Melodie Wilson Oldenburg introduced on reside tv she had been recognized with breast most cancers in 1992.
In 1992, Emmy award-winning Milwaukee broadcast journalist Melodie Wilson Oldenburg introduced on reside tv she had been recognized with breast most cancers. At a time when most cancers — particularly breast most cancers — was hardly ever mentioned overtly, Melodie selected to make use of her public place to talk out about her private expertise with the illness.
She began to obtain letters and calls from folks she had by no means met. They too had been recognized with breast most cancers and needed to supply hope and steering by sharing their private expertise along with her. Melodie shortly realized the advantages of emotional help however acknowledged an amazing hole in care — too many individuals lacked sources and entry to high quality, customized help.
Leaving her extraordinary profession in 1998, she introduced collectively breast most cancers sufferers, survivors, physicians, clinicians, and caregivers to launch ABCD: After Breast Most cancers Analysis on June 15, 1999, with the founding imaginative and prescient: “Nobody ought to undergo breast most cancers alone.”
Since its founding days, ABCD has all the time been singularly centered on offering FREE, one-to-one emotional help to anybody impacted by the illness. Our signature service is creating a singular match between somebody who wants help and an ABCD Mentor who not solely shares an identical prognosis and therapy plan, but additionally has comparable ages, widespread pursuits, private traits, profession paths, and household dynamics. Nobody else — not a helpline, web site and even caring household and associates — can present custom-made non-clinical emotional help like ABCD can.
How ABCD Gives Free Custom-made Assist
ABCD affords free emotional help companies to empower anybody impacted by a breast most cancers prognosis — folks presently in therapy (“sufferers”), individuals who have accomplished therapy (“survivors”), folks residing with stage IV/metastatic illness (“thrivers”), people who find themselves at excessive danger of creating breast most cancers due to their genetics (“previvors”), in addition to household and associates.
Anybody who wants help can go to ABCDBreastCancerSupport.org, e mail information@abcdmentor.org, or name (800) 977-4121. After you contact us, you’ll hear from one among our Match Specialists who will take the time to get to know you, so we will match you with a Mentor who is aware of what you’re going via.
ABCD Mentors are volunteers who’re previvors, breast most cancers survivors not less than one yr previous finishing their breast most cancers therapy (excluding hormone alternative remedy), residing with MBC, or a pal, household, or care companion of a breast most cancers affected person. Each Mentor is vetted and interviewed by ABCD workers after which participates in complete coaching to learn to present emotional help.
In 25 years, greater than 902 Mentors throughout the US have been skilled and, as a result of all companies are delivered nearly, ABCD has proudly served greater than 110,000 folks from New York to California, Alaska to Florida, Australia to Sweden. ABCD Mentors donated greater than 3,395 hours of emotional help companies in 2024 alone.
Shifting into the following 25 years, demand continues to rise as extra folks than ever are recognized with breast most cancers or reside with MBC. ABCD will all the time be right here — prepared and capable of present hope, compassion and understanding when folks want it most.
Individuals’s lives are turned the other way up and inside out after a breast most cancers prognosis. By the ability of ABCD’s one-to-one help — and the imaginative and prescient of Melodie Wilson Oldenburg — nobody must undergo it alone.
Go to ABCDBreastCancerSupport.org to request a Mentor.
