Disadvantaged Families Get Help Coping With Cancer

As a board member of Padres Contra El Cancer--Parents Against Cancer--Michael Velazquez knew he should have been trying harder to raise funds.

The nonprofit group that helps stricken children and their low-income families cope with the disease was on the verge of closing. The administration of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, where Padres is based, had a message for the group’s leaders that went something like this:

You guys don’t seem to be able to raise funds, so you need to think about whether you can continue to provide services.

Padres owed the hospital $70,000, and it had only $20,000 in the bank.

But Velazquez knew that services such as counseling and an annual picnic that brought families with a common problem together were valuable help that Padres’ families desperately needed.

So, with a new resolve, Velazquez quit his job in the sales and marketing department of HBO and started working pro bono on fund-raising for Padres.

That was two years ago. These days, things are a little brighter in the small office at the hospital that houses Padres’ two employees: Velazquez--chief executive--and Elvia Barboa, program director.

After a series of successful fund-raisers, Padres Contra El Cancer is now more than $100,000 in the black--and checking the mail daily for a $500,000 state grant that Assemblyman Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) helped secure for the group.

The latest grant “was like living a dream,” Velazquez said.

Since the mid-1980s, Padres has helped hundreds of Los Angeles-area families--mostly poor and Latino--through the emotionally draining and complicated process of cancer treatment.

Padres, which its supporters believe performs unique work, fits in well at Childrens Hospital, where cancer treatment is a trademark. Its overall cancer medical services have long been recognized as models across the country.

This is the home of Dr. Stuart Siegel--a nationally recognized oncologist and cheerful doctor to whom children flock in the cancer ward.

The hospital staff likes to point out that its medical developments have helped raise the national cancer survival rate to more than 70% from the virtual death sentences that children received upon diagnosis a few decades ago.

And over the years, as the survival rate increased, Childrens Hospital was also a leader in developing programs--psychological, social and educational--to help children keep up with life.

For instance, the Ronald McDonald House near the hospital and Camp Ronald McDonald were started by Siegel--also a co-founder of Padres--and his associates.

Padres tries to fill a particular void by providing similar “living with cancer” programs to disadvantaged Latino families. Velazquez says that about 60% of new cancer diagnoses at Childrens Hospital are Latino children.

Many are from working-class, immigrant families. Cancer presents them even greater obstacles, because the parents often lack medical insurance and speak limited English--not to mention the emotional trauma that any family would face.

“It’s tough enough to go through it when you’re affluent,” said Neil Carrey, a Santa Monica attorney and board member of Padres whose 16-year-old son, Chris, died from osteosarcoma. “But when you are fighting many other things, being disadvantaged, it just can destroy the family.”

Two years ago, when the hospital gave Padres the ultimatum, Velazquez could not abandon those families.

Velazquez, who is working on his law degree, was not the only one to work pro bono for a year. Barboa, working on her psychology PhD, also worked for free until finances improved.

While still working for HBO, Velazquez had been attracted to Padres because he saw it as a worthy cause and a good philanthropic outlet for upwardly mobile young Latinos. He tried to raise funds by approaching other similarly situated Latinos. Soon he met people such as Henry Garcia, who had lost a son to leukemia at Childrens Hospital years ago.

Garcia, director of operations for Popular Cash Express, had connections to “Don Francisco,” the stage name of Mario Kreutzberger, host of “Sabado Gigante,” a wildly popular Spanish-language TV variety show.

One of Velazquez’s first successful fund-raising efforts came when Kreutzberger visited L.A. and got other local businessmen to donate $30,000.

But Padres’ biggest boost came after Assemblyman Cedillo and his wife watched a piece about the group on television.

Cedillo’s family had been touched by cancer. And when his wife saw Padres Contra El Cancer on TV, she told him, “You better do something to help them.”

He introduced legislation that would have given Padres $5 million. As the bill went through the legislative process this year, Velazquez’s presentations to legislators in Sacramento were a hit.

“Every time we presented to committees, people were so impressed that they wanted more--’I want those services in San Jose, Fresno,’ ” Cedillo said.

But like other programs that were victims of budget problems exacerbated by the energy crisis, Padres eventually got only $500,000--still a dramatic boost to its budget.

Now, Padres Contra El Cancer is working on a five-year strategic plan to determine how to use its growing resources.

Velazquez credits the generosity of people for bringing Padres back from the brink.

But many involved with the organization say it’s Velazquez’s contagious passion to help children and their families that wouldn’t let Padres die.

“Michael is an extraordinary leader and an inspiration,” said Cedillo. “He’s an amazing young man who inspires me to do more.”