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SPECIAL FEATURE
Gifting Hope:
SUSAN BERTRAND HELPS PATIENTS PERSEVERE Jason Klaiber
W
henever someone innocently calls her Maureen by mistake, Susan Bertrand doesn’t mind in the slightest. In fact, she actually quite enjoys hearing the name of her younger sister spoken aloud these days, viewing each utterance as a mini continuation of her legacy. It was shortly before the start of summer in 2001 and soon after the discovery that she was pregnant for the first time that Maureen Humphrey was unexpectedly diagnosed with clear-cell adenocarcinoma, a type of cervical cancer. Later that same month, she underwent a radical hysterectomy involving the removal of 28 lymph nodes, knowing by then that she would no longer be able to either carry her yet-to-be-born child or ever conceive again. Still, her hope never dwindled. Within the year, Maureen began looking into adoption with her husband Shawn and she even found herself able to return to work as a human resource coordinator for the C&S Companies in Syracuse. By the beginning of 2002 though, concerns resurfaced when she began to feel an ache in her lower back. As her oncologist’s MRI machine would reveal, that dull, worsening pain was the result of a tumor. Rounds of chemotherapy and radiation ensued at New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, but her family members never left her side, remaining as positive as possible at her urging.
A fundraising raffle held to pay for her medical expenses ended up bringing in about $25,000, but before the scheduled prize drawing and the awarding of that collected money, Maureen died in January 2003 at the age of 31. A portion of the funds went instead toward the building of a playground at the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central New York, and the rest was used as seed money for Maureen’s Hope Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that Susan started in her sister’s honor in 2004. “When you are going through difficult times and grief, the best thing you can do is give some purpose to your pain,” Bertrand said. At first, she and a group of volunteers were mainly delivering individualized gift baskets to area patients of all ages who had been battling cancer. These packages would often contain water bottles, blankets, lip balm and lotions for post-radiation moisturizing. If a patient loved fishing, for example, angling magazines would be included. “Sometimes they just need to know that there are people who care about them,” Bertrand said. “The focus is truly on the little things that we can do to help bring them comfort and joy.” While running the foundation out of her basement and still coping with her sister’s death, Bertrand decided to turn to cycling as a continual outlet. Continued on page 14
Maureen’s Hope Foundation was founded by Susan Bertrand in 2004 to provide support on an emotional level to various hospital patients.
OC TOBER 2021
SU RVIVORS EDITION
