Imagine hearing the words that begin with “I’m sorry,” and end with “you have breast cancer.”
Every year in the United States, close to a quarter of a million women hear those words.
One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. Think about your family, your friends, your neighbors. If you don’t know someone who has been touched by this disease, with numbers like that, it’s only a matter of time before you will.
Then imagine you are one of those women, a working woman, for whom her income is absolutely necessary to cover basic costs of living expenses. Maybe you are married with children in daycare, or you have a stay-at-home dad or partner who does not work. Or you are single without any other source of support.
Now imagine that the treatment to save your life, takes your livelihood. You are so ill from the toxic side effects of chemotherapy and radiation, you literally cannot work. If you are lucky you may be able to take an unpaid family medical leave, preserving your job for your return.
But if you are like 51% of Americans, you live paycheck to paycheck and have less than $1,000 in savings.
What would you do?
This month, as we recognize Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we’d like to introduce you to The Pink Fund, a nonprofit organization that will provide up to 90 days and $3,000 of non-medical financial assistance to breast cancer patients in active treatment. The Pink Fund’s financial support helps meet basic needs, decreases stress levels and allows breast cancer patients to focus on healing while improving survivorship outcomes. As the organization’s mantra states, they provide REAL HELP NOW.
In just six months, a health crisis can lead to a family’s bankruptcy or homelessness.
Fifty percent of bankruptcies are the result of illness or illness-related job loss.
The Pink Fund was borne from its founder Molly MacDonald’s financial crisis following her 2005 diagnosis. Molly was transitioning between jobs, looking forward to her next position when she heard the news that detoured her career plans to the off ramp while she underwent two surgeries and six weeks of daily radiation. Without her income and the addition of a $1200 COBRA premium to insure her access to life-saving care, Molly was one of those working women living paycheck to paycheck without savings.
And without that paycheck, Molly, her five children and self-employed husband found themselves standing on the edge of a financial cliff, looking at what appeared to be a potential reality, landing in a homeless shelter.
Her home went into foreclosure, she began bargaining with creditors to keep the lights on and not “repo” her car, and at the end of treatment when friends and family stopped delivering dinner, she found herself in line at the local food bank.
Molly could not find a single resource from which she could get help, so she became determined to give help and launched The Pink Fund.
Since that dark time in 2005, Molly–through the generosity of individual donors and corporate partnerships as well as the organization’s annual signature Dancing With The Survivors® event– has helped approximately 1600 women and men in active treatment with close to $1.7 million in bill payments.
Learn more about The Pink Fund, and how to Get Help or Give Help at www.thepinkfund.org.
Connect with The Pink Fund via their website or on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or Instagram to discover more about their mission and success.
