MOULTRIE, Ga. — In the lowest moment of treatment, oncology patients feel weak, tired and isolated. Sometimes they need more than familial support to help motivate them and uplift their spirits through the tough times.

Jim Matney, the CEO of Colquitt Regional Medical Center, was inspired by the cancer treatment experience of Jacki Sease, his sister-in-law.

“Each day people gave her inspirational cards,” Matney said.

He shared how the card would have a different design or message each day of her treatment.

When patients enter treatment, their supporters usually say, “Call me if you need me or call if you need help.”

Matney explained that in reality, the patient might not call for help. With the journal, the supporter can still fulfill their commitment to help or support the patient.

Originally, the Journey Project was going to be postcards, not a journal. That was until Matney approached Anne Swartzentruber.

“This was his brainchild. He came to me about a year ago and said, ‘I really want to do something for our oncology patients. I feel like there’s such a need. Some people have no support system at all. He said, ‘Think about it,’” said Swartzentruber, wife of Colquitt Regional physician Gary Swartzentruber. “This is what was born out of that.”

Even though Matney created the idea for the journal, The Journey Project is a local community effort.

“We had somebody locally do a logo for us. The embossing is done by John Norman at U Deserve a Cookie. It is a whole community effort.” Swartzentruber said.

The Journey Project website states, “These journals are filled with love, having been prayed for by the Scribes and prayer partners, and our goal is for each patient to know and feel the love of Jesus and the support of the community.”

Each journal has 45 hand-written pages and is created to encourage and minister to oncology patients who are going through treatment.

“A journal is placed in each patient’s room, [on] the first day of treatment. There’s a letter in the front that says ‘This journal is for you, [and] it’s made by your community just for you,” Swartzentruber said.

The pages are written by volunteers called “Scribes.” When a Scribe volunteers, they are assigned one day out of 30 and will receive a packet of 10 pages, prayers and instructions on how to complete the pages.

Scribes can decorate the pages any way they would like which makes each page different in each journal.

“We really want all the different [pages] that’s what makes it unique,” Swartzentruber said.

The prayers are written by volunteers called ”Journey Prayer Partners.” When the project first started, Swartzentruber reached out to 20 people to submit a prayer.

“The prayers were all written by either a patient who has gone through treatment [or] by pastors. We had a reading committee [including] patients who are in treatment now, people who have survived cancer, Mr. Will Rumbly and some family members because the last thing we wanted to do was have a prayer that’s just kind of like like “All will be well,’” Swartzentruber said. “All isn’t always well, and it doesn’t always end the way we want it to end. We really wanted to be careful to make [the prayers] relevant to the audience that we’re targeting because we just didn’t want it to be trite.”

Some of the prayers are specifically oriented toward the caregivers or a family member who’s assisting a patient.

Leslie Peretii, a breast cancer patient, was one of the patients who received a journal and made suggestions for the journal.

“Leslie was a huge part of that. She read all the prayers, and she made suggestions,” Swartzentruber said.

Peretti believes the journal is a resource that helps bridge the gap between patients and the community.

“I think this journal will help bridge that gap between other patients,” she shared. “If I would have had that journal, I would have known people in there that I could have said, ‘Oh, well, let me call so and so and see what kind of experience she had.’”

She said she was blessed to have support from her family and from the YMCA, where she works. During her treatment, Leslie collected approximately 5 to 7 cards per day of encouraging words and prayers through Snail Mail My Email.

“People shared encouraging words, their prayers for me and scriptures,” she said. “I have my own journal from cards that people gave me, so that’s kind of the same thing as [The Journey Project].”

She said it’s huge for patients to have a journal they read when they’re alone and feeling down, especially if they do not have a support system.

“I think that a lot of churches and the community really came together, and it’s phenomenal to take the time and put it together. I wish I would have had it when I was going through it, but I’m honored to be a part of it now and for future patients, for sure.”

The journals also feature artwork made by children in the community.

Swartzentruber said Josh Purvis, the principal of Sunset Elementary School, reached out to her asking if the students could make pages for the journals for Student Volunteer Day. She said the kids’ contribution kick-started the first delivery of the journals to the Colquitt Regional Medical Center.

Sunset Elementary School is a Medical STEM school. They are constantly looking to partner with local medical professionals to help teach the students and encourage them to explore medical careers in the future.

“It is important that we as educators model empathy for our students, ‘’ Purvis said. “We need to teach them to see beyond their little bubble and beyond [the] surface level to discover what others may be feeling at a deeper level.”

The school typically does this through clubs.

Purvis added, “Twice per year, we have a community service project day. The clubs decide what organization they want to serve and how they want to support that organization.”

They chose The Journey Project because it presented a wonderful opportunity to partner with local medical professionals, serve the community and teach the students to empathize with individuals or families battling cancer. It also allowed the students to think beyond their circumstances and put themselves in another person’s shoes.

“The students loved researching inspirational quotes or Bible verses (if they chose to do so) to include on their pages,” Purvis shared. “It was important to the students that the pages were decorated with bright colors to help brighten the day of the individual reading their page.”

Between the students and teachers, they made approximately 1,000 pages.

“We would not have been able to get them to the hospital quite as quickly as we did without Sunset School doing what they did,” Swartzentruber said.

Since then, several schools and organizations have reached out to participate in the project.

Swartzentruber, Purvis and students and teachers from Sunset Elementary School completed the first drop-off to CRMC on May 23. They delivered 15 journals.

Swartzentruber received a text message from Purvis from a patient shortly after the drop-off.

“But this patient, I saw Josh the night before [and said], ‘I didn’t get to tell you last night the nurses at the cancer center gave me a prayer journal made by students and teachers at Sunset. It has so moved me and reminded me to stay focused on God. If you know who has helped in this project, please tell them thank you and what they did makes a difference.’”

Anytime the Edwards Cancer Center at CRMC is running low on journals, Matthew Clifton, the hospital’s assistant vice president of ancillary services, will notify Swartzentruber.

“We’ve had a pretty large growth in this service since 2018, and I think part of our growth plan has been partnering with the community for all of its cancer needs,” Clifton said. “We’ve been really encouraged by how many people have stepped up to help write the [journals], and the volume that they were able to give to us.”

The Edwards Cancer Center has an education system or process for each patient starting treatment, and they offer the book to the patient through the nurse navigator.

A nurse navigator is someone who meets the patient at the point of their diagnosis and starts to educate them on everything that’s going to happen. They serve as a reference point for the patient while they’re being treated.

“This has been a really good spot for us to let the nurse navigator offer something that we have that’s unique to the patients as they’re going through that onboarding process,” Clifton said.

He said there hasn’t been a patient yet to decline the journals.

Swartzentruber said at some point, the project will have to transition to printing the pages for the books, but they would like to keep the pages hand-written as long as possible.

If you are interested in volunteering or contributing to The Journey Project, please contact Swartzentruber at (229) 456-2509 or email garyandanne2001@yahoo.com.