100% of your donation to Ascent on Cancer goes to help a local cancer patient and their family.
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Ascent on Cancer.
$30,000
TARGETED GOAL
Ongoing
2022
Cancer can be a herculean disease to manage and afford. The Ascent on Cancer hike was very challenging physically, yet it’s nothing compared to the daily struggles of a family confronted with cancer. To me the mountain represents the cancer experience. We wanted to put all those Cancer Heroes on our backs and symbolically take them up with us and honor their fight, their survival, their memory, or their work in the field of oncology.”
—Kent Corley, Executive Director, North Bay Cancer Alliance
Ascent on Cancer was the first of a series of extreme hikes undertaken with two goals in mind. The first goal was to raise critical funds for North Bay cancer patients and their families who are living on the margin of health and income. The second was to provide donors the opportunity to submit the names of Cancer Heroes in their lives who were taken symbolically up the mountain.
Kent Corley, North Bay Cancer Alliance (NBCA) Executive Director, reported that, “Everything went to plan. The mountain gave us all we could ask for. It was as challenging as advertised and we chose a spectacular day to put our bodies on the line for cancer patients.” The event took place on November 13, 2021.
Even if cancer isn’t front and center for you right now, it is for someone, and it likely will be for you in the future; so be part of a team, be part of the fight. Let’s all make fighting cancer less difficult for everyone.
—Steve Finch, Ascent on Cancer climber
“I hike a lot,” says Steve Finch, “But what made this climb unique and powerful was the idea that we hiked as a team, and that the dialogue among us was all about cancer and its impact on all our lives. And, more importantly, that we can do something about it to help others. The metaphor of hiking this particular, very challenging trail juxtaposed with the struggle I remember when cancer was in my family, knowing that millions of people are struggling with it today as patients and family members of patients, was an important lesson. Even if cancer isn’t front and center for you right now, it is for someone, and it likely will be for you in the future; so be part of a team, be part of the fight. Let’s all make fighting cancer less difficult for everyone.”
NBCA provides critical financial support to cancer patients and their families in the North Bay regardless where they are being treated or what kind of cancer they have. Patients can use the money for transportation, co-pays, grocery, lodging, or any essential needs they have. Corley observed, “Lengthy applications, financial status verification, and long wait times can discourage applicants or take too long to be effective. NBCA has instead opted for an approach that puts money in the hands of oncology social workers and patient navigators to distribute to patients on-the-spot, at the moment when it is needed.”
NBCA puts money in the hands of oncology social workers and patient navigators to distribute to patients on-the-spot, at the moment when it is needed.
Chemotherapy and radiation are two good examples of why it is so difficult for cancer patients living on the margin of health and income. These treatments require patients to be physically present at an oncology center sometimes every day for two to three weeks straight. That might mean driving from Clearlake to Santa Rosa every day or from Santa Rosa to San Francisco, a 100 mile round trip. That’s expensive even if the patient has insurance and a working vehicle. NBCA financial support helps these patients stay in treatment.
Corporate sponsors and individuals donors are still needed. NBCA is about halfway to its $30,000 goal. The Ascent on Cancer film is now in editing and all donors can still receive recognition in the film for donations made through December 31st. See the film trailer at the top of this page.
When I started here in 2015, I quickly came across a cancer patient that just needed bus money to get home from an appointment. It was mentioned to me to ask Kent at NBCA for a little bit of funds for such things. Almost immediately we were able to set up a system whereby NBCA would help fund the many various needs for our cancer patients. It has truly been a HUGE life saver over these past six years. We have funded bus passes, gas cards, grocery gift cards, lodging during chemo, dental care and funding special wishes for end of life situations. NBCA also funded many pilot programs such as Sound Healing, Rebuild & Renew, and Parking Lot Music Therapy.”
—Sharon Doughty, Patient Navigator, Providence Health
Ascent on Cancer in the news
Kent Corley talks with Winston Gieseke of the Desert Sun about his inspiration and goals for Ascent on Cancer.
The mountain represents the cancer experience," Corley said. "We want to get to the top, and we want to put all those cancer heroes on our backs and take them up with us and honor their fight, their survival, their memory.”
In honor of all gifts, we will read the name of your Cancer Hero on our Ascent on Cancer hike this November as we climb Mt. San Jacinto. Your Cancer Hero can be anyone in your life who has been touched by cancer, it can be a healthcare worker or team who have made a difference in someone’s treatment, or in memory of someone we lost to cancer.
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