$2 million offered to cancer group
ABCD founded by TV’s Wilson provides support, one-on-one mentoring for patients, their families
It has been eight years since TV news anchor and reporter Melodie Wilson Oldenburg died following a very public battle with breast cancer.
Her legacy lives on through the organization she founded, ABCD — After Breast Cancer Diagnosis — a oneon-one mentoring and support program for breast cancer patients and their families and friends.
Recently, Melodie’s husband, businessman Wayne Oldenburg, thought more could be done. And so did his longtime friend, Keith Mardak, chairman and chief executive of Hal Leonard Corp.
Mardak has offered a $2 million challenge grant to ABCD, the largest single contribution in the organization’s history. He said the grant, to be given over four years if certain metrics are met, is designed to help the organization “get this thing in the next gear.”
Mardak said a matching campaign is good for a nonprofit because “we can get other people to commit to the cause, spread the word and get the community involved.”
The Mardak 2020 Breast Cancer initiative aims to expand peer-topeer support, bolster services and
improve outreach and relationships.
Melodie Wilson Oldenburg was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992 and in 1998 started ABCD with five friends. She died in November 2009.
“We had all the medical opinions. But we didn’t know, ‘What do you tell your kids when mommy’s bald?’ We were at a loss,” said Oldenburg, ABCD board president.
When Melodie Wilson Oldenburg went public with her diagnosis, people began to call her at the TV station.
“The volume picked up more and more,” he said. “She ended up speaking nights or weekends talking to people. There was no way she could meet the demand out there. She decided to retire and started ABCD as a means to take people and match them to other people with the same kind of cancer, same age, same background.”
“She believed strongly in what she was doing,” he said.
The program works through mentors. There are more than 275 mentors, ranging in ages from 28 to 90. The support is provided over the phone, via email and, in some cases, in person.
Around 1,500 people who are touched by breast cancer, including patients, families and friends, are served annually. The goal is to double that figure with the challenge grant.
“If a woman is 47 and single with two kids and in a professional job, we can match her with someone who is exactly like her, who has the same kind of breast cancer,” Oldenburg said.
Deanna Savage, a 49-year-old breast cancer survivor and U.S. Air Force veteran who works for a wine and spirits distribution company, is a fierce proponent for ABCD. She has been with the program as both a patient and a mentor.
“There are people in all stages who need assistance,” Savage said.
She first called ABCD when she was scheduled for surgery and became anxious about the procedure. Through ABCD, she was linked up with someone who had gone through the same procedure and who had the same outgoing personality.
Her mentor was there for advice, reassurance and ultimately friendship, Savage said.
Savage said she is now paying it forward as a mentor. Over the past 18 months, she said she has helped three women cope with their concerns about breast cancer.
“It really is just an act of giving,” she said. “I wanted to become a mentor because I felt ABCD made such a difference for me. The more open I am with my experience, the more I can help other people through theirs.”