Kidney Cancer Association Addresses Changes Amid Coronavirus

Friends,

Amid the spread of COVID-19 and the justifiable anxiety around the world, we see society is called upon to accept extraordinary burdens when faced with the fragile nature of human life. But the fragility of life is familiar to those of us touched by kidney cancer.

As Kidney Cancer Awareness Month comes to an end, we’re grateful that we can continue our critical work of supporting the kidney cancer community. Here are some of the things we’re doing to continue serving you along with a few key resources:

Maintaining normal operations

The KCA and its staff are operating as usual and in keeping with our mission and vision. Some of us even have new coworkers at home in the form of family or pets! This means we are still enhancing patient programs, posting up-to-date information and stories to social media, fielding patient questions, supporting people who want to fundraise and planning for the future.

Visit our COVID-19 information and resources page

With so much information that changes minute to minute, we’ve compiled some information and resources that we feel may be most useful on our COVID-19 information page. We also shared a blog with some FAQs and cancer-specific information about coronavirus.

The KCA Nurse Line is open.

You may be wondering how kidney cancer affects your risk of getting COVID-19 or your risk of getting seriously ill. You may want information about continuing treatment, planning surgery, or how to manage social distancing. Our Nurse Line is available to help you.

Join our online support community.

The KCA’s online support community at Inspire is a place to connect with others who share your experiences and can understand what you’re going through. You can even be anonymous if you choose. Inspire has also set up a coronavirus-specific community and recently held an Ask the Expert session with a pulmonologist.

Staying connected

We will continue to share community updates on our social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) and through the Unstoppable Together newsletter, which you can sign up to receive here.

Ask any patient, caregiver, or health care practitioner who confronts the many facets of cancer on a daily, or even hourly, basis, and you may discover why there are so many fervent supporters in this community. I should know — cancer has tragically affected me and my family and friends too. It’s why I committed my career to eliminate this disease.

In this critical time, we want you to know we are here for you.

The urgent need for sustained cancer research that will lead to advances in patient care, greater cancer prevention, and a cure for kidney cancer still define our mission and serve as a compelling call to action. It is more clear than ever that swift, effective treatments for kidney cancer make people less vulnerable during outbreaks of infection is vital.

Therefore, I hope you will stay connected with us, guide us in how we can serve you better, and join in our continued focused efforts to raise the vital resources still needed to rid us of kidney cancer — finally, and for all. We will keep the momentum going. We are #unstoppabletogether.

Stay well,

Gretchen E. Vaughan

President and Chief Executive Officer

Kidney Cancer Association