Joe’s EOY Chemo Backpack Update
A few months after I received the news that I was NED (No Evidence of Disease) from stage 3 colon cancer, my wife looked at me and said something that stopped me in my tracks: cancer had stolen my passion for life. She told me I didn’t seem excited about anything anymore. Coming from the one person who had always stirred my passions, I knew I needed to listen.
Early on during my cancer treatments, I came home from a long day at the cancer center to find a package on the counter. It was sent by someone I had never met, simply to encourage me. Inside was a care package with a few essential items to help me in my battle with cancer. One item, a coffee mug, remains part of my daily life even now. That simple act of kindness stuck with me.
While I was in treatment, I joined several cancer support groups on Facebook. As I connected with others battling the same disease, I felt a pull to pay it forward. I told my wife I wanted to send care packages to some of the people I had met online. She fully supported me, and together we found a way to make it happen. That first year, we sent out 100 care packages.
One of those packages went to Trevor Maxwell, the founder of Man Up to Cancer. At the time, Trevor was building the platform and looking for ways to support and encourage men in the growing community. Meanwhile, my wife and I were struggling financially to sustain our care package efforts on our own. Trevor suggested we work together to develop a Chemo Care Backpack program for Man Up to Cancer. With his support, we secured corporate sponsorships, and in March 2022, we launched the program and sent out our first care packages.
Since then, we have sent around 1,000 care packages to men battling various forms of cancer. Earlier this year, Trevor and I spent a day meeting with executives, researchers, and staff from the companies sponsoring the program. We are deeply grateful to our industry partners, Bayer and Guardant Health, for their generous support. Together, they helped us fill 250 Chemo Care Backpacks this year, part of the 400 we sent to members of our community who requested them.
I had the honor of personally delivering 40 of these backpacks to two oncology clinics in Anderson, South Carolina. These backpacks were purchased in memory of Brent Call by his widow, Valerie. Valerie and I shared our cancer stories with the staff and patients at the clinics, keeping Brent’s memory alive. Brent was one of the first men I connected with after my diagnosis and one of the original members of The Howling Place Facebook group Trevor started in December 2019.
Trevor and I also delivered a dozen backpacks to another sponsor, New England Cancer Specialists, during a visit to Maine earlier this year. While we were there, we handed out a few backpacks to men receiving treatment at the center that day. Seeing the immediate impact of these care packages on the recipients continues to inspire us.
In 2025, we hope to send out more than 500 Chemo Care Backpacks to members of our community. Many of the men who received them this year expressed the same encouragement and hope that I felt six years ago when I received a similar care package.
Every day, I’m grateful to my wife for helping me rediscover my passion for life after cancer and to Trevor for being a steadfast friend and partner in this important work. Together, we continue to support and uplift our community, one care package at a time.