BRUNSWICK, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- Chemotherapy and Radiation treatments are difficult enough for cancer patients to go through, add in the fact that those can cost a lot of money and you have a whole new world of stress.
The Dean Snell Cancer Foundation was formed to help patients with the financial stress of treatments at New England Cancer Specialists in Brunswick. Dean Snell passed away in 2009 six weeks after doctors told him that esophageal cancer was back a second time. His wife, Sharon Snell, and six kids started thinking of a way that they could help others in his memory. Forming the foundation to pay for any expenses patients need help with.
"Over 300 patients and to date since December of 2009 we have given out over $360,000 in direct patient aid," said Snell.
One of those patients is Kerry Collins who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. The foundation helped pay for her groceries and transportation costs for treatments. She had to make trips to her local oncologist, as well as to Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, but her saving grace has always been a foundation just a few miles from home.
"An incredible feeling when you have people on your side," said Collins. "Especially people that don't even know you."
The next fundraiser for the Dean Snell Cancer Foundation will be their 8th annual Gulf Tournament on May 20th at the Brunswick Gulf Club. Registration starts at 8 am.