According to the Robert Koch Institute, every third family is affected by cancer in Germany alone. Such a diagnosis plunges them into a deep state of fear and helplessness; at the same it gives rise to an enormous need for information. This clashes with an extreme timidity about going public. In this respect the Internet is the ideal medium for patients. Here tumor patients and their relatives have a unique opportunity to inform themselves, to counteract their initial helplessness, and this enables them to become equal partners in the doctor-patient relationship.

Nevertheless, this is only possible if what is offered on the Internet about this extensive and difficult field of knowledge is conveyed to the patient without bias and in an understandable form, and the exchange with others affected by the disease can occur in interactive forums and chats.

The Cancer Compass with its information service is set up so that informed patients no longer feel like “objects” with an illness unknown to them and a treatment they don’t understand. Informed patients are better able to overcome their fear of the nebulous word “cancer”. They are transformed from “objects” to “subjects”. Only then can they profit effectively from talks with their doctors and “combat” the illness with them as partners.

Doctors fight the disease using medical means; patients, with their activities, inner reserves and will to live. The Cancer Compass would like to contribute actively to a form of treatment in which the doctor and the patient join forces, as well as to a better attitude toward the disease. In other words, with our project we would like to contribute decisively to reducing the emotional and psychological-social symptoms of cancer patients. For ultimately, by understanding and accepting the disease the quality of a patient’s life improves.

Moderated forums offer both information and communication at a glance. By subdividing topics on notice boards and in individual conversations and discussions, users can immediately find their way about and do not need to weed through contributions for possible answers to their questions. This kind of “cancer chat” is a novelty among German-language web sites. In the moderated chat, patients can converse anonymously and openly about their problems. Another important component is our free e-mail service, above all because it has become our objective to answer every query without exception within 48 hours (even on weekends). And with our “Expert Team”, we have implemented something unprecedented on the Internet: doctors, patients, relatives, and all others affected by the disease, help others by sharing their experiences, giving moral and especially practical support.

Our search machine, which we programmed ourselves, is intended to complement existing search machines. The latter find so many hits for the word “cancer”, or even for “lung cancer”, that at an early stage in the search for information their results are liable to cause bewilderment. Advertisements for miracle workers further complicate matters for patients. The Cancer Compass search machine has indexed some 20,000 pages offered by important and serious information resources in German-speaking countries. Before being added to our list, the links are checked for their integrity. Admittedly, the Cancer Compass cannot vouch for the contents on the linked pages, yet it does evaluate contents according to the criteria of the HON Code (www.hon.ch).

Since 1997 we have reached 1.7 million people in Germany alone. Due to the growing prominence of our service, we were able to register 500,000 new individual users last year.