Supporting Women with Ovarian Cancer; A South Carolina Foundation

by Larry Puls  @larrypulsauthor

Ovarian Cancer, Patient Support

Today I am going to do something a little different. Normally, this blog is dedicated to telling medical stories (usually about cancer) from both the physician’s vantage point and from the patients’. Hopefully, the tales will be heart felt, often informative, and at times may deal with some complicated subjects (that is life's journey). My sagas will always be sprinkled with a dash of emotion and may even require some kleenex. I will commonly bring to light the personal side of cancer, from the individual stories I have been allowed to watch. But today, I will take a slight detour and pause from my normal conversation in order to relate to you a story about a most inspiring collection of individuals. These people have done a beautiful work, bringing increasing awareness to an often-ignored malignant process, ovarian cancer. This story is being told by me today to bring more “voice to the silence”. 

In 1999, five years after I moved to South Carolina, two separate patients asked if they could meet with me to discuss something other than their cancer treatment. A puzzling request, but one that grabbed my curiosity. At separate meetings, on different days, identical concerns were raised by two very different women. They both voiced their sense of isolation in their long battle with cancer. It seemed to them that there was a total lack of social networking available for women suffering from this malignancy. They simply felt alone. The question that both ladies posed in their respective meetings was centered around what I, we, they, could do about it. Not certain, I told them we should all give it some real thought. Debating the inquiry over the next week, their concerns started resonating inside of me.

What could we do for our beloved state to bring light and support for this issue? A question led to an idea, leading to a dream, which gave birth to an organization—the South Carolina Ovarian Cancer Foundation(SCOCF)—now in its eighteenth year! The foundation’s goals were vetted until the decision was made to base it upon three pillars, patient support, education, and research.

The early years of the dream were met with numerous obstacles, palpable roadblocks, and a lack of funds. But through persistence and the death of one very inspirational woman, a budding leader was born (so to speak), a woman willing to take on the challenge--even while she battled her own terminal cancer. She took the mantel as our first state director. In those early years of shaping the dream, she accomplished so much with so little, driven by an unparalleled passion. A tenacity that almost single handedly gave life-sustaining roots to the Foundation.

Today, nearly a generation later, the SCOCF delivers generously on the patient care side by supporting women in the battle of their lives. They offer “bags of hope” supplying useful items, valuable tools, and information about "events" available to them as they journey down their road. For those needing financial help, they have supplied numerous Walmart gift cards and in some cases, up to a thousand dollars of assistance in unique situations. Volunteers will commonly sit with new patients as they begin their time in chemotherapy. On the ground level, they make available patient “Lunch Bunch” opportunities—gatherings of friends and patients for a time of encouragement and fellowship—so they do not feel so alone. 

On the educational front, speaking engagements are available for women’s groups, health fairs, and various women’s conferences, to educate the community on the signs and symptoms and risks for this complicated malignancy. “Until there is a test, awareness is best.” In the month of September (Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month), the downtown areas of several major cities in this state (including Greenville) will be decked with teal colored fountains, bringing a visual reminder to the world about those suffering from this malignancy.

The final pillar of the organization - research - was launched last year. The first funded project for research in ovarian cancer has now been completed. That project is just months from having all its data finished and, hopefully, will be the first paper to carry the name of the SCOCF as its sponsor.

I personally want to applaud the foundation, all the numerous supporters and tireless workers and volunteers that have brought the foundation to where it is today. On September 28^th, in downtown Greenville, the annual gala called “Handbags for Hope” will be held again. Please consider coming and supporting the silent auction, and the not-so-silent auction. Please come and support these women, who are mothers, sisters, aunts, daughters, grandmothers, as well as vital parts of our community. This year, as every year, a very large handmade ceramic platter engraved with the SCOCF title is on the auction block for the cause, for the silent voice. :)

You may contact the foundation at Hfields@scovariancancer.org or google the South Carolina Ovarian Cancer Foundation. http://www.scovariancancer.org

Thank you to all the volunteers for all you do!!!  God bless you!!!

Write a public comment on this blog if this Foundation has been a blessing to you.

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