ALBANY, N.Y., July 3 (UPI) -- Actress Diahann Carroll wants caregivers to be thanked, so she is putting her star power behind The Wellness Community's Star Campaign, a national effort to honor the people who support cancer patients throughout their cancer journeys.

The Star Campaign via the Web site starcampaign.org enables cancer patients to honor and reflect on the caregivers who support them. Carroll said she was supported by a close personal friend, Marilyn Mazzarulli, when she had breast cancer diagnosed in 1998 at age 63.

"Having personally battled breast cancer, I have directly experienced how vital it is to have the support of a caregiver, like Marilyn, while undergoing treatment," Carroll said in a statement. "Caregivers take on so many roles -- from emotional support, which I believe to be the most critical, to providing transportation and helping with meals and chores at home.

Carroll, perhaps best known for her title role the 1968 TV show "Julia" and as Dominique Deveraux in the 1980s TV show "Dynasty" and its spin-off "The Colbys, is national spokeswoman for the Star Campaign. She wants to raise awareness for caregiving. She has done a national public service announcement to encourage cancer patients and survivors to honor their "stars."

"But this can come at a high price for the caregiver. While we as patients and survivors might not always see it, caregivers experience a great deal of stress as they help us cope and keep our focus on getting well," Carroll said. "We can't thank them enough."

I couldn't agree more. Caregivers make healing possible and according to a survey by the The Wellness Community, not even the care recipient may realize how much the carergiver cares and gives.

Forty-nine percent of cancer patients/survivors believe their caregivers felt regular distress during their cancer experience, while 45 percent do not believe their caretakers suffered regular distress, according to the survey conducted by The Wellness Community of 137 interviews with cancer patients/survivors and 65 interviews with caregivers.

In contrast, 80 percent of caregivers say they personally experienced regular stress and anxiety throughout the cancer experience.

Primary caregiver support areas include: 93 percent provide emotional support, 92 percent provide transportation, 88 percent prepare meals and 86 percent do household chores.

But caregivers do much more than provide support and services, they also pick up the slack so the cancer patient can focus on their treatment.

Cancer patients and survivors agree with caregivers that that patients were able to focus on their treatment because their caregiver took on additional responsibilities -- 85 percent of caregivers; 85 percent of cancer patients and survivors say the caregiver steps up and does what is necessary.

In addition, nearly three quarters also agree that the caregiver was instrumental in their treatment decisions.

Caregivers themselves may underestimate the impact caregiving has on them. While cancer survivors and caregivers acknowledge a number of personal difficulties for caregivers, caregivers are much more likely to cite personal impacts, according to the Wellness Community survey.

Forty-seven percent of cancer patients/survivors acknowledge a caregiver's disruption of routine, but 84 percent of caregivers cite at least some degree of difficulty because of the disruption of routine; 28 percent of cancer patients/survivors think caregiver's health suffers compared to 80 percent of caregivers; and 31 percent of cancer patients/survivors cite difficulties with friends compared to 73 percent of caregivers.

"What came through in the survey is that caregivers do such a good job in protecting the cancer patient -- they're not only there for emotional support, but they do their own work and often much of the work of the patient, but they don't want to burden their loved one with their own anxieties," Mitch Golant, vice president of research and development for the Wellness Community in Los Angeles, told UPI's Caregiving.

"Working with caregivers, we see the distress they go through -- we have support groups and usually one room is for the cancer patients and the caregivers are in the other room and from the patients' room we often hear laugher -- and a caregiver comments, 'geez, looks like their having a good time.'"

The Wellness Community, an international non-profit organization dedicated to providing free support, education and hope to people with cancer and their loved ones, provides professionally led support groups, educational workshops, nutrition and exercise programs and mind/body classes.

I began my role as a caregiver in my teens when my father had bladder cancer. After being cancer-free for five years he got colon cancer. I found that my main job as caregiver was to show up -- from taking to appointments to showing up with groceries and dinner and showing up to mow the lawn.

The Wellness Community survey also found caregivers are just as likely to report being treated for depression and anxiety as cancer patients and survivors. Caregivers also lose sleep and their own physical health can suffer, but they are happy to do it because they want the patient to get better.

We owe carergivers a debt. Their caregiving responsibilities result in lower wages, a lack of job security, and loss or reduction of employment benefits like health insurance, retirement savings and Social Security.

Not only should cancer patients and survivors give a big thank you to caregivers, so should society.

But all too often, many react to cancer as if it were catching and caregivers when they need support the most -- find out that many of their friends have disappeared.

-- On the Internet: thewellnesscommunity.org

Alex Cukan is an award-winning journalist, but she has also been a caregiver since she was a teenager. UPI welcomes comments and questions about this column. e-mail: consumerhealth@upi.com