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WILLINGBORO - Lillie Daniels knows what it's like to battle breast cancer and the mounting bills that come with the treatment.

It was her experience as a cancer patient seven years ago at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia that motivated her to start a nonprofit to help others.

Now in its sixth year, the township-based Bread of Life Foundation is lending medical equipment such as wheelchairs, helping people find programs to cover their prescription costs, paying for prescriptions until those programs kick in, and working with a township gynecologist to provide exams to women who cannot afford them.

"I could not do it without the help of my staff, (which) is all volunteers, and my husband, Solomon," Daniels said.

Daniels, who worked at the hospital accompanying patients to their treatments, said she didn't know what those patients were going through until her own diagnosis.

"You really can't relate until you've been in it," she said. "It's rough, but every year when I go for my mammogram or anything goes wrong and I go to my oncologist, I hold my breath."

She is now celebrating her seventh year cancer-free.

Daniels has insurance but still faced more than $7,000 in hospital bills after her surgery and treatment. She was able to fight the insurance company to get an additional $2,500 covered and had other costs waived. But Daniels knows not everyone is as lucky, and that's where Bread of Life steps in.

The organization is funded through an $8,800 grant from Susan G. Komen for the Cure, $2,000 from Walmart, $1,000 from Sam's Club, and the proceeds from its annual fundraiser.

This year's fundraiser is a luncheon Oct. 17 at A Touch of Class by Candlelite on Route 130 in Delran.

Tickets are $30 and can be ordered through Daniels at 609-871-0660 or the foundation's vice president, Edna Scott, at 609-871-3125.

The event will feature speakers Camille Semple-Daly, the gynecologist who works with Bread of Life, as well as Nati Lerman of the Cancer Institute at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, who will speak about prostate cancer.

In addition, each year the luncheon honors a woman who is battling cancer "to let them know that there's hope," Daniels said.

This year three women will be surprised as honorees. One is fighting a third bout with cancer, another has had it twice, and the third has a very aggressive cancer.

Contact: mhayes@phillyBurbs.com or 609-267-5569

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