“Laurel was admitted to the hospital last night.… She will have her surgery on Monday. Please keep her in your prayers and send this link to everyone.”

Laurel C. was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in August 2007, and since then, the teacher from Memphis has received nearly 30,000 messages of support from around the world. Her daughter, Catherine, posted the message about Laurel’s surgery on a personal website to keep friends and family up-to-date on her mother’s condition.

Laurel’s family had set up the website in the days leading up to her diagnosis. And the day after her mother was admitted to the hospital, Catherine, posted an update: Laurel had been moved to another room, and the surgery had been rescheduled for noon.

In the days and months that followed, an exhausted Catherine, Laurel’s husband, Steve, and Laurel herself posted updates, shared their thoughts, and thanked well-wishers for their kind words, gifts, and prayers. On Feb. 3, 2008, Laurel announced the completion of her six months of chemo with an exuberant “Whoohoo!”

Virtual visits
More and more people with cancer and other serious medical conditions are using personal websites to communicate with friends and family. In the Internet age, it’s a way to keep in touch that spares patients and their families the time and emotional wear and tear of repeating the same information over and over again. What’s more, the websites are free and easy to set up: You just fill out a form with some basic information, choose the look of your site from an array of templates, and decide whether you want it open to anyone who clicks on it, or only to people who register.

The oldest and largest of the website providers is the nonprofit CaringBridge.org, the brainchild of Sona Mehring, 46, a computer-savvy Minneapolis woman who conceived the idea in 1997 when friends whose daughter had been born very prematurely asked her to let everyone know what was going on. For nine days, until tiny Bridget died, Mehring updated the site. Since then, CaringBridge has set up more than 90,000 websites that have received more than 500 million visits. It’s no longer the only such service (see box for listings).

About half the CaringBridge websites have been set up by cancer patients or their families. Some of the other services offer websites only to cancer patients; one, Lotsahelpinghands.org, emphasizes practical needs and contains calendars so visitors can see when patients need a favor, such as a ride to the doctor.

The sites are supported by donations and, in some cases, also have sponsors, including hospitals and medical organizations. None charge patients money.

Laurel first used a personal website more than two years ago when a friend was diagnosed with cancer. “I loved that I could leave messages and let her know I was thinking about her,” she says.

Word of Laurel’s site “spread like wildfire,” she adds. Because of the risk of infection while undergoing chemo, her pupils couldn’t visit, but she kept in touch through her website.

Now cancer-free, Laurel may enter a clinical trial of a new drug. If she does, she’ll post the news on her website. “It has been an incredible blessing to be able to write,” she says, “to have people write back, and to know that people are checking on me. How sweet it is.”