When Helen Wright, 65, was diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer last October she had no local support network. Helen had just moved back to her hometown of Elkton, Md., one year before, after living in Modesto, Calif., for 58 years. “Being here and not knowing anybody, not having anybody to go with me to treatments—it was very scary and frightening,” Helen says.
As a retired home healthcare worker, Helen lives on a fixed income and couldn’t afford to fly her daughter from California to Maryland to help with her treatment. Helen shared her concerns with Susan DeWitt, her nurse navigator at Union Hospital in Elkton. As a nurse coordinator at one of The Red Devils’ 40 partner hospitals in Maryland, Susan arranged for the Devils to pay for a round-trip ticket to fly out Helen’s daughter to help with her treatment and recovery.
“If it hadn’t been for [The Red Devils] I don’t know what I would have done,” Helen says. Helen’s daughter, Sherry Trimble, arrived in early February to assist with her mother’s recovery after she underwent two lumpectomies. For two months, Sherry cooked, cleaned, and drove Helen to her daily appointments.
“Having [my daughter] here has really helped,” Helen says. “I’m really pleased that there was somebody around who did this type of thing. It’s really been a blessing.”
