Another Way to Support Cancer-Related Causes: Care for the Family

I feel compelled to write down some thoughts as I finished watching the movie My Sister's Keeper. I was all tears. Somehow I've always felt a deep compassion and empathy with patients with terminal illnesses (probably because I got sick easily as a child), but it just occurred to me how much more pain the family of a cancer patient may be going through, helplessly watching their beloved suffer. I was wondering: if so many organizations devote time and funds to causes that support research or patient recovery, why not give more attention to patients' family?


As much as I love and want to commit my career to cause-related marketing and branding, sometimes I become suspicious too: are companies real do-gooders or hypocrites trying to dress them up with causes? When it comes to cancer campaigns I naturally think about the pink ribbon, marathon and city-wide walks... what about something more creative? What about thinking through the lens of patients and their families?

Two practices that care for patients' family and friends touched me recently. They are initiated by hospitals truly putting themselves in patients' shoes. Massachusetts General Hospital's CarePages and the Neely House at Tufts Medical Center embody genuine intentions to help patients and their family get through hard times.

CarePages is a special blogging system that allows patients to upload posts and images. What's more, the updates automatically send emails to blog readers - patients' family and friends - so that they can come back to the page and visit newest contents. There are also spaces where patients' family and friends leave wishes and prayers - the emotional supports flow through CarePages make a great difference in patients' well-beings. MGH aptly captures patients' pain of battling diseases lonely or repeating their conditions over and over again to people who care. The CarePages might not save a patient's life; it might not cost big money, but it surely lifts a burden from patients and their worrying folks.

The Neely House at Tufts Medical Center, according to its Web site, is "a bed and breakfast style home away from home for center patients and their families. It was created to fill an important need - to help pediatric and adult cancer patients and their families while undergoing treatment." The center understands the twinges and agony felt by every family with cancer patients, so it helps them support and encourage one another in pulling through the difficulties. The warm and homelike settings speak more than monetary donations, advanced but cold facilities, powerful but hard-to-swallow pills.

The Neely House was built by the Neely Cancer Fund, dedicated to helping patients and their families during and after treatments. Its next project - The Michael Neely Center for Brain Tumor Care and Research is still underway due to lack of funds. As to the Neely House, a donation of $20 by individuals enables a family to stay over for one night. Organizations and brands might want to direct funds toward this kind of heartfelt projects rather than completing for attention from those widely-reported campaigns that have already gained momentum.