I wanted to take a minute to list the organizations that have been very helpful to me and why.
I will offer the caveat that I have not done the full deep dive on the financial structure of each of these. I know there are ways that people try to track effectiveness and costs on programming, but I haven’t dug in for each of these groups. What I do know is that they have been there with services for me during the last year without knowing anything about me except that I had cancer. I also know that with the government healthcare cuts, everyone is going to have to spend more on fundraising and related costs than ever before. So, as a friend of my recently said, like with investing, the most important part is just to give regularly. With that disclaimer, here are some of the organization that have been a big help to me this last year:
Gilda’s Club Chicago. My sense of humor was important to me during the last year, so it is probably no surprise that I made my way to Gilda’s Club, named in honor of Gilda Radner. They offer a lot of services, but the primary one that I have taken advantage of is a support group. They have a lot of different flavors of support groups and they place you in the one best suited for you following an intake process. I find myself saving topics or processing health updates to cover in it. There’s a nice balance of practical advice and emotional support in it.
Living Well Cancer Resources Center. A couple weeks after receiving my diagnosis, I realized that, even though all of my family and friends were amazing, I could use a little more mental health support. I asked the Nurse Navigator at Northwestern for a recommendation, thinking that they might have a list of therapists on hand. Instead, she referred me to an entire center tied to Northwestern, which had free 1:1 therapy and other resources, including free wigs! The Center is physically located in the western burbs, but offered virtual options. The 1:1 virtual therapy was perfect until I was ready to shift to a group setting at Gilda’s. I did do a virtual wig fitting, but even with a cute wig, I preferred a scarf, so I have passed it along.
Culinary Care. I mentioned it before, but Culinary Care provides meals to patients during their chemotherapy. While we didn’t necessarily need the financial help (although cancer is always expensive!) that one additional free meal provided, it was really nice not to have to worry about planning for lunch and have the meal delivered into my chemo pod! And because cancer care is so expensive, many cancer patients and families struggle with food insecurity and one extra meal through Culinary Care help them in many ways. I am keeping an eye on their Gala this fall if anyone wants to join.
Northwestern Medical Foundation. I wouldn’t have necessarily put this on here six months ago assuming that they had plenty of money, but they have experienced cuts because of governmental actions like so many other research institutes. My medical treatment was excellent and I want them to be able to continue to lead in cancer care.
Breastcancer.org. This was one of my favorite sites for finding key information. They really do a nice job of explaining technical and medical information in lay language without oversimplifying. I even learned that Kisqali had been approved for patients like me on their news site. I didn’t take part in their forums or other community aspects, but I did appreciate the medical news updates.
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