HOPE Fund Donor Thank You & Story From Dr. Ipock

Donors like you have saved the day so many times this year.

Our dedicated donors to the HOPE (Helping Oncology Patients Everyday) Fund have provided simple and immediate solutions for patients facing financial struggles while in cancer treatment. What a blessing they are.

I am honored to write to you this year to talk about the HOPE Fund, to share with you my unique perspective and to ask you to join us in this important work.

You see, I spend my workdays as a Radiation Oncologist in the McLeod Center for Cancer Treatment and Research. I also serve on the McLeod Health Board of Trustees and the McLeod Foundation Board.

So, I know of the incredible help HOPE Fund donors provide to our cancer patients. But, I wanted to know more.

Two years ago, I became a member of the HOPE Fund Advisory Committee. This group meets to ensure gifts are best used to provide a solution for our frightened patients who have nowhere else to turn.

Our donors are the star of our meetings as we celebrate their generous support.  We hear from staff about the many critical needs that they meet with their donations. I cannot say thank you enough.

Yet, we need you to join our HOPE Fund family of donors because cancer does not discriminate. It does not care if you are old or young, rich, or poor. It surprises people from all walks of life when they least expect it.

Sadly, it is devastating to our most vulnerable patients. Those who are working hard, raising families, and struggling to pay the bills, or who are alone with no one to help. And then, they hear the frightening words, “You have cancer.”

However, on their very first day of treatment, you can be there to provide HOPE.

Our HOPE Fund Coordinator, Sarah Beth Averette, meets with each patient to make them aware of the services available to assist them through their cancer journey.

She represents our caring donors as she to compassionately eases their personal burdens.

Several months ago, I met a patient who particularly touched my heart.

My husband and I have three children who mean everything to us. We are blessed to be able to provide them with a warm and nurturing home.

This was not the case for my patient.

Gloria is a single mother of two young girls who are her world. They live in a small town 30 minutes from the Cancer Center. The aggressive treatment Gloria needed to save her life was making her too sick to work. While battling cancer, she was unable to provide her daughters with a stable home. She desperately needed help getting them to more secure living conditions.

Gloria met Sarah Beth on the first day of her treatment, so she knew where to turn when she found herself in crisis.  You were there for her by providing a security deposit and the first month’s rent for a home so that she and her little family can have stability. Gloria can now use her energy to get well and raise her girls without constantly worrying about their living conditions.

I hope this story touches your heart as deeply as it does mine.  Since the HOPE Fund’s inception in 2014, our HOPE Fund family of donors have generously provided for patients who are in urgent need of assistance.

We turn to you now to ask you to help cancer patients who are doing everything they can to make ends meet but cannot shoulder the financial burden on their own.

Please consider making a gift for this urgent need.

Thank you for your time and attention to this compassionate solution for our patients’ basic needs. I hope as you close this letter, you will make your loving gift so that you will be there for patients like Gloria.

Gratefully yours,

Dr. Virginia Clyburn-Ipock

HOPE Fund Advisory Committee