My team
My Story…
I am very excited to announce that I will be running the Falmouth Road Race for Vineyard Havens. Vineyard Havens offers respite weeks to families who truly need it the most. Families facing cancer are given the gift of time away and time together. It is a chance for them to step away from hospital visits and treatments.
This cause is especially meaningful to me. Through my experience volunteering in hospice care and having family members who have faced cancer diagnoses, I understand how important it is for families to step away from the diagnosis and spend quality time with one another. Through my fundraising, I hope to give a family much needed time away with one another in Marthas Vineyard. Thank you for your support! Any donation is greatly appreciated.
Description
A cancer diagnosis, along with its vigorous treatment protocols, can be traumatic for both patients and caregivers. The American Cancer Society (ACS) estimates that as many as 1 in 4 recent cancer patients have PTSD while caregivers can also develop PTSD. According to the ACS, one study found that almost 1 in 5 families with teenage cancer survivors had a parent with PTSD. It is Vineyard Haven’s mission to ease the trauma, isolation and fear of cancer for patients and families by replacing thoughts of cancer with the joy, peace and happiness that comes with a very special week away.
The Jimmy Fund Clinic assesses their current patient-families for a respite week away based on both medical criteria (i.e., ability to travel) as well as “family backstory” which includes financial means, level of trauma (from diagnosis through surgery, treatment, relapse, etc.) and overall desire to “get away from it all.” These families are then referred to Vineyard Havens for intake where we match the family to an amazing beach house and begin to help the family’s dream about their week away on Martha’s Vineyard. For some families, monopoly on the back porch and grilling out on the deck is sheer joy and more than enough.
One teenage boy with relapsed leukemia, a first generation American, had only lived in apartments with a stove - never an oven - so his dream was to bake real chocolate chip cookies in a real oven at the beach house. For others, they want to try everything: fishing, clamming, a sailboat ride at sunset or a biplane ride around the island. But no matter which kind of respite families choose, they all share a few things in common: each family gets a beautiful beach house for the week, professional family beach photos, round trip car ferry tickets, and a refrigerator stocked when they arrive to their vacation home - all paid for by Vineyard Havens.
Recent Donors
| Donation date | Donor name | Donation amount |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 16 | Jeanne DeSanto | $22.65 |
| Aug 15 | Bick Jones | $109.85 |
| Aug 15 | Mom and Dad | $109.85 |
| Aug 15 | Hugh | Undisclosed amount |
| Aug 15 | Mary Finnegan | $11.75 |
| Aug 15 | Aunt Willow & Uncle Jamie | $109.85 |
| Aug 15 | OD | Undisclosed amount |
| Aug 14 | Michele Lubas | $28.10 |
| Aug 14 | Anonymous | $29.19 |
| Aug 14 | Mary Mahoney | $109.85 |
