Deloitte Colleagues Raise Over $300,000 in Support of Cancer Commons

Board member Heather Rangel

In 2014, a dedicated team of Deloitte colleagues joined forces to help cancer patients find the best treatment options for optimal outcomes. They made their first gifts to Cancer Commons in memory of Jackie Tran. Ms. Tran was a Deloitte partner who received support from Cancer Commons’ ASK service while navigating her treatment options for ovarian cancer.

Since then, over $300,000 has been raised from more than 200 generous participants. These vital financial contributions flowed through the Deloitte Shine Project and grew with additional support from the Deloitte 114+ Community and Deloitte WIN. Leadership was provided by many key Deloitte angels, including Houston’s Patti Wilke, Dallas’ Pam Downs, Los Angeles’ Gina McLeod, and especially San Jose’s Heather Rangel, who accepted an invitation to join the Cancer Commons Board of Directors last year.

This year, in addition to many other contributions, we want to acknowledge a special donation made in memory of Deloitte staff member Christine Ito. This gift in Ms. Ito’s memory came to Cancer Commons as the result of a Health and Wellness Charity Challenge sponsored by Chicago’s Sarah Cuthill at Deloitte University in January 2017 with support from the Global Employer Services Senior program.

Cancer Commons strives to connect and leverage the world’s best cancer knowledge and resources to help patients, their families and their physicians make informed treatment decisions. We focus on sharing knowledge with patients struggling with cancer with the goal of optimizing the use of currently available drugs that hold the potential to save thousands of lives. We’re transforming the everyday practice of oncology into a global virtual trial by capturing treatment outcomes and continuously validating and refining insights gleaned from patients, leading physicians, and the latest research.

Below are some recent accomplishments that were made possible by contributions from Deloitte employees and other contributors:

  • Cancer Commons piloted a brain cancer initiative to attain a critical mass of data for one cancer type with plans to use it as a model for other types.
  • We developed a treatment decision support app and registry prototype for brain cancer data for searches on data-driven treatment options and treatment histories for similar cases.
  • We established an ongoing collaboration with the Musella Foundation for Brain Research and Information to reach more patients and collect their treatment histories and results.
  • Through Deloitte’s market partnership with Facebook, we initiated talks with Workplace by Facebook as a possible communications platform for our cancer physician network.
  • Our ASK service continues to provide online personalized treatment decision support at no charge. Nearly 2,000 patients and caregivers have received assistance and the numbers grow daily.

Gina McLeod wrote, “… I have referred friends to Cancer Commons for help, and the response has been extraordinary …so reassuring and calming… We all make our contributions every year, but we may not get to see the direct impact our contributions can have. With contributions to Cancer Commons, if you or a loved one are faced with a devastating cancer diagnosis, you will immediately see the impact of your donation.”

In addition, Cincinnati’s Julie Rubidge shared, “Any kind of diagnosis of cancer is traumatizing. But my experience with this organization was beyond expectations. It gave me a resource and self-confidence in my choices.” Julie says that at Cancer Commons, she found vital information and “emotional well-being to know I was on the right path.”

Julie’s cancer journey and the care she’s received from Cancer Commons’ experts from day one to today inspired her to join our community of givers. “The service was so incredible and the information so good, I was inspired to pay it forward,” she says.

Everyone at Cancer Commons is grateful for the generous support that Deloitte employees provide. They supply resources that allow us to help others navigate the challenging path of treatment options. We are grateful to our Deloitte partners in this work on behalf of cancer patients and their families and we look forward to growing this relationship. Thank you!