![\"Meghan](\"https:\/\/news.furman.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/slining-768x768-1.jpg\")
Furman Associate Professor of Health Sciences Meghan Slining.<\/p><\/div>\n
But the unchangeable fact was that they were members forever, and Tatum soon realized that being in the club was about the only thing worse than feeling so alone inside. They desperately needed hope and to find people who could comprehend what they were going through, but, because of HIPAA,<\/a> doctors were unable provide that kind of information, and Tatum was disappointed with the limitations of the support she found on social media.<\/p>\n \u201cTate and I thought there had to be a way to leverage technology to allow parents to find other parents and connect with them in the way that they want to,\u201d said Meghan Slining, an associate professor of health sciences at Furman and Tatum\u2019s sister. \u201cThat\u2019s how this whole idea actually started.\u201d<\/p>\n The idea became reality in August with the launch of Community Heals<\/a> (CoHeals), the world\u2019s first mobile app designed to connect parents and caregivers who have children with cancer. Unlike traditional social media platforms and other online groups, CoHeals allows users complete control over with whom they interact and how, providing the opportunity for highly specific connections based on diagnoses, treatment stages, age and gender.<\/p>\n There is even a geolocation option for in-person meetings.<\/p>\n Research has shown that this kind of interaction between parents and caregivers is important to mental health, because only others in the same situation can truly validate their feelings and understand the overwhelming stress they’re experiencing. These connections are also able to provide sources of information and other resources.<\/p>\n \u201cI spent a lot of time with my sister in the hospital, and so many friends are doing everything they can to help my sister\u2019s family,\u201d Slining said. \u201cBut none of us know what she\u2019s going through, and the doctor can\u2019t say if the person in the room right next to you has the exact same cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n Teagan had medulloblastoma<\/a>, which, despite being the most common cancerous brain tumor in children, is a rare condition. Coincidence allowed Fettig to meet another mother in Seattle Children\u2019s Hospital whose son also had medulloblastoma, and the relationship they forged as Teagan suffered through a dangerous nine-hour surgery, six months of chemotherapy, 30 radiation treatments and countless appointments with therapists made Fettig realize she had to find a way to bring other people in their situation together.<\/p>\n Teagan Fettig following her last chemotherapy treatment.<\/p><\/div>\n Soon thereafter she, Slining and their father, Tom Slining, formed Sweet Tea Cancer Connections<\/a> (STCC), a Seattle-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit, to figure out how to do just that \u2013 even though none of them really knew where to start.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you face life or death, you say to yourself, \u2018I don’t have a clue, and I don’t care,\u2019\u201d Fettig said. \u201cI have a background in high school counseling. This learning curve is something that I’ve welcomed, because Teagan has been struggling a lot and there\u2019s something to be said about giving some purpose to the pain.\u201d<\/p>\n Once STCC began sharing Teagan\u2019s story and asking for help, it flowed in \u2013 free of charge. Two groups of graduate students at the University of Washington developed the framework for the app and created a marketing plan, while Slining has brought an interdisciplinary group of researchers together from across the country to address a severe shortage of knowledge and resources for people in her sister\u2019s position.<\/p>\n Megan Denham, research associate at Georgia Tech’s Institute for People and Technology, Shannon Taylor, clinical assistant professor at the Clemson University School of Health Research and director of behavioral health for the Prisma Health Family Medicine Residency Program, and Kendra Koch, adjunct assistant professor and research associate at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at the University of Texas, round out the research team.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need money for a cure. Yes, we do. But that\u2019s kind of what blew my mind as a scientist: How little money is going toward supporting these families,\u201d Slining said. \u201cThis is unfortunate that there are so few people doing work in this area, but we feel good that we got some of the leading thought leaders on our team.\u201d<\/p>\n Slining has also found support across a broad spectrum of the Furman community. The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute named STCC the top faculty\/staff presentation<\/a> at the 2019 Innovation Hour<\/a>, and the Furman Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship featured CoHeals in a two-part episode<\/a> of its Class E Podcast while also serving as a consistent source of guidance about getting a startup off the ground.<\/p>\n A number of Slining\u2019s former and current students have also gotten involved, including Alexa Morse \u201915 and Sydney Beason \u201922 and five new interns this academic year: Eli Titherington \u201922, Anne Kirby \u201921, Ana Rederson \u201921, Lauren Allen \u201921 and Hannah Perkins ’21.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really exciting as an educator at Furman to be able to have that type of diversity of folks coming together,\u201d Slining said. \u201cIn my research projects I\u2019m used to being somewhat siloed, and I\u2019m meeting students across campus I would have never met.\u201d<\/p>\n Alexa Morse ’15.<\/p><\/div>\n Morse, a program manager for the Global Center for Medical Innovation in Atlanta who was recently awarded the Golden Helix Emerging Leader of the Year Award<\/a> by Georgia Bio, has volunteered as a business advisor for STCC.<\/p>\n \u201cMeghan and Tatum have done an amazing job identifying a need and building a meaningful solution to solve that need\u201d Morse said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been open to every collaborative opportunity and have taken the time to get buy in from champions and receive input from stakeholders. They\u2019re truly an inspiring team, and I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to be part of their journey.\u201d<\/p>\n Beason is a public health major and cancer survivor herself, but though Slining was her advisor she didn\u2019t learn about CoHeals until attending a CLP featuring Slining as one of the panelists.<\/p>\n \u201cShe was talking about this Sweat Tea Cancer Connections, and my jaw was on the floor. I was over the moon about what she was talking about,\u201d Beason, a native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, said. \u201cI had been diagnosed with cancer when I was 17, so since then I have been set on fire to give back to this community that helped me through.\u201d<\/p>\n That has included creating projects in a digital storytelling class to help spread Teagan\u2019s story and illustrate how her diagnoses led to the CoHeals app.<\/p>\n \u201cI have to say, that time in the hospital can be very daunting and lonely, and it\u2019s a lot on parents. Outside of those hospital doors people are there to give you meals and help you in different ways, but they can\u2019t relate to you on any sort of closeness at that level,\u201d Beason, who hopes to go into clinical research, said. \u201cBy connecting with Dr. Slining and this team I was healing through my own journey because I was giving back.\u201d<\/p>\n Teagan\u2019s sixth birthday is tomorrow, one day before her four-year anniversary of being cancer free. Every six months for at least the next 20 years doctors will make sure it has stayed that way with sedated MRIs, and her rehabilitation road remains long. But CoHeals has helped Fettig keep moving forward, and she hopes now the app will empower others do the same.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are so grateful for birthdays, and the true celebration of life they are. Somehow my daughter is still alive, and I didn’t think that was going to be possible. How can you truly enjoy life and every moment? Because you think about that all the time,\u201d Fettig said. \u201cSo the hope is that the app will not only connect but also contribute to some of the research to help our community.\u201d<\/p>\n Donations to Sweat Tea Cancer Connection and the CoHeals app can be made here<\/a>. Below is a video the Fettigs made documenting Teagan’s journey:<\/p>\n![\"Teagan](\"https:\/\/news.furman.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/chemo2-THIS-ONE.jpg\")
![\"Alexa](\"https:\/\/news.furman.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Alexa-Morse-mug.jpg\")