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UF Health Cancer Center joins forces with Blossoming Butterfly to help women with cancer

Cancer Center Mobile Unit NG 6110

Nicole Miller, left, founder of local nonprofit Blossoming Butterfly, and Lakeshia Cousin, Ph.D., APRN, assistant director of community outreach and engagement at the UF Health Cancer Center, on the center’s Mobile Cancer Screening Connector. Blossoming Butterfly and the UF Health Cancer Center are joining forces to boost services for women with breast, ovarian, and uterine cancers. Photo by Nate Guidry/UF Health

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The UF Health Cancer Center has formed an alliance with local nonprofit Blossoming Butterfly to support women with breast, ovarian, and uterine cancers by providing services ranging from financial assistance and beauty products to help navigating the health care system.

The alliance comes as Blossoming Butterfly opens a location northwest of the Millhopper Shopping Center, and the public is invited to a grand opening from 3-6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 25. Called Blooming Retreat, it’s a place for women to receive care that meets their mental, physical, financial, and spiritual needs, both during and after treatment, including vouchers for rent or utility assistance, food, support groups, massage therapy, makeup, wigs, and more.

“We know the doctors and nurses at the hospital are busy, so we bridge that gap,” said Nicole Miller, founder of Blossoming Butterfly and a breast cancer survivor of nine years. “After women are diagnosed, it’s ‘Oh my God. I need help with getting food, transportation, childcare, caregiving.’ To be able to work with the UF Health Cancer Center and have the resources to assist more women is a plus and I am so excited.”

The Cancer Center will help staff the retreat with trained clinical outreach workers, helping women access care and resources, including opportunities to participate in UF research studies.

“We want to make sure our patients at UF Health have support, but also that our ‘butterflies’ — all women in the community with these cancers — have access to information, resources, and navigation services,” said Jennifer Woodard, M.P.H., R.N., CCRP, director of the Cancer Center’s Office of Community Outreach and Engagement. “Nicole creates community for individuals who would otherwise feel so isolated by their diagnosis.”

A retail shop will offer things women going through cancer often need, like bras, lymphedema sleeves, wigs, and personal hygiene products. Items are free thanks to donations.

Miller, a mom of three who was diagnosed at 32, wants it to be a peaceful, welcoming place where women can heal.

“I didn’t have my hair, my nails turned black, I lost my eyebrows and to go into a business where regular people were was embarrassing to me, so I stayed home and sheltered,” she said. “This place is where women can come in and they don’t have to get looked at weird; it’s their space.”

The Cancer Center plans to work with Blossoming Butterfly on educational community events, including some with its new Mobile Cancer Screening Connector. The groups plan a program for high school students, called Breastology, to start the conversation about early cancer detection and the importance of knowing your family health history. They hope to launch it this spring in Alachua County Public Schools.

The alliance will help the Cancer Center lower barriers to high-quality, timely cancer care, Woodard said.

“We’re focused on providing services that address the entire cancer continuum, from prevention to survivorship, with programs that reach kids all the way through those at the end of life,” she said.

Blooming Retreat Grand Opening

When: 3-6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 25

Where: 4509 NW 23rd Ave., Suite 18, Gainesville, FL 32606

More information: info@blossomingbutterflyinc.com

About the author

Leah Buletti
Assistant Director of Communications for the UF Health Cancer Center

For the media

Media contact

Peyton Wesner
Communications Manager for UF Health External Communications
pwesner@ufl.edu (352) 273-9620