Organizations That Supported Me Through Breast Cancer
Speaking at the Unite for HER Pink Invitational
This fall marks four years since I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I can hardly believe it’s been that long. In that time, I’ve undergone five months of aggressive chemotherapy, five weeks of daily radiation, eight surgeries, and more doctors visits, poking and prodding, fear and anxiety than I care to think about.
My most recent surgery was last June, following several weeks of questionable blood work, an ultrasound and a biopsy. This year I’ve had more biopsies and new treatments. But thankfully, all of the news has been good and things are looking up after some positive test results and a medication change.
Around this time two years ago, I wrote a blog post about my diagnosis and how I found my cancer. It was a deeply personal post but the feedback I received from so many women made it worth the discomfort. I had hoped to follow that post with another, detailing my treatment and surgeries. Two years later I haven’t quite made it to a place where I’m ready to share that level of personal detail with the world just yet. But I do hope to get there eventually. In the meantime, what I would like to share is information about the local organizations that provided much needed support throughout my journey.
Opening Easter / Spring Baskets from The Breathing Room Foundation
For those of you who don’t know me personally, I lost my mom in 2007 and my father-in-law in 2018. My mother-in-law is an hour away and most of my family are out of state. I was fortunate to have some amazing friends, siblings and the best husband ever by my side. But going through cancer as a mom of young kids and a solo business owner was intensely difficult. We didn’t have anyone to pop over and take our kids for an overnight. We didn’t have anyone to help clean our house, or do some laundry, or go grocery shopping for us. Don’t get me wrong, we had a ton of loving support from our close friends and my siblings, but for the most part, we were on our own to struggle through the day to day.
Opening Easter / Spring Baskets from The Breathing Room Foundation
One of the awful things about cancer is that, along with the monumental task of just making it through each day, you’re also faced with tremendous financial burden. I was lucky enough to have the most supportive friend in the universe (who also stayed with my boys during several of my surgeries) set up a Go Fund Me account for us. I was so humbled and incredibly grateful for all the donations we received. However, we still lost our entire life’s savings and everything we had ever worked for. Thankfully, some amazing organizations stepped in to help when we needed it the most!
The Breathing Room Foundation
The Breathing Room Foundation is based in Jenkintown, PA. Their mission is to “Provide those affected by cancer with personal, individualized support to alleviate the emotional, physical, and financial strain that a cancer diagnosis brings.” They truly provide local families with some much needed breathing room! For an entire year, they dropped off care packages with snacks and handwritten notes and cards. They provided my children with Easter / Spring baskets, personalized to their ages and interests. They provided us with school supplies, sent volunteers to do a fall yard cleanup, and even supplied all of our Hanukkah / Christmas presents that year! They are the first organization I would recommend to any local families dealing with cancer. Mine will be forever grateful to them for the support they provided during our darkest time.
Web: https://breathingroomfoundation.org/
Phone: (215) 277-1006
Unite for HER
Unite for HER is based in West Chester, PA. They support local women with breast cancer, and have recently expanded their services to women with ovarian cancer as well. Their mission is to “Bridge the gap between the medical and wellness communities by funding and delivering complementary therapies that support the physical and emotional needs of those with breast cancer and ovarian cancer during treatment and beyond.” I attended a Unite for HER Wellness Day at Abington Hospital shortly after finishing chemo. It was the single most positive and inspiring step in my cancer treatment. It was a turning point for me that gave me hope and empowered me with tools to manage my healing. Cancer patients are not provided with holistic healing of any kind. Your oncologist is focused on ridding your body of cancer, your radiation oncologist is focused on killing local cancer cells, and your surgeon is focused on removing detectable disease. It’s all being done TO YOU. No one addresses you as a human being in need of healing from physical and emotional trauma. Unite for HER empowers women with the knowledge and tools they need to be an active participant in their own care. I will never forget the amazing opportunities provided at the Wellness Day, which included a CSA farm share of veggies, non-toxic personal care products, nutrition counseling, and a passport that provided 12 free complementary therapy sessions with choices of acupuncture, oncology massage, reiki, yoga, counseling, and exercise programs. I used all 12 sessions with the most wonderful massage therapist. Julie Ackerman of Flow Therapies in Chestnut Hill is certified in oncology massage. She was an important part of my medical team, helping ease pain and swelling from lymphedema that resulted from lymph node removal. If you’ve been diagnosed with breast or ovarian cancer, or know someone who has, please reach out to Unite for HER and attend one of their Wellness Days!
Phone: 610-883-1177
The Cancer Support Community
The Greater Philadelphia chapter of The Cancer Support Community has served as my version of a support group. They have locations in Fairmount Park and Warminster, with satellite locations in Willow Grove, Doylestown, Sellersville and Upland, PA. Their mission is to “Ensure that all people impacted by cancer are empowered by knowledge, strengthened by action, and sustained by community.” They provide a multitude of programs for education, emotional support, fitness and physical support, and social activities, all at no cost to participants (which includes cancer patients, survivors, caregivers and loved ones). I’ve been attending a chair yoga class with this organization for quite some time now. It’s the only program I’ve participated in thus far, but it has been a very important part of my physical and emotional healing. I’ve formed special relationships in this class that have truly helped me along this journey.
Web: https://cancersupportphiladelphia.org/
Phone: See their website for the phone number of the location nearest you
Sean Strong Foundation
We were so fortunate to have a very supportive preschool! There were several months throughout my cancer journey that we were unable to pay our tuition, but our preschool allowed our children to continue attending. I’m not sure what we would have done without their help. Teachers and families delivered meals and we felt confident knowing our kids were in a safe and loving environment. Amidst the financial hardship, our preschool director (at the time) got involved with the Sean Strong Foundation. She and a childhood friend separately referred me to this organization and they generously provided us with two months of preschool tuition for our kids! Based in Philadelphia, their mission is “Helping to alleviate some of the financial burden families with children experience after a cancer diagnosis. The Foundation provides assistance with child care expenses for families with a parent or guardian diagnosed with any type of cancer.” Between treatments, surgeries, recovery, maintaining my business, my husband being thrust into the role of full time dad, my caretaker, and still maintaining a demanding full time job - childcare was absolutely essential. Not to mention the sense of normalcy it allowed our kids. We are so thankful to the Sean Strong Foundation and our preschool for their assistance!
Web: https://www.seanstrong.org/
Team CMMD Foundation
Team CMMD is based in Exton, PA. They’re a team of charity runners, cyclists, and supporters whose mission is “Working together for those fighting cancer in our community and beyond.” They provide financial assistance, scholarships, gift cards and meals to families dealing with cancer. They also host dedication runs and community outreach projects, and raise funds for the American Cancer Society and local food, coat and blood drives.
Web: http://teamcmmd.org/
The Pink Daisy Project
The Pink Daisy Project is not local to me, (they’re based near Seattle, WA), however they aim to support women under 45 all across the country. Their mission is to “Help young women cope with the hardships of breast cancer treatment by providing care and comfort.” And they do just that by providing gift cards for grocery stores, convenience stores, restaurants and other retailers. They even have a celebrity ambassador, Hannah Simone - who doesn’t love New Girl?!
Web: https://www.pinkdaisyproject.com/
I hope this information will serve to help others dealing with a cancer diagnosis. If that’s you, please know that YOU ARE NOT ALONE. There are so many amazing organizations out there working tirelessly to raise funds and help those struggling with cancer.
And if you know someone who has been newly diagnosed, or someone going through this painful process, please feel free to share this post. I’m happy to answer questions about any of these organizations in the comments below or privately via email.
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