JANUARY
2005
Volume 29 •
No. 1
Medical
Staff Update Cover Story:
LemonAide
offers amenities to improve
lives of patients - and their caregivers
Jane Huang, a hematology and oncology fellow, sometimes shares her patients' happiness when she tells them about remission and cure - "but all too often I have to have difficult conversations about their disease and progress."
But Huang and several physician and other colleagues have found a way to temper the difficult moments for themselves and more particularly their patients with LemonAide - a 2-year-old nonprofit group based at Stanford's Cancer Center that grants one or two patient "wishes" each month.
Recent gifts to cancer patients have included a new laptop computer for an 18-year-old homebound girl, dinner for two as a special night out before chemotherapy, trips to Marine World, and airline tickets for family members to reunite with a Stanford patient. Sometimes the one-time gift is practical - a wheelchair, for example.
LemonAide is run entirely by volunteers associated - directly or indirectly - with the Cancer Center.
Huang noted that the gifts, even if modest in scope, can be significant both for terminally ill patients and for patients who are "rock bottom" but able to rally strength enroute to a remission or cure.
Huang said the gifts are motivational for the physicians and nurses. She recalled a 22-year-old patient LemonAide helped to reunite with a family from Wisconsin.
"Knowing that we brought them all together while she was in the hospital touched me in ways I never thought possible; seeing her with her family has motivated me to work harder to figure out new ways to treat her cancer and to help find cures for leukemia - and reminds me why I wanted to be a physician."
In early 2003, LemonAide sponsored a fundraising golf tournament with San Francisco Giants' star Barry Bonds.
"Miraculously, some of my sickest patients were able to feel well enough that day to play; I'm honored to have been part of their lives and to have played a small role in helping them have a little respite from their illness and to provide happiness for their families," said Huang.
LemonAide board members include Huang, president; oncology fellow Alice Fan, MD, CFO/secretary; Allyson Campbell, MD, board member; Traci Fallecker, RN, VP finance; Marie Nguyen, VP Gifts; Vanessa Johnson, fundraising chair; Margreet Fledderus, RN; Dan Brncic, Stanford researcher; Melissa Lewis and Erica Smith.
New board members and other supporters and volunteers are currently being sought. For further information, contact Huang at jane@lemonaide.org or jehuang@stanfordalumni.org. LemonAide's website is: http://www.lemonaide.org
LemonAide offers amenities to improve lives of patients - and their caregivers
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