A breast cancer diagnosis can change life in an instant. Appointments, treatments, and procedures can quickly fill the calendar, but the challenges that come with cancer do not stop at medical care.
There may still be a rent or utility bill to pay. Transportation may need to be arranged. A specialized garment or medical supply may need to be purchased. There may be lost income from time away from work. Sometimes, there’s simply a need for someone who understands what it is like to face an uncertain road.
At Blessing Breast Center, patients have an entire community ready to help carry some of that weight.
“You are not in this alone.”
That’s the message the Blessing Breast Center team wants every newly diagnosed patient to hear. Through grants, donations, community partnerships, and the generosity of individuals, businesses, and organizations throughout the region, patients can be connected with resources addressing needs ranging from breast imaging and treatment-related expenses to transportation, lodging, meals, housing costs, medical supplies, and even emotional support.
That support begins with listening.
Breast Center staff members remain alert for signs that a patient may be struggling or need additional assistance. Sometimes, a simple conversation opens the door. When a need is identified, the patient can be connected with financial assistance coordinator Michelle Hollensteiner or Breast Center Navigators Jessica Nuebel and Kelly Koch, who help determine what assistance may be available.
The resources they can draw upon are extensive.
Blessing Financial Assistance can help eligible patients with breast imaging expenses at Blessing locations. Elsewhere, the Blessing Foundation Breast Services Fund uses money raised in the community to provide resources for people facing breast cancer and financial hardship. State programs, including the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program and Show Me Healthy Women in Missouri, can also provide breast health services for qualifying patients.
For the past two years, the Blessing Breast Center has also received funding through the State of Illinois Carolyn Adams Ticket for a Cure grant. The grant supports education about early detection while providing resources that can help breast cancer patients navigate treatment and overcome barriers along the way. It has also helped establish a monthly breast cancer support group, providing a safe place for patients to share, connect and learn together. A walking group has since grown out of those connections.
But some of the most powerful support comes directly from the communities Blessing serves.
Schools hold pink nights. Employees organize workplace fundraisers. Community members participate in 5K races and bowling events. They purchase T-shirts and contribute when, where, and however they can. Each act may look different, but together they send the same message: “We're with you.”
Those acts of generosity translate into very real help for people facing very real challenges.
Community-supported resources have helped patients make rent or house payments and keep utilities on. They have purchased a mattress for a patient who otherwise would have slept on the floor. They have helped build a ramp so another could safely get into their home. Assistance has provided specialized bras to support healing following surgery and lymphedema sleeves to help patients manage inflammation related to treatment.
It is a reminder that treating cancer means caring for much more than a diagnosis. Supporting the whole patient means recognizing the various challenges they may be facing and helping connect each person with resources that can make the journey a little easier.
No organization, grant, fundraiser or individual can remove all of the difficulty that comes with breast cancer. Together, however, they can make sure patients do not have to carry it by themselves. Across the region, that network continues to grow through people willing to donate, organize, volunteer, listen, and simply show up when someone needs help. It is a wide net of support woven together by an entire community. And when a patient needs it most, it is there to help hold them up.
Seeking assistance or want to learn more about available resources? Contact the Blessing Breast Center team at 217-223-8400 ext. 4284 or 4294.