kttcroadtrip.com

When I started this journey, I’m not sure what I expected. I certainly knew the love of a road trip and that part was just as expected – an incredible journey over 6,000 miles, traveling through 22 states from coast to coast, taking in the beautiful, the whacky and everything in between.

But of course, people are always the most interesting part of any trip. On this journey, the people I met were of all ages and all places - big cities, small towns, rural, urban, south, north, east and west. Some were selected to meet with me and others I just came across. As you know, what all these people have in common is that they are cancer survivors. But as Barbara Barish, the Executive Director from the American Cancer Society in Phoenix said, “We are all cancer survivors because cancer affects everyone.”

I did this trip in memory of my mother, Lorraine Raimondo, who died of breast cancer in 2005. As I myself have not had cancer, one thing I wanted to learn was what can the people close to those going through cancer do to help? I asked this question, in many different ways, and frankly I never got a direct answer. It was interesting. A lot of women I asked seemed uncomfortable indicating that they would need help. Women, if I’m going to make a broad generalization here, don’t seem to like to ask for help. They are used to giving it. The best answer I got was from Betty Wooten in D.C. who exhaled and said, “We know you can’t help, just be there.”

So, that’s the main thing, be there. And what I’ve learned that could mean is check in, call, send a little gift, go with them to their appointment or just hang out. Taking their mind off their cancer seemed like a welcomed reprieve. One young survivor told me how her girlfriends took her to Vegas for the weekend. It was important to her to not put everything, including her social life, on hold while going through treatment. I also gained a better understanding of just how time consuming treating cancer can be. Helping coordinate appointments, making calls to the insurance company, providing transportation, making meals, arranging for house cleaning, may also be ways you can help. But honestly, every woman I spoke to wanted and didn’t want something different. So, my best advice is to ask them how you can help. And if you don’t get an answer, do exactly what Betty said, “Just be there.”

In this last entry, I’ll pose this question one more time to any cancer survivors that may be reading this blog. If there was something that someone did for you that really helped you through, please share it with all of us in the comments section below and help us help someone else.

As it says on the site, Key to the Cure raises millions of dollars that goes towards fighting women’s cancers. What I had the privilege of seeing is the actual people your contributions help. You’ve not only provided funding to research better detection, treatment and a cure for cancer, but you also provided transportation to a woman who was too ill to drive herself to her appointments and had no one to take her, helped pay the rent of a woman who’s medical bills caused her to go bankrupt, provided mammograms to thousands of women and saved a woman’s life in Palm Desert who was to be denied treatment because her insurance didn’t cover out patient chemotherapy.

I’m still processing all that I’ve seen and heard and one day it may all make sense. But right now, what I do know is that we need to still keep working to figure this cancer thing out. Because for every 2 cancer survivors I spoke to, there was 1 woman I couldn’t because she is no longer here.

I’d like to thank all the people who shared their stories with me. It has been an honor and a privilege that I will never forget. Each one of you is amazing in your own unique way. I carried your stories with me during this entire journey - often passing on something I learned from one of you to another survivor I met further along my way. I know I will continue to think of you often and will always be wishing you good health.

I’d like to thank all the medical professionals for taking time from their busy day to show me their cancer centers, answer my questions and see first hand how the Key to the Cure funds are being put to use. I’d like to thank all the Saks employees here in New York City and those that greeted me in each market and connected me to the most amazing women. I also thank all those at Mercedes Benz for making my roadtrip one of utmost comfort. I’d like to thank my boss, Tim Tompkins, President of the Times Square Alliance, for giving me a leave to take this incredible journey, and the rest of the employees at the Alliance who did my job while I was out. I’d like to thank my father, Lou Raimondo, for taking the family on all those road trips when I was a kid and his continuous positive support for whatever I choose to do. Also thank you to Bill Richmond for his never wavering belief in me during this entire journey.  And I’d like to thank all the people who took time to read these stories and share your comments on this blog.