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Foundation Gives Oncology Patients A Boost

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By IRENE MAHER

News Channel 8 Medical Editor imaher2wfla.com

Published: June 21, 2008

It's a lot of money, $100,000. Gulfcoast Oncology Foundation, a Bay area charity for cancer patients, has been promised that sum - if it can raise enough money to match the donation. Director Jane Morse-Swett says the foundation is about halfway there.

"We have until the end of the year to match it, and, so far, we're at about $54,000," she says.

The foundation, online at www.gulfcoastoncologyfoundation.com, was started officially 16 months ago. That's when founder Dr. Jeffrey Paonessa, an oncologist based in St. Petersburg, formalized the financial support his practice had been giving patients for 16 years.

Paonessa knew his patients at Gulfcoast Oncology Associates needed help making ends meet while they were in treatment. Many were forced to quit working because of the side effects of chemotherapy or radiation. Others were let go by their employers because of the many medical appointments they had to keep. Most had health insurance to cover the cost of treatment, but there was nothing to help them pay their bills, the expenses of daily living.

The foundation was established to fill this need. In 2007, a patient at Gulfcoast Oncology spearheaded a successful effort to get the foundation 501 (c3) nonprofit status. That's when the group really took off.

Morse-Swett says that since then, the foundation has raised more than $233,000 and filled more than 417 requests for help.

Kathy Seaberg of St. Petersburg was one of those who received assistance last year. She had used all of her medical leave at work trying to find out what was causing unrelenting back pain. Finally, she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Seaberg was forced to take a leave of absence from work, and the paychecks stopped coming.

"I was out of work from June 1 of last year until the middle of January this year," she says.

Relatives and friends helped financially, as much as they could, but the monthly bills were more than she could handle. Seaberg mentioned to a nurse at the oncology office the difficulty she was having with expenses, and the nurse immediately put her in touch with Morse-Swett.

Seaberg filled out a single-page application form and was accepted into the program. "They paid my mortgage for several months, paid my homeowners insurance premium," Seaberg says. They gave her groceries and a Christmas goody basket.

"They really saved me," she says. "If it weren't for Gulfcoast Oncology, I probably would have lost my house."

Kathy Ferris, a registered nurse who also lives in St. Petersburg, has a similar story. She thought she had beaten breast cancer 10 years ago, but in 2006 it came back in her spine. Last year, Ferris was forced to use crutches just to get around, making it impossible for her to keep working at a pediatric medical day care center. She was out of work for three months. The foundation paid her rent for those three months.

"It really helped you focus on family, on healing, instead of worrying about where is the money gonna come from," Ferris says.

Gulfcoast Oncology has offices scattered across Pinellas County and one in Tampa. It sees thousands of cancer patients. But the help provided reaches beyond the doors of its own seven offices. Morse-Swett says the practice receives referrals from other oncology practices in Pinellas and Hillsborough and has filled every request for help. "Not just Gulfcoast Oncology patients," she says, "It's cancer patients, period."

The foundation pays rent, mortgage, electric bills, car payments, car and home insurance. It helps with bus fare, bought one patient a bicycle and even helped put a roof on a patient's home. Morse-Swett says the organization doesn't pay for cable TV or credit card bills or cover medical expenses - just the expenses of daily living for cancer patients in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

The $100,000 matching donation pledge came from a patient who is grateful for a blessed life. Will the foundation meet the deadline and raise the matching funds?

"Absolutely," says Morse-Swett. "Absolutely."

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