My mother was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer in 2007
at the age of 34. I was 8 years old. I didn’t understand what those words meant
in terms of my life or my family’s. She was strong and loved by everyone she
knew. She was kind to strangers and made new friends wherever she went. Let’s
just say you couldn’t have a conversation with her without unknowingly sharing
your whole life story as well. She did go into remission in 2009, but the small
glimmer of hope we had was snatched away in 2011 when the cancer came back and
metastasized to her lymph nodes and brain. My mother passed away on February 1st,
2015; that was a little more than 3 years ago and yet I still feel every rip
that her disease tore into the fabric of our lives. The worst thing about a
disease like cancer is that it holistically attacks everyone who hears the
word; everyone who knows someone who is diagnosed. As a young child it starts
with questions like “Why did mommy have to lose all her hair? Why does grandma
have to move in? Why can’t mommy come out to play in the yard?” and then it
slowly becomes a way of life. It became my normal. For a spouse like my father,
the questions were along the lines of “How are we going to be able to afford
treatment? Why us? Why now? What’s going to have to change?” and then they
change to an obsession with a cure and heartbreak when one cannot be found. At
the time of my mom’s diagnosis my parents had just sold the family store,
gotten new jobs, and had bought a house. They wanted me to grow up away from
the high crime and violence of the D.C. area. Instead they were blindsided, and
my mom took charge like she always did; working and easing everyone’s fear
while still going to chemotherapy and radiation. She was the one who connected
my family to the nonprofit I want to discuss with you all.
The Red Devils is a 501(c)(3) organization that was founded to
“fund services that improve the quality of life for breast cancer patients and
their families” in the state of Maryland. At the time of my mom’s initial
diagnosis they provided my family with funds for my mother’s co-payments,
prescriptions, and treatments. Their help allowed her to get genetic testing. I
could never repay such a gift; one that allows me to live a life knowing that I
am not genetically at risk for breast cancer. The Red Devils provided us with
funds for groceries, house cleaning, gas cards, parking at the hospital. They
couldn’t cure my mom’s cancer, but they could help to aid cancer’s financial burden.
For my mom, it meant she could step away from her job at the bank and take her
long-term leave at home. It relieved so much of her stress and allowed for her
to grow stronger and stronger which led to a 2-year remission period. In those
2 years my mom was my mom again, no longer a cancer patient; no longer “sick”.
She came outside and played tennis with me, she taught me to cook, she told me
she loved me without worrying it would be the last time. The Red Devils helped
her be able to do that, just like it has helped 7,582 other Maryland breast
cancer patients in the span of 15 years.
Between 2002 and 2017, the organization has invested
$3,557,094 towards helping patients.
$2,169,827 has gone towards family support, $782,561 to medical
services, and $604,706 to transportation. Family support is defined as funds
needed for meals, groceries, house cleaning, home care, rent, utilities,
mortgage, child care, etc. Medical services are considered to be anything
having to do with co-payments, prescriptions, treatments, procedures,
prosthetics, genetic testing, etc. And transportation support includes cab
fare, vouchers, gas cards, metro passes, parking, toll, and automotive repairs.
With these funds, The Red Devils have been able to support 5,500 breast cancer
families so that their loved ones could either start or remain in treatment.
The organization puts a lot of emphasis on making themselves an easily
accessible resource to patients. Like my mom, patients are referred to the
organization by any medical staff or social worker from any one of their 46
partnered hospitals in the area. This way the organization can make themselves
readily available to anyone who needs them without having to access a patient’s
situation on a case by case basis. In this way they are utilizing the already
available resources of the hospital staff and social workers who would have a
better understanding of what a patient needs. While looking over their 2016 IRS
990 form, which can be found through Charity Navigator, I thought it would be
important to mention that a breakdown of their expenses for 2016 showed that
63.2% of funds went towards families, 22.05% went towards fundraising, and
14.7% went to overhead costs. Although we’ve discussed that ideally an organization
should be spending more than 70% on their programs, it’s important to note that
the organization brought in nearly three times the amount they spent on
fundraising; making a net fundraising income of $319,265. The organization also
meets several of the criteria we have looked for in previous organizations. Indicated
on their 990 is that The Red Devils has no material diversion of assets, an
independent voting board, documented meetings shared with the governing body, a
written conflict of interest policy and whistleblower policy amongst its staff,
and a records retention and destruction policy.
The last point I want to make about The Red Devils is that
each and every person who works with them has a shared passion. The name of the
organization itself pays homage to the chemotherapy drugs many breast cancer
patients know as “The Red Devil” because of its bright red color and its
substantial toll on the body. I’ve met many people who have worked for or in
association with The Red Devils. Some have come from businesses and others from
the participating hospitals, but we all share the same scars. Breast cancer
links us like a lifeline. Many a time my family and I found these people to be like
our life preserver when we were being dragged out to sea. That first year we
almost didn’t celebrate Christmas, but we were connected with a group of women
who came over to decorate the house, bring us gifts, and give us food for a
Christmas dinner. Later, my mother, who only had a learner’s permit at the
time, was desperate to get to a doctor’s appointment. She ended up in a car
accident because she couldn’t find anyone else to drive her. The X-rays from
her accident revealed that her cancer had returned. We were almost
instantaneously connected with a woman who could drive my mom to her
appointments and treatments from then on. My mother’s cancer brought us into a
much broader community- one that The Red Devils are a big part of in Maryland.
Without them it would be like a sinking ship with no life rafts; thousands left
to drown at sea. Breast cancer is a fast-acting disease that can get progressively
worse every day that a patient goes without treatment. Our donation would go
directly to a breast cancer family ensuring that they can receive the most
stress-free treatment as soon as possible.
We could provide the life raft that prevents them from drifting out to
sea.
*they are not rated on Charity Navigator because they do not
have more than $1M in annual revenue
For more on my family’s journey with cancer:
