Bettering the quality of life of cancer patients during and after treatment
The mission of the WVCI Foundation, a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) philanthropic organization, is to improve the quality of life of cancer patients during and after treatment by providing charitable support to Willamette Valley Cancer Institute and Research Center programs.
Helping Hands
Fighting cancer can take everything a patient has. This program ensures that patients never have to choose between paying their bills and getting the treatment they need.
H.E.A.L.T.H. Support
No one should have to face cancer alone. This program addresses quality-of-life issues during treatment by meeting the needs of the whole patient. Participants have access to support groups, counseling, social workers and a dietitian.
Tickets for Joy
Fighting cancer is hard work; every patient deserves a break. Tickets for Joy helps patients create memorable life experiences with loved ones during treatment. This program collects tickets to cultural and sporting events, or services, such as massage and pedicures, and distributes them to cancer patients and their caregivers.
“We Believe” Volunteers (partially operating)
Inspiring moments happen every day at our cancer institute. This program provides funding for a coordinator to oversee the volunteers who are there to support our patients and staff.
Survivor’s Garden (in development)
What’s a better metaphor for hope and life than a garden? Seeds are sown, weeds are removed and eventually beautiful flowers and nourishing, mature vegetables appear. This garden will be a place for patients and survivors to come together, work the soil, plant the rows and watch it grow, bringing life to the cancer center and each other.
Survivorship (in development)
Imagine receiving a cancer diagnosis. Everything you’ve learned about yourself and your priorities, through a lifetime of trial and error, changes in a moment. Our survivorship program helps patients find their “new normal” as they complete treatment. Participants are provided a survivorship plan or instruction book that summarizes their tests, treatments and side effects, as well as appropriate follow up and surveillance guidelines that assist the patient in returning to primary care. The program also addresses post-treatment psychosocial needs and ensures that patients continue to feel supported and realize the best quality of life available to them.
Change lives by contributing to these vital support services.
Stacie Sisk's story has inspired many, including caregivers and co-workers. They share their appreciation for Stacie's example of how we can beat cancer together.
Having lost her husband to cancer, breast cancer survivor Stacie Sisk continues to inspire others by sharing her story and through her work at the American Cancer Society.
A fighter until the very end, Hank Sisk spends his final days at home, enveloped in the love of friends and family. “It was such an honor to be by his side,” says his wife, Stacie.
Like the fictional character portrayed in comic books, Hank Sisk discovers an inner strength that propels him to keep fighting while he prepares his family for what’s to come.
With little time remaining, Hank Sisk’s family and care team rallies to make everything on his “bucket list” happen.
Supported by family and his care team at Willamette Valley Cancer Institute, Hank Sisk defies his cancer, calls for another round of chemotherapy and decides to do what matters most.
After two surgeries and several rounds of chemotherapy, Hank Sisk and his family learn that his cancer is no longer operable and that his time is running out.
After a two-year battle with breast cancer, Stacie Sisk finds herself on the road to recovery while her husband, Hank, takes a turn in the opposite direction as he continues to fight his own cancer.
One of the final steps to reaching a new normal, Stacie Sisk’s breast reconstruction brought her treatment full circle and gave her a new sense of confidence.
Unsure what to expect, Stacie Sisk finds reassurance as she undergoes radiation therapy, one of the final steps in her cancer treatment.
As a patient at Willamette Valley Cancer Institute, you never have to go it alone. As Stacie Sisk will tell you, she and her husband, Hank, had an entire team behind them.
Like parting with a security blanket, it wasn’t easy for Stacie Sisk to lose her hair. But she had a head-shaving party and boldly celebrated her new look.
Learn how family and friends helped Stacie and Hank Sisk through one of the most trying times in their lives as they both underwent treatment for cancer.
With open arms and a sense of purpose, the care team at Willamette Valley Cancer Institute rallied for Stacie Sisk and her husband as they battled their cancers together.
Stacie Sisk gained a new understanding when she went from caregiver to patient after being diagnosed with breast cancer, while her husband continued to fight his own cancer.
Unsure what to expect, Stacie Sisk considered all her options before choosing a lumpectomy to remove the cancer growing inside her breast.
Diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, Hank Sisk's positivity and determination helped him defy the odds for seven years. Learn how his glass-half-full attitude inspired many, including his wife Stacie. Follow their story with a new chapter each Tuesday at BelieveInstitute.com.
Receiving a cancer diagnosis can knock anyone down. But for Stacie Sisk, who was diagnosed with breast cancer at 36, it was like a one-two punch. Her husband, Hank, was also fighting cancer. Follow their story with a new chapter each Tuesday at BelieveInstitute.com.
Supported by friends, family and their care team at Willamette Valley Cancer Institute, Stacie and Hank Sisk battled their cancers together, every step of the way. Follow their story with a new chapter each Tuesday at BelieveInstitute.com
