When people are diagnosed with cancer, they may have a lot of questions from treatment to emotional support.  There’s an information service offering free and confidential advice. The Cancer Information Service is an arm of the National Cancer Institute, which supports research into the disease.

Cancer Information Specialist Maia Low says anyone can call at 1-800-4-cancer or go on line to cancer.gov. She says the service can take as much time as a caller needs to understand what’s going on with them.   The phone lines are open each week day from 8 am until 8 pm.

 Low says  so many complicated concepts that can be introduced when someone is diagnosed with cancer.  She says it can take awhile for the person to process that information to know what kind of questions to ask.

Low says the service wants to help people understand what’s really going on when they’ve been diagnosed. They can talk about standard treatment options, give the caller information on locating treatment centers near them, or resources for getting a second opinion.

Low says the service can provide referrals to national or state organizations that can provide financial assistance to people undergoing cancer treatment.

Low says the service can help with the emotional aspect of diagnosis. She says they have supportive publications that talk about being diagnosed, having a recurrence of cancer or having a loved one who is newly diagnosed.  She says these help with the different emotions that can arise and ways to cope with those.

The National Cancer Institute can also be found on Facebook .