Dear Tanya,

I am a caregiver for a stem cell transplant patient.  I already knew how to knit before we came to SCCA, and I brought my knitting supplies with me.  My husband developed an aspergillus lung infection after the transplant, and for several days, we did not know if he would even survive.  During that period of time, knitting and drawing were my salvation.  I couldn't read, and I was too distraught to actually talk about the situation.  As the anti fungal medications began to take hold, I turned even more strongly to knitting.  Because I knew that the Knit for Life™ circle existed, I took on a knitting project that stretched my skills.  The following week, I joined the session, solved my knitting problem, and found a new spot of calm in my turbulent life.  Perhaps the best part of the Knit for Life™ program is that when participants leave a session, they have something to work on for the next week which they can share at the next session.   Not only that, but as they complete projects, they have a sense of real accomplishment.  At a time when your life is coming unglued at alll seams, knitting is a way of holding things together in both a literal and figurative sense. 

Knitting is not only relaxing, it is also something you have control over at a time when you have lost control over almost all of your life.  For women who did not know how to knit, it is a wonderful new skill that they can take away with them, and build on when they return home.  For those who do know how to knit, the Knit for Life™ circle is a stable spot in a world of constantly shifting sands.

I know this beyond any doubt.  As we faced the worst moments of our transplant experience, knitting helped me survive those moments.

Virginia Yanoff
Transplant Caregiver