7/20/2015

For six years, The Home Depot’s Clays for the Cure has raised funds to support research and services for premenopausal breast cancer patients at Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC and the Hillman Cancer Center. This year’s event raised nearly $70,000, bringing Home Depot’s support, in partnership with A Glimmer of Hope Foundation, to over $200,000.

Funds raised at this event, held last week at Seven Springs resort, have continually supported a patient navigator position at Magee. Patient navigators guide young women with breast cancer as they face the complex decision-making their disease requires, helping them understand the physical and financial implications of their treatments, and connecting them with support services including nutrition, yoga and household assistance, should they need them.

“Women with premenopausal breast cancer are diagnosed in the middle of their lives, when they are managing not only their careers and the care of their children, but often caring for their parents as well,” said Diana Napper, founder and president of A Glimmer of Hope Foundation. “Patient navigators are an invaluable source of support for these women.”

“One of Home Depot’s core values is giving back. We feel that our support of A Glimmer of Hope Foundation helps us change the community. In the Ohio Valley, Home Depot has 18,000 associates, many of them young women, so we understand the importance of this research so those diagnosed can continue their daily lives while undergoing treatment,” said Dave Musen, Ohio Valley regional president, The Home Depot.

“I have been directly involved with this event for four years now and am continuously humbled by A Glimmer of Hope and its commitment to breast cancer research and care.”

In addition to the patient navigator position, funds from this event have helped support the launch of a premenopausal breast cancer clinic at Magee, which allows women with complex breast cancers to see all the clinicians they need to see in a single day, instead of returning several times over the course of a week or a month for appointments. The Home Depot and A Glimmer of Hope also have supported a genetic counselor position at Magee as well as laboratory research at the Hillman Cancer Center.

“Over the years, support for premenopausal breast cancer from The Home Depot and A Glimmer of Hope Foundation has been unwavering,” said Judy Herstine, the administrator of the women’s cancer program at Magee. “The services they help us provide truly make a difference in the lives of our patients every day, and the research they support will bring us a greater understanding of the disease we are fighting together.”