• Women We’ve Helped – Maria

    Grant Recipient: Maria

    Diagnosis: Stage II Breast Cancer

    Treatment: Surgery, Radiation

    Grant used for: Rent

    A Duel-Income Household Becomes a Single-Income Household

    San Diego is a beautiful but expensive place to live and raise a family. Maria and her husband did just that, bringing up two children. They both worked, and Maria’s income was a crucial part of their financial calculation.

    And then came cancer.

    In October of 2018, Maria was diagnosed with tubular ductal carcinoma. She went into surgery and may have to undergo another procedure. After that, she’ll start a long and debilitating regimen of radiation treatment.

    As a result of her treatment, Maria had to leave her job and now relies on disability to make ends meet.

    One Salary Stretched Thin

    The normal, everyday bills don’t go away when someone has cancer. In fact, costs rise. Cancer requires numerous co-pays, expensive medication, special food, and lots of gasoline to drive to an endless set of appointments. Maria’s husband’s salary must somehow cover all of their bills and expenses even while one of their children still lives at home.

    It’s easy to see how a cancer diagnosis can quickly crack the foundation of a family’s financial stability.

    With the help of our donors, SOPFCA was able to provide Maria and her family a much-deserved grant to assist with their rent costs. We hope that this small gift can take some of the pressure off Maria’s husband so that Maria can focus on getting through radiation and moving into recovery.

     

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  • Women We’ve Helped – Melodee

    Grant Recipient: Melodee

    My life has been turned upside down

    Diagnosis: Stage IV Breast Cancer

    Treatment: Life-prolonging medications

    Grant used for: Rent

    A Pre-School Teacher Receives a Terrible Diagnosis

    Melodee dedicated her life to bringing joy and education to all the little children in her pre-school classes. At home, she worked hard raising her son as a single mother. Then, in 2013 everything changed when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

    “I have always been on top of my finances”

    In the years since her diagnosis, Melodee’s life has turned upside down as she explained in her grant application. Once, she held a stable job and was able to stay on top of her finances. Now, she struggles to get by on disability payments and supplements that meager earning by working part time as a Lyft driver.

    Saving is made even more difficult, because Melodee travels between Arizona and San Diego to receive her treatment.

    A SOPFCA Grant Pays for Rent

    When Melodee sent us her grant application, she had been fighting breast cancer for over five years. Now in Stage IV of the disease, she is currently receiving life-prolonging medications as she continues to care for your 14-year-old son.

    We were glad to provide Melodee with a grant that assisted with her rent costs. By taking away the stress of paying the rent in the short-term, we hope she can spend more time with her son and focusing on her treatment.

     

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  • Women We’ve Helped – Carol

    Grant Recipient: Carol

    The grants came just in time to help me over the roughest part, and I sincerely don’t know if I would have made it through without them

    Diagnosis: Stage I Breast Cancer

    Treatment: Chemotherapy, Surgery, Radiation

    Grant used for: Insurance, transportation, groceries

    “I still have all my normal bills”

    At age 62, Carol should have been planning her retirement. Cancer had other plans. In June of 2018, the fulltime housekeeper was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma. Surgery was followed by chemotherapy and then radiation therapy.

    The treatment left Carol too weak to continue her physically challenging job. She went on temporary leave, but the disability payments she received were far less than her salary.

    “I still have all my normal bills,” Carol wrote to us in her grant application, “and treatment of my cancer has added on new monthly medical expenses at a time when my monthly income has been greatly reduced.”

    Staying Positive

    Carol’s story is a great reminder that the everyday costs of life, like rent payment, car insurance, and grocery costs, keep coming even when you have cancer. Through this difficult process, Carol tried to stay positive. “I challenge my body, weakened by cancer treatments, to repair itself so I can return to work with strength and vitality,” she wrote to us.

    Receiving a Grant at Just the Right Time

    At Shades of Pink Foundation California, we appreciated Carol’s positive attitude and belief in herself. Thanks to the support of our donors, we were able to offer her a grant to cover a variety of costs, including insurance, transportation to her medical appointment, and groceries.

    Carol Is a Survivor

    At the beginning of the year, we received wonderful news from Carol. “I am proud to say I am now a survivor, and I have returned to work just this week!” she wrote in a thank-you note to our organization.

    In her note she also wrote, “the aid your association gave me boosted my morale, just knowing someone cared so much!”

    We want to share Carol’s thanks with all our donors who care enough to support our foundation and all the women like Carol fighting to recover from breast cancer.

     

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  • Women We’ve Helped- Rachelle

     Grant Recipient: Rachelle

    I so appreciate any help you can give my family in such a scary and stressful time.

    Diagnosis: Stage II Breast Cancer A

    Treatment: Mastectomy, Chemotherapy, Radiation

    Grant used for:  Housing and Utilities

    A Happy Family… And Then, Breast Cancer

    Rachelle is a positive and vivacious woman who loves being a mother to her “wonderful and wild” five-year-old son as well as a self-employed business owner. The 40-year-old esthetician also recently celebrated her 19th wedding anniversary with her husband.

    Everything was going right in Rachelle’s life. Then, the doctors told her she had breast cancer. In a whirlwind of appointments and tests, she made the decision to undergo a mastectomy with chemotherapy to follow and the possibility of radiation therapy afterwards.

