Each month, Onconurse.com will add a new profile of someone who is actively supporting patient efforts to heal, cope, or improve healthcare.

• Musa Mayer is the author of Examining Myself: One Woman's Story of Breast Cancer Treatment and Recovery and Advanced Breast Cancer: A Guide to Living with Metastatic Disease.

• Barb ("GrannyBarb") Lackritz, a survivor of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, runs, with Art Flatau, the "GrannyBarb and Art's Leukemia Links" website. She is a member of the board of directors of ACOR (Association of Cancer Online Resources) and the CLL Foundation.

• Gigi Thorsen founded the Gold Ribbon Childhood Cancer Awareness Campaign to remind people that pediatric cancer has not yet been eliminated.

• Susan Leclair's involvement comes from the heart, and she teaches her students that lab results are vitally important to real people.

• Meet Activist Grace Ann Monaco, who helped found the Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation and the Medical Care Ombudsman Program.

• Nurses and patients often share some of the same goals. Meet Activist Gilles Frydman, founder of ACOR, the Association of Cancer Online Resources.