Colorado Financial Support Cancer Resource | by
The Denver metro area is full of places and people that bring comfort, compassion and encouragement to someone whose life has been touched by cancer — whether patient, survivor or caregiver. The following is a solid but incomplete list of south metro Denver resources for those affected by cancer. Please contact Peter at peter@solvepublications.com to have a resource added to this directory. For additional resources and recommendations, consult your physicians and care teams.
An organization of police officers and volunteers throughout Colorado that provide emotional and financial support to those affected by cancer.
Provides grants to those who have a cancer diagnosis and have received active cancer treatment of chemotherapy, radiation or surgery in the past month.
Helps those with breast cancer through financial hardship by contributing toward housing, utilities, groceries, transportation, insurance premiums and other basic living expenses.
Sue DiNapoli Ovarian Cancer Society
Provides financial assistance to the women of Southern Colorado with the costs associated with gynecologic cancer diagnoses through the Sue’s Gift Financial Assistance Program.
COPS FIGHTING CANCER
Support And Survival Inspires Police Officer To Motivate Others
When James Seneca was 26 years old, he was diagnosed with leukemia. It was 1987, and he was two weeks into the police academy in Buffalo, New York. Given a 30% chance of survival, Seneca went through six months of “grueling, terrible” chemotherapy, losing around 50 pounds and experiencing severe side effects.
But he pulled through — a fact that he attributes to his family and friends. “That’s what kept me going. Without that, I wouldn’t be here,” he says.
The support Seneca received inspired him, now a senior resource officer with the Aurora Police Department, to start helping families affected by cancer. His work began in 1995, and by 2003, the endeavor evolved into Cops Fighting Cancer (CFC). CFC is an organization of police and civilian volunteers who provide financial support to those fighting cancer.
“I’m an example — the so-called inspiration — and when I go out there that’s what I try to do,” Seneca says, “motivate people to fight, helping them to know that if I can beat my cancer, you can beat it, too.”
CFC has helped its affected families with rent, mortgages, car payments, insurance premiums, food, clothing and other financial obligations through donations from individuals, businesses and funds raised during events it holds throughout the year.
Seneca and a group of 300 to 400 officers in 45 Colorado police departments also provide emotional support, a fact that Seneca stresses is just as important as any monetary assistance.
Seneca says that the group has visited more than 7,000 children and provided donations for hundreds of families. The group meets with both adults and children cancer fighters in hospitals to hand out toys, quilts and honorary police officer titles.
“I can’t control their situation or their future, but if I can just get them through the next day, and let them know some stranger they just met cares about them, it’s just a tremendous, tremendous feeling,” Seneca says. “It’s about hope, support and compassion.”
Seneca says he can be hardcore when his job requires it, but in his heart, he’s a “big mush, when it comes to families and children suffering from cancer, I wear my feelings on my sleeve.”
He calls his work with Cops Fighting Cancer a calling.
“In my heart and soul, I know God put this on my heart a number of years ago to help families and give them hope … It’s been an incredible journey to help even one or 10 families, but when it’s into the thousands, that’s incredible. I just consider myself very blessed and grateful to be able to do what I do.”
To help, text FIGHTCANCER to 44-321 or donate online.
Tags: Colorado Cancer Resource Guide
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