    With so much treatment on the horizon, Rachelle made the difficult decision to close her business, at least temporarily.

    The Loss of Income Is About More Than Money

    Money represents security, but it can also mean independence. Rachelle was always proud of the fact that her work as an esthetician helped her clients improve their skin and brought in extra money for her family. Her income also gave her personal spending money. In deciding to press pause on her business, she lost her personal income and the financial contribution she made to her family.

    As a self-employed business owner, Rachelle also doesn’t qualify for disability income, so the loss of her earnings has put a financial strain on her family, as her husband is now the sole breadwinner. They must find a way to make less money go further.

    Rachelle looks forward to the day she can restart her business, but in the meantime, we at SOPFCA were excited to offer her a grant, which will help cover her housing costs and utility payments. We want Rachelle to focus on getting her treatments so that she can go back into business in the near future.

     

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  • Women We’ve Helped- Tracy

     Grant Recipient: Tracy Grant Recipient: Tracy I am applying for this grant to keep a roof over my head. Diagnosis: Stage II Breast Cancer B Treatment: Chemotherapy, Radiation, Surgery, Hormonal Therapy, and Herceptin infusions Grant used for: Rent and auto payment A U.S. Navy Veteran Finds a Lump in Her Breast Tracy is a U.S. Navy veteran who was making ...
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  • Women We’ve Helped- Donna

     Grant Recipient: Donna Grant Recipient: Donna Your caring and kindness are priceless to me as I know is true for the many women you help in our time of need. Diagnosis: Stage II Breast Cancer B Treatment: Chemotherapy, Mastectomy, Hormonal Therapy, and Herceptin infusions Grant used for: Utility bills, travel costs, insurance Exhausted at Work and Then a House ...
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  • Women We’ve Helped- Lisa

     Grant Recipient: Lisa Grant Recipient: Lisa It has been a hard adjustment going from trying to add a life to fighting for my own. Diagnosis: Stage II Breast Cancer B Treatment: Chemotherapy, Radiation, Surgery Grant used for: Housing Family Plans Thrown Asunder Lisa loves her two-year-old son more than she can say and was excited to start trying for ...
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  • Women We’ve Helped- Teresa

     Grant Recipient: Teresa Grant Recipient: Teresa This helped me so much. Diagnosis: Stage II Breast Cancer Treatment: Chemotherapy, Radiation, Surgery Grant used for: Rent One Misunderstanding Away from Financial Destitution A breast cancer diagnosis takes it toll in many ways that most of us can’t imagine unless we or someone close to us has fought that battle. As Teresa ...
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  • Women We’ve Helped- Leticia

     Grant Recipient: Leticia Grant Recipient: Leticia Diagnosis: Stage IV Breast Cancer Treatment: Chemotherapy Grant used for: Housing costs A Trip to the ER Leads to a Shocking Diagnosis When Leticia, known as “Lety,” went to the ER for stomach pains at the end of October in 2016, the last thing she expected was for a CT scan to discover a ...
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  • Women We’ve Helped- Cristina

     Grant Recipient: Cristina Grant Recipient: Cristina I am afraid I will fall extremely behind and hurt my credit and/or lose my house in the process Diagnosis: Stage II Breast Cancer Treatment: Chemotherapy, Surgery Grant used for: Housing Costs A Challenging Life Even Before Cancer Before she even discovered a lump beneath her arm, Cristina’s life was far from easy. The middle school ...
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  • Women We’ve Helped- Rosalina

    Grant Recipient: Rosalina Rosalina is kind, funny, hopeful, optimistic, and has a ‘keep going’ attitude. Diagnosis: Ductal carcinoma Treatment: Radiation, surgery, hormonal Grant used for: Housing costs Used to Pre-Paying Her Bills Before she was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma, Rosalina was the type of person who would pay her bills as soon as she received them or sometimes even prepay them. ...
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  • Women We’ve Helped- Teresa

    Grant Recipient: Teresa I want to go back to work and be able to help others Diagnosis: Stage I Breast Cancer and Lymphedema Treatment: Radiation, Surgery, Hormonal Therapy, Physical Therapy for Lymphedema Grant used for: Compression Sleeve, Utilities, Rent, Groceries The Caretaker Becomes Ill Teresa already had her hands full. The 69-year-old took it upon herself to take care of the ...
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  • Women We’ve Helped – Fleur

    Grant Recipient: Fleur I am struggling now to pay the monthly bills Diagnosis: Stage II Breast Cancer Treatment: Surgery Grant used for: Rent, utilities, groceries …First the Mastectomy Fleur is an 84-year-old widowed mother who was struggling just to get by on her limited Social Security income before breast cancer made her life even more difficult. Due to the size ...
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  • Women We’ve Helped-Serenity

      Grant Recipient: Serenity I am eternally grateful and am so glad and blessed to have donors out there helping us who have breast cancer. Diagnosis: Stage IV breast cancer Treatment: Surgery Grant used for: Rent payment and groceries A Single Mom Struggling to Pay Her Bills Serenity received the shock of her life at age 35 when she was diagnosed with stage ...
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