A social network for the sick and dying

November 21, 11:46 AMSF Web 2.0 ExaminerGeorge Shirk

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Serena McCallum

 Facebook is cute. LinkedIn is useful. I dig Digg, Yahoo Groups, Google Groups, the whole bit. Count me in.

But social networking has a profound side, too, as in CaringBridge – a network for the sick and dying, as well as for their caregivers, friends and family.

Imagine a loved one is seriously ill or, in some cases, terminally ill. Caregivers have a fulltime job just managing to get through the day, much less keeping everyone who is interested informed and up to date.

For those who are victims, where to turn at two o’clock in the morning, when the whole world is ending? The essays and memoirs on CaringBridge form a record of the kind of extremely personal experiences that, one day, all of us will have.

CaringBridge offers a platform in which victims and caregivers can share their journeys. Was ever a Web application more relevant, or an online community so tightly knit?

During the last months of her life, Serena McCallum wrote—about everything.

"CaringBridge allowed all of us to take this journey with her," said daughter Consuelo on the CaringBridge Web site.

"It inspired her to write, and it allowed her to reach so many people in a short amount of time. I can’t say enough about CaringBridge. It gave my mother something to look forward to, and allowed all of us to take this journey with her.”

Serena passed away surrounded by her family in April 2008.

These aren’t just stories of the dying, however. There are inspired stories of survivors, such as the recent post by the spouse of a success story.

Her posts stretched over the course of her husband's wrenching two-year recovery, and this past month she threw a big bash for him at a local church in South St. Paul, Minn.

“Usually, when we are in a church celebrating someone’s life, there is a casket involved. What a wonderful thing to celebrate someone’s survival.

"(He) has asked that I shut down this Web site. It is time to put cancer behind us. I will shut it down by the end of the year. Feel free to leave some last comments … about this journey.

"Thank you for carrying us this far. It has been one huge group effort."

So way to go, Survivor, and way to go, CaringBridge.  Really good work here.