My Breast Cancer Support is excited to announce Ashley Chamberlain as the new Chair of our Board of Directors. My Breast Cancer Support is a 501(c)3 that provides financial and emotional support to local patients diagnosed with breast cancer. Chamberlain has been involved with My Breast Cancer Support since 2016, when she joined the organization to honor her grandmother, who battled breast cancer for six years. After losing her grandmother, Chamberlain made it her mission to raise $20,000 to fight cancer in her Nana’s memory. As she achieved her goal through the American Cancer Society, she realized the need to support local patients and started a non-profit in the Derry area to help families going through hardship. When she contacted Wendy McCoole, My Breast Cancer Support’s then Executive Director, to learn more about our organization’s Hope Chests--it was the start of something magic--and soon Chamberlain became more involved.
My Breast Cancer Support, now led by Executive Director Jennie Halstead, assists local patients at eight cancer centers in the New Hampshire Seacoast and Southern Maine. Stemming from the work of Wendy McCoole in 2005--after McCoole and her mother both faced diagnoses--My Breast Cancer Support has helped thousands of patients since its inception. With four main fundraisers, corporate sponsors, individual donations and additional community support, the organization helps patients cover household and living expenses and offers emotional support to ease their challenges as they go through breast cancer treatment.
As Chamberlain explains, “At My BCS, we work, volunteer, and fundraise to help our local patients in any way that we can, so they can focus on what matters most…getting well. We’ve followed local patients from diagnosis through their 5-year remission dates. We’ve seen local patients succumb to breast cancer. We’ve been told when the cancer has returned. We have team members who have fought and won the battle. While I love this organization, the people who are part of it, and the gratification that comes from helping our local patients, it is my greatest hope that someday this organization won’t have to exist at all. Until that day comes though, we will be here.”
Soon, Ashley Chamberlain became My Breast Cancer Support’s Development Coordinator, and later, after she moved on to become the Executive Assistant to the CEO of Planet Fitness, she joined the My Breast Cancer Support Board. Now at the helm of the organization, Chamberlain explains, “I’m grateful for the My Breast Cancer Support Board of Directors and employees, who are a dynamic, resourceful, powerful, and dedicated group of women that support and inspire me to do and be better every day.”
Anyone wishing to make a donation or become a volunteer should contact Executive Director, Jennie Halstead or Board Chair, Ashley Chamberlain at info@mybreastcancersupport.org or visit www.MyBreastCancerSupport.org. Our next upcoming event is The Fashion Show and Silent Auction on April 18 at the Sheraton Portsmouth Harborside Hotel. Chamberlain’s enthusiasm is matched by the friends of My Breast Cancer Support. “Our volunteers are enthusiastic and devoted to our work, and our donors and sponsors are very generously committed to our mission, both of which are crucial to our success. We can always use more help, and love to add new faces to our team, volunteers, and donor list, so if you’re considering helping, please reach out to us. “
My Breast Cancer Support is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization providing financial and emotional support to breast cancer patients throughout the Greater Seacoast area of New Hampshire and Southern Maine on their individual paths towards wellness. For more information, please visit: http://www.mybreastcancersupport.org.