My Hope Chest: Breast Reconstruction Charity

All right, everyone, we are about to talk about a very, very important and sensitive topic from the Las Vegas stage to a mission that's helping breast cancer survivors. Our next guest has quite a story herself, and now she is helping so many others. Lisa Savaretti is a breast cancer survivor and the founder and president of My Hope Chest. And right now, her charity has an opportunity to help any women here in Tampa Bay who may need it. So what I want to do right now is welcome her in live to Fox Tampa Bay Live, and she has come with all the goodies. Lisa, thank you so much for being with us. How are you? Thank you for having me. Wonderful. Oh, I'm so excited to have you. Your story, I was doing some research on you before we were chatting. Las Vegas showgirl, talk to me about your journey, your diagnosis, and how this all really started for you in the peak of your life. So, well, yes, I was working, interestingly, on an e-commerce business back in the day, getting ready to launch a furniture website. And I was in my 30s. So typically in your 30s, you don't have a mammogram. So right when I was getting ready to launch the site, I believe it was like December of 2001, I found a lump. I was uninsured, so I ended up heading to the health department, which is where you typically go. They tried to put you on emergency Medicaid. And I was denied Medicaid because they only have so much funding even with Medicaid, and I didn't have children. So anyhow, long story short, Pinellas County Social Services paid for my mastectomy. and the eight rounds of chemo that followed. And that's how I got my treatment here locally in Tampa Bay. Wow. So are you from here? I'm born and raised, yeah, Madeira Beach. But Vegas, I make a joke, I did three tours of duty in Las Vegas as a showgirl. That's incredible. That's incredible. But I mean, obviously, that diagnosis, that can scare anyone. And especially, I mean, you raise a great point. And before we continue, I mean, do you feel that women need to be getting mammograms earlier? So I'm so happy that you asked that question because it's really been a part of our platform for as long as we've been around. I believe that if you have a history in your family, that insurance should start to pay at age 35 for mammograms. And if you are concerned, spend the money and get a mammogram. But breast cancer is 80 percent non hereditary. So people don't realize that they're like, my mother had it, my aunt had it, I'm gonna get it. Not necessarily, it could happen, but not necessarily. And the reconstruction and double mastectomy and that is not cheap. Does insurance typically cover something like that? So yeah, that's what people don't understand. In 1998, the Women's Health and Cancer Rights Act was passed in 1998, a long time ago, that mandated insurance must pay for breast reconstruction. it's a part of treatment. But what's happened, we have government health care that came into play, which is great, and it's helping people with their doctor visits and what have you. But if they get diagnosed with anything serious, many of them can't afford their deductibles, $6,000 and $7,000. My Hope Chest pays those deductibles. So our gift is the biggest in breast cancer by far nationwide, making women feel whole again in body, mind and spirit by restoring their breasts. And this is for those who desire. You know, we don't insinuate a woman isn't whole or complete if she doesn't want reconstructive surgery. That's a very personal choice. I was 38 years old and performing in Las Vegas. I made a living with my body. It wasn't even an option for me not to want to have my breasts restored at that age. Yeah. My Hope Chest, that's the reason we're here. Talk to me about when that started and how that started. I mean, doing something like this, that's not an easy feat. So this is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. I'm an entrepreneur. I've started several businesses. And I remember my brother telling me, Alisa, this is going to be really hard. And I said, no, it's not, because it's a never say die kind of world. But had I known, What I didn't think about was we have a lot of big breast cancer organizations, two big ones, American Cancer and Susan G. Komen, and everyone thinks about them during the month of October, which is understandable. They've been around for a long time, but my Hope Chest is doing something that they don't do. We pick up where all other organizations leave off, providing the final step of treatment. So we actually get most of our referrals from Susan G. Komen and from the American Cancer Society. But we're waiting on some funding support for that because they're basically helping us grow a wait list. And nobody wants to have a wait list. So, you know, we are a lot of one in eight. Every October you hear one in eight women have a, you know, are diagnosed. But we're more interested in the 226,000 survivors of breast cancer and what happens with them. That they want their reconstruction or they can't get it or they choose not to have it. But we focus on the survivors on the back end of treatment. Because luckily, thankfully, there's a litany of organizations that are covering awareness of, I don't really believe in breast cancer awareness. Everybody knows that. I believe we're all aware that's what we call October Breast Cancer Action Month because we take a measurable, we have a measurable outcome of what we do. Yeah, and so when a breast cancer survivor contacts My Hope Chest, can you explain how they can do that and then what that process looks like? Sure, so My Hope Chest was birthed not as an arm of an organization. We had no policies and procedures in place, everything was from scratch. So our criteria is twofold, it's medically and financially. The doctors have to ensure that they are medically able, they don't have other health issues that could complicate the surgery or the recovery process. And then we met them financially at about 300% of the poverty level, I believe is where we're at. It's a long process, the surgery, it takes up to 18 months. So we have a lot of contact with a woman. And then we've even reached out to women on our