A cancer diagnosis can be lonely. But you may find more helping hands out there than you ever imagined.

Terlisa Sheppard, the subject of our cover story, who has lived with metastatic cancer for more than 18 years, found that her close-knit but far-flung family rallied around her and that her love for her daughters gave her courage. Years later, her boundless generosity toward other people with cancer earned her the nickname “Mother Terlisa.”

Patricia Hom, MD, MPH, an Asian-American woman with lung cancer who never smoked, credits two seasoned lung cancer patient advocates with helping her emerge from her “sad cancer patient” phase (Voices). “Connections” tells the story of two women with metastatic breast cancer who fight for patient-centered research. In “A Leukemia Diary,” Brian Koffman, MD, used his family-doctor skills to discover cutting-edge treatments for his chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and then founded the CLL Society to help others.

Your cancer care team has new ways to help too. Once-untreatable cancers are yielding to new therapies as scientists deepen their understanding of immune-based approaches (“How Does the Immune System Fight Cancer?”). Get more treatment information in Care & Treatment, Basics and Your Team.

Whatever kind of cancer you are dealing with, there is help. Find the best prostate cancer websites in Resources, soothing products in Good Stuff and ways to revive a flagging appetite in Solutions. Women readers, please help us better serve you by completing the Survey.

Sometimes, helping hands come from a higher power. In Life With Cancer, Warring Khushwinder, a devout Sikh, describes how modern pain medications helped him cope with post-cancer chronic pain, but it was his meditative faith that led him back to living well.