Cleaning the house is already a real chore, but for people who have cancer, it can be much more difficult.
Take Deidre Grubb, of Pennsylvannia, who has an aggressive form of blood cancer called Multiple Myeloma. “It’s hard to run a vacuum cleaner when it hits your bones… it’s very painful,” she tells WFMZ in the video below. “It really takes a toll on you.”
Fatigue is a very common side effect of cancer and cancer treatment, making it difficult to complete day-to-day takes, much less clean an entire house. But thanks to a wonderful non-profit, Cleaning for a Reason, women like Deidre Grubb have one less thing to worry about. Once a month for four months, a local maid comes by and cleans her home—completely free of charge.
MORE: This College Baseball Team Steps Up to the Plate For Their Cancer-Stricken Teammate
As the Huffington Post reports, the Lewisville, Texas-based organization partners with local cleaning businesses from all over the country and in Canada who are willing to donate their services to women who have cancer. Incredibly, Cleaning for a Reason has provided 17,000 cleanings for more than 14,000 women with cancer at a value of more than $4 million in donated cleanings since 2006.
According to the nonprofit’s website, their do-gooder philosophy was born after founder Debbie Sardone spoke on the phone with a woman who couldn’t afford her cleaning company’s services because she was undergoing cancer treatment. From then on, Debbie decided that not only would no woman ever be turned down again, she would also get it for free.
For now, the service is provided only to women, not men, since the organization has limited resources (all the more reason to help support them).
But for the thousands of women who are in the fight of their lives, the organization means they have one less burden to shoulder. As one woman said in a testimonial, “You can’t know how much it meant to me. The ladies were angels sent from heaven and were such a blessing.”
[ph]
DON’T MISS: Meet the Incredible Octogenarian Who Continues to Save Hundreds of Lives With Her Selfless Gesture