FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) - While fighting breast cancer, mental and emotional well-being are as important as physical health. Having the support patients need can make all the difference. At the Community Cancer Institute, a breast cancer support group is offered to cancer patients, put together, not just by nurses - but by nurses who have battled cancer themselves. Click here for more MedWatch Today Click here for Community Medical Centers' homepage Some people come to share their stories and experiences. Others may just come to listen. But somehow, just being around other people who share an understanding of the circumstances is healing. Kristina Pasma is a nurse at Valley Children’s and is a breast cancer survivor. She learned firsthand the importance of support. “It helps you to realize that you're not alone because it's a very, very lonely journey. When you're first diagnosed, you're kind of caught up in that, what I call the cancer tornado. So it's all of these appointments and all of these things that you have to go, things that you have to do. It feels very, very lonely and very, very isolating,” she said. Ami Ho was a nurse at Community. When she found out she had breast cancer, she noticed the support group needed a shot in the arm and so, she jumped in. “I asked her if there was an opportunity to help so that I can use my experience to help others,” she said.  The group is a great place to find understanding and support, but for Kristina, it not only helped in her journey with cancer but it changed the way she approaches her patients now. “I think it's completely changed me as a nurse. Honestly, I think I'm a lot more empathetic to what people are going through and what their families are going through,” she said. “If your emotional health is in the right place, your physical tends to follow that." Those who would like to know about the group can go to communitymedical.org/cancer, and click “support services.”