e-HealthBeat: Cancerlinks

Where would you turn to find information if you or a family member received a diagnosis of cancer? Many people would begin by searching the Internet. Cancerlinks is specially designed to make on-line searches for information about cancer faster and easier. Pages of information are organized in ways that make sense to the average consumer, either by the organ involved (brain, colon or lung, for example) or type of cancer (i.e., leukemia or melanoma). A tutorial provides step-by-step instructions to enable consumers with little or no previous computer experience to take full advantage of the web site. There is a Spanish language version of the tutorial. 

The web site was developed by a woman who was diagnosed with a particularly lethal form of breast cancer in 1997. Because she experienced frustration and little support in her initial encounters with medical professionals, she decided to design her own web site so others would not have to repeat her experience.  Her website is tailored to the people who need it most -- cancer victims and their families, friends, and loved ones. 

For example, the section on prostate cancer includes links to general medical information, support groups, types of treatment available, pain management, second opinions, health insurance, clinical trials, air flights for cancer patients and nutrition. Each section includes links to cancer sites and treatment centers outside the U.S., enabling non-English speakers to find content in other languages. In addition, there are links to several web sites for cancer survivors.

Although Cancerlinks does not have the fancy graphics of many commercial sites, the wealth of knowledge,  ease of access and logical layout make it an extremely important site for anyone seeking reliable information about cancer.