Retreats for Breast Cancer Patients

Submitted photo.

“Most of my energy was devoted to physically healing my body while my spirit remained bruised and damaged. Thank you for the gift of allowing me to ‘Take a breath.’”

“The opportunity to laugh, cry, relax, and be with women who know what I’m going through has been incredible!”

Those are two responses from women who have taken part in the Infinite Boundaries Retreat held by Breast Cancer Recovery, a Madison-based group dedicated to “providing environments for women breast cancer survivors to heal emotionally.”

“We have ladies who come in and basically say they wouldn’t know what do without this, it’s saved their lives and allowed them to get back on track,” said Gail Riedach, executive director of Breast Cancer Recovery. “It allows them to emotionally deal with what they’ve been through and put it all in perspective.”

Breast Cancer Recovery was founded in 1997 by the late Ann Haney and a single retreat was held on Madeline Island in Bayfield County, but the group soon made connections to Door County and now holds a retreat in June at Bjِrklunden in Baileys Harbor and another at Birch Creek in October.

“Our founder, who passed more than 10 years go now, she found healing in nature. That is a big key,” Riedach said. “That’s why we really like the locations we have. Even if the weather isn’t great, they come away for the four days. Don’t worry about what’s going on at home. This is the time for them to focus on themselves.”

During the Door County retreats, Riedach said the group has teamed with Tim Pflieger and his Team Leadership Center to do the zipline at the center.

“Tim is just awesome,” Riedach said. “It’s a chance for women to get back in touch. They can do a lot more than they think they can. The title of our retreats are Infinite Boundaries. We tell our ladies that there are no boundaries. You need to go out and do things. We have that component. We also have a creative arts component where we let them express their emotions.

The retreat groups are purposely kept small, to about 14 women, and besides a staff person, volunteers who are also breast cancer survivors help at the retreats.

Riedach said the most important parts of the retreats are the discussion and interaction between the women who have survived breast cancer. The treatment may be over, but there often are mental and emotional hurdles they have yet to come to terms with.

“Many women have great support at home, but we’ve had women come to retreat whose families have said, ‘Buck up. Get over it.’ But there are a lot of residual things to deal with,” Riesdach said. “They get the chance to talk to other people who’ve gone down that same road. Many of the ladies stay connected long after the retreat ends.”

For more information, visit the website at bcrecovery.org.

Infinite Boundaries Retreats – 2015

June 4 – 7: Bjorklunden

July 30 – August 2: Madeline Island

October 15 – 18: Birch Creek

Metastatic Retreats – 2015

May 4 – 7: Wisconsin Dells

September 21 – 24: Wisconsin Dells

November 9 –12: Wisconsin Dells