as my night with the girls."

Breast cancer support groups in Wausau, such as Women Living With Hope and the Aspirus Wausau Hospital group, After Reach, are open to any woman dealing with breast cancer and breast cancer survivors. Having treatment at Wausau-area hospitals is not a prerequisite to attending a group session.

Rhonda Nousen, the After Reach coordinator and lead radiation therapist at Aspirus, said group sessions are extremely beneficial for newly diagnosed breast cancer patients.

"It helps ease a lot of the fears breast cancer patients might have," she said. "The group helps put a patient's situation into perspective."

Hackbarth understands.

"There is much comfort in looking across the table at the meetings and seeing another woman who has that look in her eyes of anxiety, worry, and love, but most of all hope," she said. "Sitting next to a 20-year survivor is extremely uplifting. It has helped me to realize that the world is a smaller place and it's filled with camaraderie and hope for a long and bright future."