According to studies published in the "Journal of the American College of
Surgeons," the size of a patient's social circle affects their physical pain levels and healing
times. Twenty percent of the patients with the smallest social circles reported feeling twice the
amount of pain of better-connected patients. Unsupported patients also faced longer hospital
stays.

Patients sometimes think they are a burden to their loved ones, and caregivers may
feel like they have no one with whom to discuss their challenges and frustrations. Updating
long-distance friends and family can prove difficult for people under stress. But the Internet has
helped patients and their families form supportive communities and find others in similar
situations.

In fact, some studies have found that 75 percent of online health searchers use
the Internet to connect with those who have first-hand experience with their particular health
challenge. And millions of people are finding their connections through CarePages.com, an online
community of people coming together to share challenges, hopes and triumphs during a major health
event. Patients and caregivers journal their experience and receive messages of support from their
personal network of friends and family as well as from the larger community of people facing
similar situations.

CarePages.com also has real-time discussion forums focused on topics
such as parenting, cancer, emotional health and spirituality. The online community provides
multiple ways to seek, give and receive emotional support. It helps friends and family understand
what to say and do, such as sending thoughtful gifts from the online gift shop.

Personal
Web sites allow patients and caregivers the opportunity to offer real-time updates, upload recent
photos and receive messages of support. When a member posts to their CarePages Web site, an e-mail
automatically notifies every visitor in their guestbook who is following the journey.

One
member, whose husband underwent a bone marrow transplant to treat his cancer, wrote that
CarePages.com "really changed an isolating cancer diagnosis into something that was very
community-oriented."

For more information, visit www.CarePages.com.