Founder’s Note
“As a cancer survivor and advocate, I have seen firsthand the emotional and spiritual toll treatment can bring. We are exploring a faith-based healing retreat to help patients reconnect with hope, identity, and purpose. If you feel called to support or attend, please reach out.”
— David Breville
Our Vision: Where Faith Meets Wellness
At Athena Fusion Solutions, we believe healing is physical, emotional, and spiritual. We are currently exploring the development of a guided faith-based retreat experience for cancer patients and survivors seeking:
✔ Hope
✔ Community
✔ Resilience
✔ Spiritual strength
✔ Comprehensive wellness assessment
✔ Evidence-based health insights
Many survivors tell us they don’t just need treatment — they need fellowship, encouragement, faith, and someone to walk beside them. But they also need practical tools to understand their body’s recovery, rebuild strength, and monitor their progress with confidence.
So today we are excited to share that we are exploring the development of a guided, faith-based cancer resilience retreat — designed specifically for cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers seeking:
✔ Hope
✔ Spiritual grounding
✔ Encouragement
✔ Connection
✔ Meaning and resilience
✔ Professional health assessment and guidance
A Unique Integration: Faith, Fellowship, and Functional Health
This retreat would bring together:
- Cancer survivors and patients
- Chaplains and faith leaders from multiple traditions
- Licensed healthcare professionals
- Wellness and longevity advocates
- Exercise physiologists and movement specialists
- Caregivers
- Peer support mentors
…to create a peaceful, spiritual environment where healing begins, friendship continues, and health is understood and strengthened.
What We Envision
A small, supportive gathering where participants can:
✨ Receive faith-based encouragement
✨ Share stories without feeling alone
✨ Pray with others who understand
✨ Breathe, reflect, journal, and renew
✨ Learn practices that build inner strength
✨ Receive comprehensive health assessments from trained professionals
✨ Understand their body’s current functional capacity
✨ Get personalized movement and wellness recommendations
✨ Find community that lasts beyond the retreat
This would not replace medical care — it would complement it with emotional and spiritual support grounded in faith, enhanced by evidence-based wellness assessment and education.
A Possible Weekend Format
We envision a three-day retreat experience that seamlessly blends spiritual renewal with practical health empowerment:
Participant Structure
- 12–20 participants
- Hosted in a retreat center in Williamsburg, VA
- Small-group sharing circles
- Ministers/Chaplains from multiple faith traditions
- On-site healthcare professionals and wellness specialists
Spiritual & Community Activities
- Opening and closing worship services
- Guided prayer and meditation sessions
- Peace walks through natural surroundings
- Reflective journaling exercises
- Testimonies from survivors and caregivers
- Small-group fellowship and support circles
- A sending-out blessing or communion service
Health Assessment & Education Component
Professional Health Presentations
Throughout the weekend, licensed healthcare professionals will deliver accessible, hope-filled presentations on:
- Understanding your body after cancer treatment
- The role of movement in recovery and prevention
- Nutrition strategies for energy and healing
- Sleep, stress, and immune system health
- Reading and understanding your health metrics
- Setting realistic, sustainable wellness goals
These presentations are designed to empower, not overwhelm — delivered with compassion and in plain language that honors each person’s journey.
Participants will learn to use and interpret data from fitness tracking devices including:
Heart Rate Variability (HRV) Monitoring:
- Understanding HRV as a marker of stress resilience and recovery
- Learning optimal ranges and what changes mean
- Tracking nervous system balance during cancer recovery
Activity and Sleep Tracking:
- Setting baseline activity levels
- Understanding the importance of rest-to-activity balance
- Sleep quality metrics and their impact on healing
- Creating sustainable movement goals
Benefits:
- Participants receive guidance on affordable fitness trackers they can use at home
- Learn to interpret their own data without medical appointments
- Develop body awareness and recognize patterns
- Build confidence in self-monitoring between medical visits
- Create accountability through measurable progress
Gait Analysis & Functional Movement Assessment
One of the retreat’s most valuable offerings is a professional gait and movement analysis conducted by certified exercise physiologists or physical therapists.
What is Gait Analysis?
Gait analysis examines how you walk and move, identifying imbalances, weaknesses, or compensations that could lead to pain, falls, or reduced quality of life.
What the Assessment Includes:
- Video recording of walking patterns from multiple angles
- Analysis of stride length, cadence, and symmetry
- Balance and stability testing
- Functional movement screening (sit-to-stand, reach, turn)
- Posture and alignment evaluation
- Identification of fall risk factors
Why This Matters for Cancer Survivors:
- Chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation can affect balance, strength, and coordination
- Peripheral neuropathy from treatment can alter gait patterns
- Early detection of movement issues prevents falls and injuries
- Understanding deficits helps create targeted exercise plans
- Restoring normal movement patterns improves confidence and independence
Personalized Recommendations Each Participant Receives:
- Specific exercises to address identified weaknesses
- Balance training protocols if needed
- Stretching routines for flexibility limitations
- Strategies to improve walking efficiency and reduce fatigue
- Referrals for physical therapy if significant issues are identified
- A take-home movement plan with video demonstrations
Long-Term Benefits:
- Reduced fall risk and increased safety at home
- Improved endurance and reduced walking fatigue
- Better posture and reduced pain
- Increased confidence in physical activities
- Foundation for sustainable exercise habits
- Measurable improvements that can be tracked over time
The Power of Integration: Why Faith and Health Belong Together
This retreat recognizes that healing is not compartmentalized. When we address the spirit, mind, and body together, we create conditions for true restoration:
Spiritual practices like prayer and meditation reduce stress hormones and promote peace.
Community and fellowship combat the isolation that often accompanies illness.
Health assessments provide knowledge and empower informed self-care decisions.
Movement analysis restores confidence and prevents future complications.
Professional guidance bridges the gap between medical treatment and daily life.
By combining these elements, participants leave with:
- Renewed faith and hope
- Lasting friendships and support network
- Comprehensive understanding of their current health status
- Practical tools and plans for ongoing wellness
- Confidence to advocate for their own health
- Tangible progress markers to celebrate
We Are Now Listening
We are currently in the listening and planning stage, and your voice matters.
If you are a church, ministry, caregiver group, healthcare organization, or person of faith interested in learning more — we would love to connect.
Are You Interested in Attending, Volunteering, or Partnering?
If you would like to:
✔ Attend the pilot retreat
✔ Volunteer your time or talents
✔ Help facilitate prayer or support circles
✔ Serve as a healthcare professional presenter or assessor
✔ Refer a patient, caregiver, or church group
✔ Offer space or partnership
✔ Provide equipment or technology support
We would love to hear from you.
Below is a simple interest form — it helps us gauge demand, shape content, and build the right partnerships.
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