Loyal Donor Enthusiastically Supports the HOPE Fund

Regular Updates Inspire Years of Dedicated Support

Harry Gardner, a longtime donor to the McLeod Health Foundation, became passionate about the HOPE (Helping Oncology Patients Everyday) Fund because of special friendships.

Harry was first made aware of the fund by his friend, Asa Godbold. Asa’s late wife, Marilyn, served on the HOPE Fund Advisory Committee and spoke highly of the impact it had on the lives of cancer patients.

When Harry then learned that his friend, Robin Aiken, had helped establish the HOPE Fund, it felt like a full-circle moment.

Growing up, Harry had been a classmate of Robin’s sister, Wana Kaye Hutchinson Rhodes. Later in life, Wana Kaye’s journey with pancreatic cancer would inspire Robin and her family to establish the HOPE Fund.

While accompanying her sister to treatments at Duke University Hospital, near Wana Kaye’s home in Pinehurst, North Carolina, Robin learned about a fund that helped low-income patients with immediate needs receive assistance during their cancer treatment. After McLeod Health opened the new Cancer Center in 2013, Robin, a McLeod Foundation Board Member, approached Foundation staff about starting a similar fund at McLeod. The following year, the HOPE Fund was established.

“I support this fund every year because I know that each penny goes to help cancer patients,” Harry shares. “It is a way for me to give back, but also to honor and remember friends I have lost to cancer, including Wana Kaye and Marilyn.”

Harry, like many Foundation donors, looks forward to the newsletters that update him on the ways his gifts have been put to work to help others. And, he is inspired to continue his support through the annual appeal letter.

“When I read the annual letter from a McLeod Oncologist and the note from Robin, I am always moved to send in my support,” states Harry. “Through their correspondence I understand more fully the pressing needs of the program and patients.”

All at McLeod Health are grateful for donors like you and Harry, who are inspired to give our patients hope. You are a blessing to those in need.