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For Pete's Sake, Update! A Family of Your Own

As Winston Churchill once remarked, "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." I would like to thank you for giving of yourselves to make life better for those less fortunate as part of your involvement with For Pete’s Sake Cancer Respite Foundation.

You are the calm in the storm, the bright lighthouse in the dark, for those burdened by the traumas of cancer. Each of you play a critical role as part of the FPS community and it is because of your involvement that we are able to help people like Jeff and Angela. Angela was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma when her children were 4, 9 and 10 and has been battling this disease since January 2001. She and her family are traveling to the FPS home near Orlando in July 2012 and Angela remarks about this trip,

“I have been enduring non-stop treatments since January 2008. Our last family vacation was in December 2006. I feel time is slipping away and would love to have this time with my family again to laugh, relax and feel normal again. This chance would mean the world to me!”

Angela and Jeff are part of the FPS community because of their connection with the Phillips family – we met Jeff as part of the Haas Demo Day held in Fall 2011 and Angela was subsequently nominated by the National Institute of Health in March 2012. We are humbled and privileged to give the gift of time, love and laughter to this special couple and their three lovely children. We also look forward to opening our program doors to other patients at NIH! Many thanks to each partner in the Phillips community and for giving of yourselves to make life better for others!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Many thanks to the entire family of Phillips employees for their unyielding support of our program.  During this week when we pause to give thanks for our many blessings in life, we pause and extend our gratitude to all of you for helping us help others get a break from cancer.  Your generosity and commitment to our mission are inspiring and with your support, we are extending the reach of our program to your communities.

We continue to reach out to local regions to identify people who are best suited to participate in our program.   We are awaiting nominations from Greensboro and Maryland and next month, we will be doing an educational in-service for the ONS (Oncology Nursing Society) chapter President in Oakland, CA. Within the next thirty days, we expect to receive three nominations from patients in these three regions. 

And at home, we are busy with our program and in the past four months, have provided 67% more excursions than last year and 73% more people have traveled.  Eighty adults and sixty seven children have been given a respite vacation and made memories of a lifetime!  We are tremendously excited too for our new office space and especially for our Phillips’ children’s area that will be completed next week!  We will be sure to post pictures of this great addition to our office!

From our community to yours, we wish you and your family a very blessed and memorable Thanksgiving.  Thank you again for being a vital part of the FPS family! 

Sincerely,

Marci Schankweiler

FPS Founder/President

P.S. If you're looking for some inspiration, click here.

Your Impact on a Family

Many thanks to all those that have participated in our initiative to help expand our program and serve more families facing cancer.  Congratulations to Guy Romano for winning the contest!   With your generosity, we hope to reach out to four families in the next four months from various regions in the country. 

Sadly, our first Baltimore family has faced a tremendous loss. 

Sarah and her husband Eric are from Elkton, MD and Sarah was treating at a Johns Hopkins facility for melanoma.  She was nominated to our program by her nurse, Joann, in June.  With the help of our program coordinators, we planned a respite vacation to the FPS home near Orlando, Florida this month.  Sadly, Sarah passed away unexpectedly from this disease.  She was thirty one years old and leaves behind her beloved husband and two small children, ages two and eight.  Please keep her in your prayers.  As with all families in our program, we have provided Eric with some grief books to help in the healing process for himself and his children.  

Although we were not able to provide this family with a respite, we know that the generosity they felt through the planning process has offered some peace and comfort. We will continue to reach out to Eric to ensure him that our caring and compassionate community sends positive thoughts his family’s way.

We have established some tremendous relationships with oncology professionals through our relationship with the Oncology Nurses Society in those locations that house the Phillips Corporation.  This month, we did a phone training with the ONS President in Greensboro, NC and in October, we are presenting to the ONS chapter of nurses in Baltimore.  We will continue to reach out to ONS members near Oakdale, CA.  Further, we are registering as a nonprofit charity in Canada so all donations are tax deductible from this country.

We thank you for your support of our mission.  Let us keep Sarah’s words in our mind about the importance of respite as we continue our collaborative:

Providing this respite to us would allow our family to spend some quality time together without the burdens and distractions of everyday life.  Quality time with each other is a priceless gift at this time in our lives – a time to make memories and share experiences that last a lifetime. 

                                                              Sarah, FPS Patient, Age 31 (deceased 8/2011)

P.S. We look forward to seeing you all at the Demo Days tomorrow, September 14th.

 

For Pete's Sake - WINNER

 

 

 And our winner of the 

For Pete's Sake Summer Giveaway is....

 GUY ROMANO

 In our Bensalem, PA office!

 

And a huge “Thank you” to everyone for helping to further the Phillips Corporation Community Service initiative!

 

For More information on For Pete's Sake go to:  www.takeabreakfromcancer.org

For Pete's Sake, Make a Difference!

Do you know someone who has cancer?  Is it your neighbor?  Is it a friend?  Is it a family member?

We have all been impacted in some way, by some person, who has battled this disease.  For me, I learned of the devastating affects of cancer at the young age of 29, when my first husband passed away from a form of testicular cancer.  His death was the catalyst for an organization that has now helped thousands of people take a break from cancer - to live, love and laugh.

For Pete's Sake Cancer Respite Foundation enables cancer patients and their loved ones the opportunity to strengthen, deepen and unify their relationships by creating unforgettable and lasting respite vacations.  We have teamed up with Phillips Corporation to help bring this life-altering opportunity to geographic regions throughout the country!

With the help of Phillips partners, we are reaching out to cancer patients and their loved ones in areas we would have otherwise been unable to serve due to limited resources.   We are privileged to work beside our Phillips partners to make life just a little bit better for families in each of your regions.  To witness firsthand the impact of a respite vacation, and to see the smiles of the people we have helped, please check out this video...and feel free to share!

 

I plan on using this blog to update you all as we continue to make a difference.  Should you have any questions or comments, please email me at marci@takeabreakfromcancer.org or give me a shout at 267-708-0510.