Where does the money go?

A question that is frequently asked about Relay For Life is, “Where does the money go?”
The American Cancer So-ciety currently funds research-ers in the state of Iowa with a total of $1,165,000 million. Last year in Iowa the Ameri-can Cancer Society helped more than 400 women man-age appearance-related side effects of treatment and pro-vided more than 1,200 special kits for newly diagnosed pa-tients. The American Cancer Society provided more than 3,700 rides to treatment, more than 15,600 free nights at Hope Lodge, and more than 1,000 free or reduced nights with hotel partners, totaling more than $2,490,000 saved for cancer patients. Patient Navigators helped guide more than 1,000 newly diagnosed cancer patients. The 24/7 helpline handled more than 2,300 calls and live chats from Iowans.
In addition to research, the American Cancer Society has programs and services. These programs are available to help people with cancer and their loved ones understand the disease, manage their lives through treatment and recov-ery, and find the emotional support they need. And best of all, this help is free.
The following are several of the available resources that provide online communities and support:
Cancer Survivors Net-work is an online community by and for people with cancer and their families. One can find and connect with others through the member search, discussion boards, chat rooms and private CSN email.
Springboard Beyond Cancer is an online tool for survivors during and after treatment to help them create personalized Action Decks. These collections of selected information help survivors better communicate with care-givers and their care teams to manage their physical and emotional care after a cancer diagnosis.
Belong is an app that pro-vides people with cancer and their families a unique and innovative personalized solu-tion to help manage cancer. On the app, the American Cancer Society has a forum called American Cancer Socie-ty4U. Belong users are able to read relevant information that connects them to American Cancer Society information and help, along with access-ing Belong’s other wide range of features.
Road To Recovery pro-vides transportation to and from treatment for people who have cancer, but do not have a ride or are unable to drive themselves. Volunteer drivers donate their time and the use of their cars so that patients can receive the life-saving treatments they need.
Hope Lodge is a place where cancer patients and their caregivers can find hope when home is so far away – an American Cancer Society Hope Lodge. Each Hope Lodge offers cancer patients and their caregivers a free place to stay when their best hope for effective treatment may be in another city. Not having to worry about where to stay or how to pay for lodging allows guests to fo-cus on getting well. Hope Lodge provides nurturing home-like environment where guests can retreat to private rooms or connect with others. Every Hope Lodge also offers a variety of resources and in-formation about cancer and how to best fight the disease.
TLC (Tender Loving Care): Hair Loss and Mas-tectomy Products are an American Cancer Society pub-lication. They offer products for women coping with breast cancer or any cancer treatment that causes hair loss as well as advice on how to use these products. Products include wigs, hairpieces, hats, tur-bans, breast forms, mastecto-my bras and mastectomy swimwear. The TLC mission is to make these hard-to-find products affordable and readi-ly available in the privacy of your own home.
Patient navigation is available at many hospitals nationwide, including Mercy North Iowa and Mayo Clinic, help patients get the services they need so the rest of their cancer care team can focus on treatment. Patient navigators can also provide cancer and treatment information custom-ized for each patient’s diagno-sis, help them find local re-sources to make sure they get the treatment they need, and more.
Reach To Recovery has helped people (female and male) cope with their breast cancer experience for more than 45 years. This experience begins when someone is faced with the possibility of a breast cancer experience. This experience begins when someone is faced with the possibility of a breast cancer diagnosis and continues throughout the entire period that breast cancer remains a personal concern.
Look Good Feel Better is a program for both women and men. The Look Good Feel Good program is a free, national public service pro-gram that helps women cancer patients improve their appear-ance and self-image by teach-ing them hands-on beauty techniques to manage the ap-pearance side effects of chem-otherapy and radiation treat-ments. A free self-help bro-chure for men can be ordered through the Look Good Feel Better toll-free number, 1-800-395-2332, or through the local American Cancer Socie-ty. The self-help brochure is for men who are getting chemotherapy or radiation treatment. It gives them in-formation on how to deal with the way treatment and side effects can change the way they look, as well as information that is useful during this challenging time.
Look Good Feel Better For Teens is a unique, free program for teenage cancer patients ages 13-17. It helps them cope with how cancer treatment and side effects can change the way they look. The program addresses the needs of both boys and girl. It includes tips on skin care, hair and makeup, plus infor-mation about nutrition, exer-cise, fitness and teen social issues.
To help understand where the Relay For Life fundraising money goes – and if there is enough interest – a field trip to Iowa City will be arranged. The group will be able to to tour the Russell and Ann Gerdin American Cancer So-ciety Hope Lodge and possi-bly the University of Iowa research facility at the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Cen-ter.
Before any plans are made for the trip, Contact Relay For Life of Franklin County Chair, Sheri Bogue, will need to know if there is any inter-est in this type of experience. It is not necessary to be in-volved in the Relay For Life of Franklin County, as this trip is open to anyone in Franklin County. Contact Sheri Bogue at 641-892-4260 if you are interested in mak-ing the trip to Iowa City.
The American Cancer So-ciety offers support in the community and online to help during and after cancer treat-ment. Visit cancer.org or call 1-800-227-2345 for more in-formation.