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It's the season for flowering trees, colorful landscapes and every woman's favorite task -- bathing suit shopping. But for cancer patients, spring also means it's time for the Blount Memorial Cancer Center's annual get-away for female patients and survivors, Celebrate Spring: A Mountain Retreat for Women.

This year brought the fourth anniversary of the event, which is designed to offer women who recently have been diagnosed with any form of cancer, just started treatment, finished treatment or need the companionship of other cancer survivors an opportunity to -- with the female caregivers who have served as a support person -- come together and build a network of continued support and friendship.

"Over the breakfast table, we had a three-year survivor sharing tips with women who had recently been diagnosed with cancer," says Cancer Center Director Carmen McCloud. "That's why we blend them. They help each other."

Maryville resident Jana Weaver, religious with mammograms because of a family history of breast cancer, was diagnosed on July 2, 2008 and has since undergone chemotherapy, surgery and radiation. "That was the worst experience of my life. The thing about it is, I would do it again." Weaver said. "I've never been treated so nice anywhere as I was in the Cancer Center. You would've thought I was dying because they'd always ask, 'Is there anything else you need?' That's the way the retreat was, too."

Meeting needs

Organizers of the retreat try to make sure needs are met -- physically and emotionally. "To me, this year, it was the most emotional and heartfelt I've felt over the last three events," McCloud says. "I'm not sure if it's the economic times and stresses that come along with that, but people were closer this time than I've ever seen them."

Time for laughter was plentiful throughout the three-day, two-night event, too. On Friday, women got acquainted with each other through a game of People Bingo. Attendees, some of who were former patients of the center, came from as far away as West Virginia and Alabama and ranged in age from 24-84. They shared information about each other and even found some friends they knew outside of cancer.

Cancer survivor Shelby Boring of Maryville realized she knew an attendee, but didn't know that the person was a cancer survivor, too. "I asked a friend of mine, 'How'd you get here?'" Boring and Weaver both also embarked on a new journey -- modeling -- by participating in a J.C. Penney-sponsored fashion show.

'I'm alive'

The night concluded with line dancing lessons, and McCloud said, "Those that didn't line dance watched, and they never left. Those who tried to shake their booties and couldn't, shook them anyway." Saturday's agenda included music therapy and educational programs, which Weaver said were very informative. "I really think they had a lot of their questions answered," McCloud said.

McCloud explained that the women donned leis they'd made on Friday night along with their favorite beach attire and returned for a Hawaiian-flared luau, complete with skits and a visit from some "tourists" that made the women laugh until they cried. "Some of the women came down in grass skirts and coconut bras," McCloud said.

Sunday morning, an optional old-fashioned gospel singing brought everyone back together, and McCloud said, "I had a woman tell me, 'We needed this. We needed to be here this weekend,' and another who said, 'I don't want to go home.'"

McCloud explained that each year, this weekend gives women an opportunity to forget their pain and what they've gone through. "To sum it up, I would say they came away with an 'I'm alive attitude. I can enjoy life, and I can learn more. I can be happy, and I can make lifetime friendships,'" McCloud shared.

"It lifts me up for the next year," she said. And while she's already thinking about next year, she said this retreat is only one example of the support cancer patients can find at the Cancer Center. "Rather it's the retreat or someone walking in the door who's new to our community needing help. We're here, and we're reaching out and touching these women."