My team
My Story…
I am very excited to be joining the Vineyard Haven fundraising team this year for the Falmouth Road race. The Vineyard Haven mission provides free, all inclusive vacations to Martha's Vineyard for cancer patients and their families. I recently heard about this organization through my friend who has spent a lot of her time with family on the vineyard over the years, and is now spending it there with her grandmother who had been diagnosed with cancer. The Vineyard has been such a peaceful, relaxing outlet for her and her family to spend enjoyable time together through struggle and I love hearing her stories when she comes home each week.
Cancer has impacted my family as well as many others. I lost both my uncle and my grandmother to it. The memories I have with them are so important to me, I especially enjoyed coming to Falmouth with my grandmother and the rest of our family. Nothing beats being in a beautiful place with the people you love. I’ve spent time in the Vineyard as well and think it is an amazing place for families to go to be able to enjoy peaceful time together during a time of need.
I’m proud to support an organization that knows cancer affects the whole family and that relaxation and time away together can mean so much.
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 01 | Anonymous | Undisclosed amount |
| Aug 01 | Katie | $35.00 |
| Aug 01 | Beth Robinson | $28.10 |
| Aug 01 | Anonymous | Undisclosed amount |
| Aug 01 | Sarah Quinn | Undisclosed amount |
| Jul 27 | Anonymous | Undisclosed amount |
| Jul 24 | Mom and Tom | $109.85 |
| Jul 23 | Zack | Undisclosed amount |
| Jul 23 | Olivia | $28.10 |
| Jul 23 | Abbie Collins | $55.35 |
