Newswise — The Nancy Floyd Haworth Foundation announced that it has donated to four New Mexico organizations to support women battling breast cancer. The foundation was started in 1990 to help women in New Mexico diagnosed with breast cancer and to help their families. After 25 years of bringing sweeping social change and scientific advances to New Mexico, the foundation dissolved December 31, 2015. Its work will continue through the Anita Salas Memorial Fund, Comadre à Comadre program, YWCA New Mexico and the New Mexico Cancer Care Alliance.
Each of the four New Mexico organizations work directly with women diagnosed with breast cancer to help them and their families through their cancer journey. The NMCCA is a partnership between community hospitals, physicians and The University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center and brings clinical trials access to all New Mexicans in their own communities. The NMCCA will use these funds to expand its educational mission, in a manner that honors the legacy of the NFHF. The Anita Salas Fund helps moderate to low income men and women receive breast cancer treatment and related support. The Comadre program is devoted to serving Hispanic/Latina women and their families through advocacy, education, information, resources, and support related to breast health and breast cancer. And the YWCA provides necessary breast cancer prevention services, screening and education to women in New Mexico through its Women’s Health Equity program.
The Nancy Floyd Haworth Foundation was founded by Mary Floyd and her husband Vaun Floyd, MD, to honor their daughter. Nancy Floyd Haworth died at age 42, after a two-year battle against breast cancer. She left her husband and three young children. At that time the internet did not exist, few newspapers would print the words “breast” or “cancer,” and few if any of the 55 libraries in New Mexico contained information about the disease.
In its 25-year history, the foundation organized hundreds of volunteers and raised thousands of dollars through its annual fundraiser luncheon and smaller events. It awarded the money through several grants to New Mexico organizations, keeping the funds in state. One program brought breast cancer information in English and in Spanish to 55 New Mexico libraries. Mobile Mammography programs brought breast screening and education to women in rural areas. And many support programs brought social, emotional, financial and physical help and education to women undergoing treatment. The foundation also created a community of survivors who supported the foundation and various programs and who advocated for breast cancer research and awareness.
As a result, a New Mexican woman diagnosed with breast cancer today faces a very different experience from the one Nancy Floyd Haworth faced. “That’s the reason [Mary] and Dr. Floyd wanted to make a difference,” says Debbie Dunlap, former President of the Nancy Floyd Haworth Foundation. “The foundation thanks the many volunteers and donors who have made such a difference over the years. And, we thank Mary; she has produced a legacy that will live on for a long time.”
About the OrganizationsThe Nancy Floyd Haworth Foundation donated its remaining funds to four organizations: Anita Salas Memorial Fund, Comadre à Comadre program, YWCA New Mexico and New Mexico Cancer Care Alliance. To learn more about these organizations, please visit:Anita Salas Memorial Fund, http://www.anitasalas.org/Comadre à Comadre Program, http://comadre.unm.edu/YWCA New Mexico, http://ywca-nm.org/New Mexico Cancer Care Alliance, http://nmcca.org/
About the UNM Comprehensive Cancer CenterThe University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center is the Official Cancer Center of New Mexico and the only National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center in a 400-mile radius. One of the premier cancer centers nationwide, the UNM CCC has 128 board-certified oncology physicians, forming New Mexico’s largest cancer care team. It treats about 60 percent of adults and virtually all the children in New Mexico diagnosed with cancer — more than 10,000 people— from every county in the state in more than 135,000 clinic visits each year. Through its partnership with the New Mexico Cancer Care Alliance, an “exemplary national model for cancer health care delivery,” the UNM CCC offers access to more than 160 clinical trials to New Mexicans in every part of the state. Annual research funding of more than $72 million supports the UNM CCC’s 132 cancer scientists. Working with partners at Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories, Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, and New Mexico State University, they have developed new diagnostics and drugs for leukemia, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, liver and pancreatic cancer, brain cancer, and melanoma; garnered 33 new patents and 117 patents pending; and launched 13 new biotechnology companies since 2010. Learn more at cancer.unm.edu.
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