My Nonprofit Reviews

When I was 7 years old, standing bedside next to my dying mother, I muttered a one final 'I love you" just a few hours before she passed away. She had battled breast cancer for the better part of five years. It was a poignant childhood moment I will never forget. I told myself right then and there I was going to do something to in her memory and support the courageous fight millions of women have participated in since that time. Fast forward more than 30 years later, I found an organization in Atlanta doing incredibly impactful work in the world of breast cancer. It had nothing to do with research or prevention, two critical areas that arguably receive the most awareness when it comes to breast cancer.

TurningPoint Breast Cancer rehabilitation is the only non-profit in America that improves the quality of life for women with breast cancer by providing, promoting and advocating specialized and evidence-based rehabilitation in their journey to feeling better faster and ultimately becoming cancer free. TurningPoint provides a myriad of essential services such as physical therapy, massage therapy, counseling, exercise classes and education programs (for patients and healthcare providers). The collaboration of clinical services provides each woman with hope, support, and education in an atmosphere of wellness. I became familiar with TurningPoint through a friend of mine involved with another non-profit. It was due to my professional background that she asked if I'd be interested in helping TurningPoint get the word out regarding the recent publication of a supplement to the American Cancer Society's Journal Cancer, addressing the importance of exercise and rehabilitation for all women battling breast cancer.

I got more involved with TurningPoint shortly after that point by helping them on more regular basis with communications strategy, and I began serving on their auction committee, finding items for its signature fundraiser the Pink Affair. This fall I was named to the Board.

I've been fortunate to get to know women at TurningPoint whose lives had drastically changed as a result of visiting their clinic and fully leveraging their services. There were memorable stories of a woman who couldn't lift her young child, to a woman who was an avid tennis player outside her work but could no longer play. Those two lives were changed considerably in the aftermath of becoming TurningPoint patients. They were both able to resume those activities that being diagnosed with breast cancer, were second nature.

For more than 13 years TurningPoint has supported more than 3,500 women through the Southeast. One of the most shocking statistics I learned was the fact less than 10 percent of all women diagnosed with breast cancer are recommended by their doctors to incorporate exercise and rehabilitation into their treatments plans. If more only women knew about the game-changing impact participating in related activities would have on their lives, that number would see remarkable growth. Nearly 40 percent of all women who visit TurningPoint's clinic receive some kind of financial assistance, and no woman is ever turned away.