Cancer survivor

Martha Lerma, of West Palm Beach, learned of her breast cancer in late 2021.

“I felt a lump in my breast, but I never went to a doctor, because I always had to work and I didn’t have enough money,” she recalled. “One day, I went to my church and told them about it. I was afraid it was going to be too expensive for me. They told me to go to the Caridad Center and that they could help me, because of the Promise Fund.”

Lerma decided to go to the clinic in December 2021.

“When I came to Caridad, the patient navigator ordered a mammogram for me,” she said. “She also handled all the process when it came to going to the oncologist. They told me that, in the past, they weren’t always able to pay for chemotherapy treatment because it’s very expensive. But they told me that now the Promise Fund would pay for it all.”

Lerma received six months of chemotherapy. Then in July, she got three weeks of radiation therapy. After that, the cancer went into remission.

“They did what they promised and now I’m cancer-free,” she said smiling. “If the Promise Fund wasn’t there, I might be dead by now.”