Twelve years ago, we incorporated a non-profit, Unite for HER, with the hopes of educating and providing integrative care for those diagnosed with breast cancer, healing them to become empowered, educated, and restored, whatever that looked like, during a very dark and difficult time.
We started with 24 women at Paoli hospital, where I was diagnosed and treated. I remember that day as if it was yesterday; there were no paid employees, but a great deal of passionate board members and volunteers supporting my vision of an outreach program.
Supported by a community of volunteers, donors, and partners, we grew steadily over the years and embarked on a three-year strategic plan in 2019 to grow in new markets.
As the world shut down in 2020, we worked hard to reinvent our delivery model to safely provide integrative therapies to patients at home. Cancer didn’t stop during the pandemic, and pausing our programming was not an option. The past 12 months have been filled with growth and change at Unite for HER, allowing us to impact new regions and underserved communities, including patients in 37 new states.
We leaned in, and YOU held us up high!
12 years later, despite changes, expansion, evolution, and a global pandemic, our mission to bring integrative care to those in need remains the same. We now support those with breast cancer and ovarian cancers, female or male, nationwide. Overall, we serve over 2,200 patients each year, and provide lifelong care for those living with metastatic breast cancer.
Our national expansion is now the sequel to our founding story, and I could not be more grateful for the loving community of volunteers, staff, and board that surrounds Unite for HER. I know that we hold the same guiding principles that founded Unite for HER–compassion, community, empowerment, inclusion, and trust–close to our hearts. Keeping our eyes fixed on the community we serve, there is nothing we cannot do together.
So, Happy Birthday, Unite for HER. She is 12 today and HER story keeps evolving.
We are grateful to have you with us by HER side,
Sue Weldon
Founder and CEO
