Volunteers take cancer patients to treatments, helping them toward recovery

Wednesday is “PINK DAY” at Channel 9 for breast cancer awareness, so we’re sharing stories of survivors.

In North Carolina this year, more than 67,000 people will be diagnosed with any type of cancer, according to the American Cancer Society.

As Channel 9′s Damany Lewis learned, many patients can’t get to their treatments. But one woman is on the road to recovery, thanks to the help of one volunteer.

A simple car ride made Nora Noble and Carol Moyer fast friends, and one could even say teammates.

“She joined my team, like, she has always been there,” Noble said.

In 2009, Noble was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, which is a bone cancer. Recently, Moyer volunteered to drive Noble to all her appointments.

“When you are going through something like this, especially after seeing the doctor‚ you don’t know what he is going to say. It may send you down,” Noble said. “And you come to Carol, she will lift you up.”

Noble said before she met Moyer, she was paying up to $100 for Ubers.

“Some people can’t afford it,” she said.

That’s where Moyer and the American Cancer Society’s program called “Road to Recovery” shifted into gear.

”I have the time,” Moyer said. “I am retired, I thought this was an area to get into.”

The program offers free rides to patients undergoing cancer treatments, with the help of volunteers. This year, volunteers with ACS will offer 490,000 rides. Moyer, alone, has now driven over 1,000 miles herself. But more help and volunteers are needed.

“It’s important that they get to their treatments, and if they don’t have a ride, they don’t go to their treatments,” Moyer said. “And I figured that these individuals have enough challenges to face, and the last thing they should worry about is how are they going to get a ride to the doctor.”

Noble said she envisions the day she beats cancer and rings the bell. She knows her cancer-fighting partner will be right there by her side.

“She will be there with me to ring that bell, I know that, yes indeed,” she said.

“It’s really heartwarming, and I will be there,” Moyer said. “And hopefully it will be soon.”

The American Cancer Society needs more volunteer drivers in both North and South Carolina. If you would like to help, click here.

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