Me Fine Foundation helps families in crisis

By Randy Capps

A couple of words from a two year old battling AML Leukemia and his mother’s desire to ease the burden of families facing the same challenges led to the start of the Me Fine Foundation.

“Me Fine!” was Folden Lee IV’s response when anyone asked him how he was doing during his treatments, and his mother, Lori Lee, started the foundation in honor of her son’s memory in September 2004.

Me Fine has touched countless lives since then, earning it the 2020 Johnston Now Honors award for Nonprofit of the Year.

“She would meet a lot of different families that were going through their own different medical crises,” Joey Powell, Executive Director of the Me Fine Foundation, said. “The thing about leukemia is, if you get a bone marrow transplant, like a lot of invasive pediatric conditions, your treatment requires you to be inpatient at a hospital for an extended period of time. Most of the time, for a pediatric bone marrow transplant, you’re looking at between six and nine months. Folden went through that a couple of times. But while you’re in these units, you’re meeting families and you’re living beside them. Because you can’t have a child in a pediatric isolated unit without a parent having to be there all the time. So, you’re looking at families who are giving up everything because they’ve got to get their kid well.

“She just felt like that’s not OK. Like hearing about a family losing their house because they can’t afford to make their payments. Because their kid is sick? In what world is that just?”

While the reach and scope of Me Fine has grown beyond its roots in Princeton, the basic mission is the same.

“We’ve evolved tremendously over our 16 years, but it started with her wanting to make sure families weren’t getting kicked out of their houses. We’re still responding to what families need. We still help pay bills. That’s primarily our focus now, to help families pay for the cost of being treated.

“There are two ways to look at a child’s medical crisis: There’s a cost of treatment. That’s your medical bill, doctors, treatments whatever. Then, there’s the cost of being treated. That’s everything else that changes and amasses because your child is sick, or because your child is dealing with a major trauma. And we pay those life expenses so families can try to maintain some focus and maintain some time with their kid. While the diagnosis is the great equalizer, one thing we can do is allow these families a chance to be more present.”

Powell, who became the foundation’s first full-time executive director in 2013, quickly learned first hand about the impact his new employer can have on families.

“I left a meeting with a person, who at that point was the chief of neonatal intensive care unit at UNC, a guy by the name of Dr. Wayne Price,” he said. “I left the meeting thinking, ‘something about that guy really stuck with me.’ ... Fast forward six weeks, and my wife and I were at UNC, going for a gender reveal ultrasound for our second kid. We found out that he would be born with spina bifida, and we’d probably be spending some time in that same NICU. Two days after that, we were in a consult in that same room with Dr. Price, learning about what it was going to be like when our son was in that unit and how we were going to navigate it. In a matter of moments, the work that I did for Me Fine, went from something that I was very passionate about, to something that is very personal to me.”

Of course, the work that Me Fine does would be impossible without the generosity of the public.

“The easiest way is financial,” Powell said, of ways people can give. “Because we’re primarily a check writing organization. Money we get in goes right toward what we’re doing. Mefinefoundation.org, there are plenty of ways to give. The most impactful ways folks can give, if you’re thinking, ‘what can I, one person, do?’ Become a sustainer for our organization.

“Five bucks a week. Twenty bucks a month may be heavy for some people, but that also can make the difference for a family being able to afford parking to stay overnight with their child while they’re sick. Parking is 10 bucks a day. When my kid was sick, we were in the NICU for 59 days. Do the math between two cars for 10 bucks a day, and actually, it’s gone up to 12 now. Just for us to park to see our child.

“Give $5 a week or $20 a month, whatever you feel comfortable with. It makes a real impact. As somebody’s who has walked that road, I can tell you that it means something.”

The Second Hope Shop, on U.S. 70 East in Princeton, is another way people can help fund the organization’s cause. Through donations and sales, the store generates about 20 percent of Me Fine’s annual revenue.

Me Fine also has a virtual fundraiser planned for this month. Comfy for a Cause: A Night at Home with Me Fine on Oct. 16 will feature music, celebrity appearances and a live auction in an effort to meet the foundation’s revenue needs.

To learn more about the Me Fine Foundation, visit www.mefinefoundation.org.