4Amanda.org Provides Emergency Financial Aid to Cancer Patients

The financial challenges that accompany a cancer diagnosis are often as crippling as the disease, and patients need help. That’s why we do what we do!

ROANOKE, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES, April 9, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ — In the spring of 2021, Amanda Pagans-Hubbard was diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer. Amanda fought hard but lost her fight on January 30, 2022.

4Amanda.org, an IRS was formed by Amanda and her husband before her passing. From Amanda’s first chemotherapy infusion visit, she was disturbed by what has become known as “financial toxicity” in cancer care. Financial toxicity was first used to define how cancer patients are affected by treatment-related financial harm. Today, it broadly defines the financial struggles of a cancer patient and their family.

Amanda noticed families sleeping in their vehicles the night before their infusions, she heard stories of housing challenges and evictions, cancer patients refusing critical treatments not covered under their insurance, and food insecurity. This did not sit well with her.

“A cancer diagnosis is one of the most devastating life events that patients and their families face. The financial challenges that coincide with treatment are often as crippling as the disease. The cost of cancer impacts nearly every financial decision from the moment of diagnosis. Where to live, what to drive, what to eat and drink, utilities, education and childcare, holidays, and so much more,” wrote Amanda in 4Amanda.org’s first publishing.

Today, 4Amanda.org is stewarded by Amanda’s husband, Dan Hubbard. Dan engages with cancer patients, oncologists, social workers, and nonprofit partners to provide financial aid to patients and their families 7 days a week.

“Most of the patients we speak with first submit an application on our website at 4Amanda.org. We get to every one of them as quickly as we can, but always within 24 hours,” said Dan while describing his day.

When it comes to the need, “housing is about half of our monthly programming, 25 percent pays for insurance co-pays and purchasing things like immunotherapies, about 15 percent covers transpiration and hotel stays for treatment, and about 10 percent covers nutrition needs,” he said.

When asked what challenges 4Amand.org faces, Dan said “Money is always the challenge. I spend most of my day thinking if 250 people donate 100 dollars each, I can pay for 10 genetic tests and pay for a full round of immunotherapy for most cancer patients. And I know their insurance isn’t going to help much, if at all. Or, if we get another 70 dollars, I can pay for a hotel room for a patient traveling to infusion, send a digital gas card, or pay for an attorney to help get a patient out of a high-cost lease and into something more affordable. It’s a long list.”

Recent claims of an uptick in charitable contributions are misleading. In truth, the donor base is shrinking, with individual small donors decreasing by nearly 25% over the past three years. Meanwhile, philanthropy is consolidating among a handful of ultra-rich mega-donors, often driven by the personal interests of CEOs rather than broader social needs.

When asked to comment Dan said, “Well, the economy certainly hasn’t helped, but I think it’s also trust. There are so many nonprofits that have virtually the same website providing the same information for awareness, but no money is making it to a person. I feel good knowing that every dollar donated to 4Amanda gets to a cancer patient.”

4Amanda.org is what is known as a $1-in-1$-out nonprofit, meaning that every dollar donated goes directly to a patient or their family. No one serving in 4Amanda.org, including Dan, draws a salary, all of their technology expenses are provided to them by grant, and they pay nothing for marketing or advertising. “That’s really where the trust factor comes in,” added Dan.

So what is 4Amanda.org doing to reach individual donors? “Well, we are trying to think a bit outside the box. Sponsoring podcasts, and blogs, and using influencers is something we just started. And we are so happing to have corporate funding to cover this effort. This makes sense to us because cancer and financial toxicity are so easy for every to understand. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the U.S., and we can all relate to financial challenges. People in need relate to so many causes that people feel close to as well. Most of our patients are both women and mothers, but also people of color. The number of young women that we are speaking to is growing rapidly, and we know that cancer is particularly brutal on young patients in terms of symptoms and outcomes. Most of our monthly programming deals with housing, and about 10 percent deals with nutrition. And about 30 percent goes to cover treatment for those who otherwise could not afford it. There’s a cause for everyone in what we do, and that should allow those we sponsor to easily speak on it,” said Dan.

Dan added, “We are also beginning to offer some gifts to those that donate — something a bit new for us, and thankfully covered under the same funding. Coffee Helping Cancer Patients is what we are calling it. We were fortunate to find a roast-on-demand provider that has some single-origin specialty coffee that is custom printing the bags, and another that is customizing some tumblers for us. The customization is the really cool part because the donor can add the name of a cancer patient that they are fighting for, or that they fought for but lost.”

If you support what 4Amanda.org is doing, and if you have room in your family or corporate budget, please consider donating to help cancer patients and their families. 4Amanda is an IRS tax-exempt public charity (EIN 874778431), and your charitable giving is tax deductible.

Dan Hubbard
4Amanda.org
[email protected]
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