Group Offers REST for Weary Undergoing Chemotherapy

After Pamela Schein Murphy was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago, she said the anxiety of waiting for doctors’ appointments and test results was among the worst parts of her experience.“You wait a really long time to be treated. There was one day where I waited six hours for a treatment and five hours for an infusion,” Ms. Murphy, who, along with her husband Marc, owns the Landmarc restaurants in TriBeCa and the Time Warner Center, as well as Ditch Plains in SoHo, said during an interview last week.The ordeal of sitting in isolated waiting rooms for excruciatingly long hours, and the impersonal nature of her doctor visits, inspired Ms. Murphy two months ago to found REST Initiative, a nonprofit that provides free massage therapy to cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.Last week, Ms. Murphy, who underwent a double mastectomy at age 36 and is now cancer-free, held her first fund-raiser for REST — which stands for relief, energy, synergy, and touch. The fund-raiser was a private, after-hours shopping extravaganza at Calypso Christiane Celle, with 20% of the proceeds going to her group, whose goal is to “ease the chemotherapy experience through the application of complimentary massage and bodywork inside chemotherapy treatment rooms,” according to its mission statement.The total raised during the evening was $2,000, and another $10,000 has been raised through donations from friends and family.The group aims to implement its program at two area hospitals by early 2009; REST needs to raise $500,000 to sustain itself at one hospital year-round, according to Ms. Murphy.Ms. Murphy’s strategy behind offering massage therapy during chemotherapy sessions is a search to make the experience more pleasant. “Because really, you’re waiting to poison yourself,” she said.Unlike other integrative medical services offered by hospitals, “REST comes to the patient,” she said. “There is no need for a patient to go anywhere, do anything, think about it.”By introducing a more holistic approach to an otherwise clinical experience, Ms. Murphy aims to return the focus to the patients, rather than simply eliminating the disease.Massage therapy can decrease pain, apprehension, and depression among cancer patients, and is considered a “useful, noninvasive addition to standard medical treatment,” according to the American Cancer Society Web site.“The power of touch is exorbitant,” the executive director of REST, Megan DeSales Colarossi, said.“There’s a certain emotional response there because of the touch,” a massage therapist who will spearhead training for REST employees, Jesse Alexander, added.

Group Offers REST for Weary Undergoing Chemotherapy

Group Offers REST for Weary Undergoing Chemotherapy

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