Today we’d like to introduce you to Lindsay Whittemore.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Lindsay. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
This entire journey started with my Aunt Ruth (Cheatham), who was one of the most encouraging and inspiring people I have had the pleasure of knowing. She was a strong, smart, witty role model and was the type of person who gently pushed you to be the best version of yourself. Ruth lost her life to cancer in 2016, after a very long battle with the disease. Ruth was a teacher in Dallas and it was humbling to hear how she touched the lives of so many of her students. After she passed, I wanted to do something in her memory and had decided to volunteer for a charity that served teen cancer patients and survivors.
As I started looking for charities to volunteer with, I was shocked at how difficult it was to find any that worked with the adolescent age group. I quickly learned that teens have the least amount of support for ANY patient population. That absolutely broke my heart and it was something I could not stop thinking about. These are our nation’s kids; this age group has some of the most difficult challenges to face in fighting this disease, how could they have such minimal support?!? I had no experience in the non-profit sector but felt driven to do something. I started researching what type of support programs these teens would need and what steps we could take to make that happen.
I have a wonderful husband who believes in me, even when I doubt myself. He surprised me three months later with the legal documents starting a non-profit organization in Ruth’s name. I was equal parts excited, because I wanted so badly to make a difference for these teens in need, and terrified that we had no experience and would not be able to accomplish what we set out to do.
Once the Ruth Cheatham Foundation was set up, we hit the ground running. We are 100% volunteer-run, so every aspect of this foundation is a labor of love and dedication. We have a dedicated Board of Directors that pours their heart and soul into everything that we do. We have incredible donors that believe in our mission to make the treatment process easier for teens and adolescents. We have already seen what a difference we are making to the youth fighting cancer in DFW, and that is an incredible feeling to know that we are a small part of that.
Has it been a smooth road?
Starting a non-profit organization is anything but easy. In fact, most non-profit organizations fail within the first five years, and not for lack of heart. My background is banking and finance. Prior to starting this foundation, I was an Investment Advisor. It was a steep learning curving teaching myself the legal requirements, the accounting (I have a new, profound respect for the Accounting profession!), fundraising, and even learning the art of social media and how to keep our donor base engaged.
This is easily one of the most challenging things I have done in my life. You can quickly get overwhelmed with all the details required to run a non-profit. I often feel like we are not doing enough, especially when you see how many more teens and young adults that truly need support. I constantly want to do more and help in so many more ways, so it is easy to get discouraged or frustrated that you can’t do it all. But life has a funny way of working itself out. As soon as I start getting that feeling of being physically, mentally or emotionally drained, we have one of the teens that we support send us a note letting us know what a difference we have made in their life, or we have a new program launch and you see the impact it is making on these teens. It is just the reminder that I need that breathes new life and drive into my work and allows me to keep giving 110%.
We’d love to hear more about your organization.
The Ruth Cheatham Foundation provides advocacy, education, financial aid, and most importantly hope to adolescent cancer patients and survivors. We are firm believers that if we can make the education piece easier for these teens, it is something that will serve them now, as they are going through treatment, and for the rest of their life.
Cancer is financially devastating to patients and families. It is not something that anyone can expect or plan for. Often times families exhaust all of their savings within the first year of treatment. The Ruth Cheatham Foundation provides college scholarships for cancer patients and survivors, in order to alleviate some of that financial burden. To date, we have awarded 29 college scholarships to adolescent cancer survivors.
Teens are a unique age group that really struggle with the lack of social interaction when they are in an isolated environment in the hospital setting. To combat that, we have launched an iPad lending program at Children’s Health in Dallas. Patients can use these devices to connect with friends and family, they can complete schoolwork and stay on top of their education, and we have the iPads loaded with apps for meditation, games, cancer research sites, and so much more.
Over the past few years, we have had so many of our scholarship recipients share with us how they had to miss school or be held back a grade because of their lengthy cancer treatment schedule. This year we were so excited to offer a VGo robot that allows students in treatment to attend classes virtually. This robot actually attends class in place of the student, and the patient can control the robot from their hospital room. This allows the patient to talk with their teachers, complete course work, they can even go “sit” with their friends and chat during lunch breaks! This is a huge step in keeping these teens both academically and socially connected. It gives them something to focus on and work towards outside of their diagnosis.
Being a teen is hard enough; the social pressures, the physical and emotional changes, striving for independence and deciding who you are and what you want to become. It is a LOT of pressure. Throw cancer into that mix and these teens suddenly have to deal with their own mortality. They don’t have programs set up to help connect them to others their age that going through similar challenges or help them navigate the various aspects of their life that will be affected, aside from the medical treatment plan. Many hospitals are ill-equipped to manage the emotional needs of this age group and can be incredibly isolating for the patient. The ultimate goal of The Ruth Cheatham Foundation is to make the treatment process easier and we are constantly looking for new ways to do that for these teens in need.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Dallas has been a great starting point for our foundation. We have been able to partner with some amazing hospitals that treat adolescent cancer patients and are open to the ideas of how to better accommodate for the needs of this age group.
There is still so much work to be done to offer better support programs for adolescents and young adults battling cancer. In Dallas, we are so close to the hospitals that treat these teens, we have had the opportunity to volunteer and work closely with the kids we serve. This allows us to constantly change and update our programs based on the feedback we are receiving from the teens in treatment. I think it is a unique luxury that only larger cities have, to be able to meet with the patients you support in a regular basis. This set the stage for us to expand to other states and other locations that are in need of more adolescent based programs. In fact, we just announced that our foundation will be expanding to Utah in 2020 to offer teen based programs to their cancer patients. We are using the same strategy and template that has worked so well in serving the Dallas market.
Contact Info:
- Address: 8519 Lakemont Drive
Dallas, TX 75209 - Website: www.ruthcheathamfoundation.org
- Phone: (972)897-3371
- Email: lindsay@ruthcheathamfoundation.org
- Instagram: @trcf_org
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RuthCheathamFoundation/
- Yelp: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jmsk6K48GRE
- Other: https://vimeo.com/360370202
Image Credit:
Sarah Hailey Photography, Paula Kay Photography
Suggest a story: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
