The Breast Cancer Relief Foundation

“This is a life experience here…an experience I will never forget,” remarked Ted Duggan, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors for The Breast Cancer Relief Foundation (TBCRF), as we made our way out of Hospital San Felipe and walked quietly to our car. We had just spent the morning at this general hospital in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, where we met with patients and received an eye-opening tour from the very jovial Dr. Ivan Pinto, a surgical oncologist at San Felipe.   His great passion for his work was obvious as was his positive attitude, which is simply remarkable given the overcrowded, short-staffed, and undersupplied condition of the hospital.

Honduras is the second poorest country in Central America, and sadly the situation at Hospital San Felipe is not unique. For those without financial means – which is the majority of the population – access to basic medical care is extremely limited and for those with serious illness, they must travel to the public hospital at San Pedro Sula or the capital, Tegucigalpa, where their care is often limited by the facility’s meager resources.

For the past five years, TBCRF has been very active in Honduras, where we have provided tens of millions worth of donated medicines to public hospitals, clinics, and charitable organizations in the country. This trip to Honduras, we came not only to monitor recent donations and assess current unmet needs, but also in response to an invitation to meet with the First Lady and the Minister of Health.

At the presidential palace, we presented First Lady, Rosa Elena de Lobo, and Minister of Health,  Dr. Arturo Bendaña Pinel, with a donation of Tamoxifen and discussed new ways that we might work together to assist women in need in Honduras, including possible future support for a mobile mammogram program that the First Lady and the Minister of Health recently initiated. Minister of Health Bendaña explained to the media the importance of this vital breast cancer medicine, pointing out that breast cancer is the second leading cause of death for women in Honduras.

Though our meeting ended with smiles and hugs, our delegation left not with a feeling of pride for work having been done, but rather with a sense of motivation for new ways to serve women in need.