Video: Help Fund A Cure!
The Driving Miss Darby Foundation
Help support the Driving Miss Darby Foundation by participating in the 2nd Annual Driving Miss Darby Golf Tournament and Celebration on Saturday, May 8th at the Emerald Greens Golf & Country Club. Funds raised for Driving Miss Darby Foundation, Inc. help breast cancer research and patients enrolled in clinical trials. Click here to learn more!
About the Driving Miss Darby Foundation
Pamela Bissett has been in remission from breast cancer since 1994. The disease and its emotional toll could not be put behind her, as daughter Darby Steadman was diagnosed with the same form of breast cancer a decade later, in 2004. In a surreal role reversal, Bissett found herself supporting her daughter through the same treatment and recovery she endured. "It was like déjà vu," Bissett said. Within three years, her daughter's prognosis went from a 1% chance of recurrence to Stage IV metastatic breast cancer. The family received the news in October 2007 as they were on their way to Disney World.
Bissett was behind the wheel and remembers the moment as if it were yesterday. "I was driving I-4, and squeezing the steering wheel so tight my hands hurt, my throat was constricted, my heart was racing. I felt that overwhelming pain all over again."
Bissett gave her daughter the courage to join an intensive 8-month breast cancer clinical research trial, led by Dr. Leisha Emens out of Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland.
"My mother handled her breast cancer treatment so gracefully, it gave me the strength to face anything," Steadman said.
During the clinical trial, Bissett moved in with her daughter, became a nanny to grandchildren, ages 6 and 8, and drove her daughter to appointments weekly, sometimes daily, so doctors could monitor the effectiveness of the trial medication.
Both Bissett and Steadman realized that with such intensive schedules, it must have been difficult for others to participate in the trial. They began to reach out to other patients, learning their stories. They found that patients assumed great financial burdens traveling to and staying at Johns Hopkins for their trial commitment - some traveling from across the country at least 24 times during the course of 8 months.
Moved by her mother's tireless efforts, driving her to the many appointments, Steadman created the Driving Miss Darby Foundation, a non-profit organization supporting breast cancer research and patients enrolled in clinical trials. "I wanted to 'pay it forward', to help other trial patients who may not have that same support," Steadman said.
To date, the foundation has raised over $50,000, sponsored three breast cancer trial patients, and donated $25,000 to Dr. Leisha Emens' breast cancer vaccine trial at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.
Uncertain of what the future holds, mother and daughter, Bissett and Steadman have committed themselves to helping breast cancer patients join clinical trials, so that someday their daughters and granddaughters will not have their lives cut short by this disease.
Click here to read more of Darby's story!
About the Driving Miss Darby Foundation
Pamela Bissett has been in remission from breast cancer since 1994. The disease and its emotional toll could not be put behind her, as daughter Darby Steadman was diagnosed with the same form of breast cancer a decade later, in 2004. In a surreal role reversal, Bissett found herself supporting her daughter through the same treatment and recovery she endured. "It was like déjà vu," Bissett said. Within three years, her daughter's prognosis went from a 1% chance of recurrence to Stage IV metastatic breast cancer. The family received the news in October 2007 as they were on their way to Disney World.
Bissett was behind the wheel and remembers the moment as if it were yesterday. "I was driving I-4, and squeezing the steering wheel so tight my hands hurt, my throat was constricted, my heart was racing. I felt that overwhelming pain all over again."
Bissett gave her daughter the courage to join an intensive 8-month breast cancer clinical research trial, led by Dr. Leisha Emens out of Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland.
"My mother handled her breast cancer treatment so gracefully, it gave me the strength to face anything," Steadman said.
During the clinical trial, Bissett moved in with her daughter, became a nanny to grandchildren, ages 6 and 8, and drove her daughter to appointments weekly, sometimes daily, so doctors could monitor the effectiveness of the trial medication.
Both Bissett and Steadman realized that with such intensive schedules, it must have been difficult for others to participate in the trial. They began to reach out to other patients, learning their stories. They found that patients assumed great financial burdens traveling to and staying at Johns Hopkins for their trial commitment - some traveling from across the country at least 24 times during the course of 8 months.
Moved by her mother's tireless efforts, driving her to the many appointments, Steadman created the Driving Miss Darby Foundation, a non-profit organization supporting breast cancer research and patients enrolled in clinical trials. "I wanted to 'pay it forward', to help other trial patients who may not have that same support," Steadman said.
To date, the foundation has raised over $50,000, sponsored three breast cancer trial patients, and donated $25,000 to Dr. Leisha Emens' breast cancer vaccine trial at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.
Uncertain of what the future holds, mother and daughter, Bissett and Steadman have committed themselves to helping breast cancer patients join clinical trials, so that someday their daughters and granddaughters will not have their lives cut short by this disease.
Click here to read more of Darby's story!