An answer for every challenge
When Vickie Whitt received her cancer diagnosis — Stage 2 Breast Cancer, Triple Negative — she instinctively hung up the phone.
“They called me right back and asked if we got disconnected. I said, ‘No, I hung up on you.’”
Then she hung up again.
When her Cone Health nurse called back a third time, Vickie said, “I don't have time for cancer. You must have the wrong chart.”
That’s what a cancer diagnosis can do. Make you want to hang up, shut down, run away.
Alight Integrative Care services are critical to helping patients navigate the journey from diagnosis to survivorship. Alight offers financial, educational and emotional support to help patients be present, positive and strong throughout their clinical treatment. Support comes in many forms, from social workers to creative wellness classes to nutritional counseling and much more.
“I would've been lost, upset and angry,” Vickie says. “I didn't know where to start, but Alight gave me a central base and helped me have a good attitude. They provided everything I needed, big or small. How am I going to pay my bills? Who's going to take care of my kid? They helped me answer big questions.”
Throughout her cancer journey, Vickie faced many challenges. Just before she was diagnosed, she had been laid off due to downsizing. She went straight from that news to the diagnosis with little time to process. Ultimately, she made the hard decision to sell her home.
“I didn't have money for bills,” she recalls. “I couldn’t afford a babysitter to watch my son during treatment or while I worked. But Alight had this assistance program, and they told me, ‘Just worry about getting better. Don't worry about your bills.’”
Vickie often called her financial advocate or social worker to get the support she needed. When her son, 10 at the time, needed someone to talk to, Alight was there.
“They even picked him up from school and found a center for him to go to,” Vickie says. “Whatever I needed, all I had to do was ask, and it was provided.”
Support groups became her most significant source of hope.
“I was surrounded by women who had already gone through some of the things I was going through.”
Jill Berry, Alight program assistant, was Vickie’s mentor. “Jill was always there for me,” Vickie says. “At one point, I asked her when I could call myself a survivor. Was it when I finished chemo? She thought back to the days sitting at my bedside, and she told me, ‘Vickie, you’re already a survivor. From Day One and every day forward, you're a survivor.’”
Years later, Vickie now works as an Alight Guide, passing that wisdom to newly diagnosed patients. She’s completed treatment, is cancer-free, and, with the support of all of her Alight cheerleaders, she even earned a college degree.
“You can't do this journey alone,” Vickie says. “People need to know that Alight is one of the best resources available for anyone going through cancer. Donors are doing more than giving for a scholarship or providing financial support. You're restoring a family. You're restoring hope and unity. You’re making cancer patients whole and giving them a reason to keep going.”
