If you’ve been in my Community for a few months or more, you’re likely aware that my youngest sister has breast cancer. 2013-to-date has been one full of challenges and gratitude.
From my own lumpectomy and “benign” diagnosis to her lumpectomy and “It’s cancer” diagnosis, it’s been a year of surgery, months of chemotherapy and now she’s 2/3 of the way through her daily radiation treatments.
Recently we donated 50% of all revenue from our Escalate! Virtual Day Program directly to cancer patients in the form of $25 gas gift cards and $25 grocery store gift cards to help out with those costs not covered by insurance.
The below video is one the staff at the Norfolk Oncology Center and Signature Medical Hospital made as part of a competition to win money for their charity of choice.
My sister and I know many of the people in this video — from the absolutely amazing staff to cancer fighters and survivors, they’re all wonderful.
Would you please take just over a minute to watch the video and vote at the link under the video?
Thank you so much! You can vote up to once per day at http://www.pinkglovedance.com/videos/2013-video-contest/signature-healthcare/
Here’s more info about their entry (copied from the voting page):
“We are the “Champions of Hope,” because without prompting, this theme kept popping up among departments at the hospital and members of the community who participated in the video. Our hospital is in Brockton, known as the “City of Champions” due to the success of native boxers Rocky Marciano and Marvin Hagler. Our tie into sports of course led us to partner with the Brockton Rox, who up until last year were members of the Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball league.
We are a blue-collar city halfway between Boston and Providence, and Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital remains the only independent community hospital serving the area. We draw strength from each other and the community to maintain our viability in a changing healthcare marketplace. Our largest and most successful event is our Champions Fighting Cancer Walk Across Brockton, which this past May celebrated 13 successful years and more than $2million total raised for cancer programs and support in the community – helping patients with rides to and from appointments, or necessities like paying bills or grocery shopping – things not covered by insurance. Our cancer patient navigator is specifically trained in helping those diagnosed with breast cancer. We were one of the first in the state chosen to provide the STAR (Survivorship, Training and Rehab) program to cancer patients, and all of our physicians, physical and occupational therapists, speech pathologists, dieticians, and mental health professionals went through training. There are countless reasons for us to participate in the Medline video challenge beyond our ties to cancer – raising awareness of breast cancer, the importance of mammograms, and supporting patients through diagnosis and beyond.”