Wondering why we are still looking for a #Cure

There are very few periods of the year I flat out hate, but the month of October is one of them. Considering October is when the Florida summer begins to dissipate it should be my favorite time of the year. As a cancer patient I should love the month of October because it is dedicated to raising awareness and money for breast cancer; just think pink because it is everywhere you look. However, I hate October because it’s 31 days dedicated to medical fraud.

Here’s some information the Tampa Bay Times provided based on 2014 tax filing to compile its list of America’s 50 worst charities. I’d like to thank the Tampa Bay Times for doing the heavy lifting. In recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month I extracted and complied the cancer related charity information from this list. 8 cancer specific charities were listed having raised $299.6 million. Those 8 charities paid their solicitors a grand total of $215.6 million, or 71.96% of the money hard working men and women like you and I donated.

Charity
Raised
Solicitors
Spent on Direct Cash Aid


Cancer Fund of America
86.8
75.4
1.0%


Breast Cancer Relief Foundation
63.9
44.8
2.2%


Children’s Cancer Fund of America
43.7
34.4
4.6%


Children’s Cancer Recovery Foundation
38.5
28.9
0.7%


National Cancer Coalition
42.1
16.4
1.3%


United Breast Cancer Foundation
12.7
7.2
6.3%


Children’s Leukemia Research Association
9.8
6.8
11.1%


Hope Cancer Fund
2.1
1.7
0.5%


$ in Millions
299.6
215.6



% Paid to Solicitors
71.96

 

Charities like these will do or say whatever it takes to justify these numbers, but the God’s honest truth is that cancer is nothing more than a payday to them. How can they justify these numbers when organizations like the Ronald McDonald House spend between 60 and 65% of money raised directly on those people that the money is intended for. To be perfectly frank if 51% of the cash that is raised is not spent directly on the people that it’s raised for you shouldn’t even be permitted to be classified as non profit or a charity.

Looking at these numbers you should first be disgusted, but shortly thereafter you should be asking questions. Is it really surprising that we have yet to find a cure to cancer? Why are holistic approaches to cancer treatment so vigorously attacked by the mainstream? Is it because holistic approaches are quackery like the establishment would have us believe, or is it because they represent the greatest threat to a cash cow that profits, in the billions annually, on the death and misery of millions of people globally?

The sad part is that this is just a snap shot of philanthropic organizations that are really supposed to care about patients; this isn’t an all encompassing list. This doesn’t take into consideration the billions of dollars that pharmaceutical companies make off of chemotherapy because the FDA as well as other government and industry regulators vehemently protect the holy trinity of Chemotherapy, Radiation and Surgery.

As a cancer patient I try to vote with my dollars, and if we truly want to find a cure to cancer, or effect any change in society it requires that more people wake up to this notion. If you genuinely want to find a cure then I challenge you to vote with your wallet. If you want to find a cure I challenge you, for the month of October, to refuse to give one single red cent to any company that supports a cancer philanthropy that gives less than 51% of their funds raised directly to those for whom the money is intended to support. I challenge you to stop donating, entirely, to charities that give less than 51% of raised funds directly to those for whom the money is intended, indefinitely. Those are tough things to do because it requires you and I to due some due diligence and research before we support. However, if we don’t vote with our dollars we’re telling organizations that it’s okay; we don’t care if you never find a cure, or continue to profit off of the misery of others. If we aren’t willing to vote with our dollars we can no longer ask why haven’t we found a cure. Cancer is big business and until we make it perfectly clear that finding a cure is a non profit business we will never find a cure.

 

 © Christopher L. Hedges and AverageJoesStory.com, 2015. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Christopher L. Hedges and AverageJoesStory.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.