wait lists that have been there for a couple of years and surprise them with, hey, guess what, your number's up. And what has the reaction been like? I mean, we always even say here as journalists, I mean, I was so grateful the one time my story helped a man get a kidney. It's like if you can just help one person, what is it like speaking to some of these women? Well, look, as I said, it's the most challenging role I've ever had in my life. The lopsided show girl, right? I can't believe I forgot to mention that. I saw that on your website. What a name, I love that. So yeah, that became because five months post chemo, my story, I was unable to get reconstruction here in Tampa Bay or anywhere in the nation because there was no charity funding reconstructive surgery. I had to go back to Las Vegas five months post chemo on stage doing two shows a night six nights a week minus my breast and they padded my costume and I called myself the lopsided show girl because I'm a marketing girl I could make fun of me but I knew that it would get on the air and and it did and since then you know that story's been in People magazine Oprah magazine we've been featured a lot um this isn't about me my story launched this crusade but this is about you all this is your charity it belongs to the people and you know i'm hoping that the people are hearing this message today and they're going to have a new charity that they want to support um so we're going to talk i was going to say talk to me about we've got a camera on your goodies here oh my gosh what we got here so we have um this is i don't know where i'm going losing a breast changes your life getting it back is life-changing which is one of our first that was our very first t-shirt Then we have a humorous shirt, which is actually our bestseller. It says, Breasts Helping Men Avoid Eye Contact Since 1865. Oh my gosh, I love it. These are for sale. And you know what, I want to pause for a second because obviously nothing about this journey in the grand scheme of things is funny, but how has humor and positivity helped you get through this and then start this? Well, so, you know, when you start a grassroots organization, again, I'm not going to ever. Everyone that has breast cancer and disease gets empowered to do something right. I don't believe in redundancy of mission. That's why I say, you know, for people don't start another breast cancer awareness charity partner with an organization. We need to find the cure. We need money for copays and we need money for breast reconstruction. That's really what we need. Everything else has been done. But humor, this is my personality. Some people tell me I'm a little outgoing and what have you, but I think that's part of the endearment to the organization. I'm just me, I'm not a corporate America protege. I'm an entrepreneur that saw a problem and a gap and we need help. This charity is starting over. After the pandemic, I saw, talk to me The pandemic, yeah. It was really, I mean, so many businesses were challenged, right? You name it, everyone's been touched. My hope, Chesson, personally for me, I lost two staff members. I lost my mother. And the organization had to scale down and take a step back. That's why they haven't seen me in the media for a lot of years. Wow, I'm so sorry. But it was, yeah, thank you. It was a lot of loss, a lot of loss. And as a grassroots organization, When I moved from Las Vegas here, we had $10,000 in the bank. I scaled it by 2,000%. Now, to the community, we're starting over again. We've had some amazing partners, the Tampa Bay Lightning Foundation, the DeBartolo Family Foundation. Hooters is a big, wonderful partner of ours. But we need those back and more. So we're trying to reboot financially and our human resources. and that's you know the most important thing right now because until there's a cure for the disease um regina there's just going to be a need for my hope chest yeah absolutely i i'm back on this bra because this bra is amazing did you make this oh i forgot this one is backwards this is the hope bra actually so um i don't know how to get that going this way anyway we we have a a competition it's called the bling a bra for breast cancer so that's where all of these bras were from we had a partnership with um with SteinMart years ago and it's amazing there's a litany so that's what's going on right now right there's a litany of what we call third party fundraisers happening and um and you've got one coming up we have one tomorrow we we've had them going on so yeah tomorrow is really exciting this is a new one for us this is the Island Estates Ladies Club shout out to the girls um they're having their annual luncheon but it's you know in benefit for My Hope Chest tomorrow so i'm going to be there and i think they have about 120 or more ladies that gather and do wonderful things for the community so that's that's tomorrow the pink is beautiful we have several other events going on in tampa bay um we have body bar pilates west chase is doing a week-long fundraiser. We have the Pit Stop Pub. We have, what is it? Oh, Bullfrog Creek Brewing. I mean, these are all new supporters. It's so touching to me. And then we have a big one returning in Texas for their third year. It's called The Table at Medley. And they do a big fundraiser. It's a really cool food court, live entertainment venue. So I wanted to give a shout out to um to bell and frank and all of them there because they're going to have live country music and then they sent us a big check you know and this is raising money in our sleep that's why it's third party events small businesses large businesses corporate america you know pick my hope chest for october we're the charity that needs you know we're trying to raise about 250 thousand dollars right now um to to barely reboot yeah right to barely reboot to have money for surgeries. We are a national charity, but we help at home first. So that's the most important thing to know. I'm a local girl. This happened here. And I make sure that if there's anyone, that's why we're talking about if there's anyone out there right now that is coming through breast cancer, looking for reconstruction, we want them to go to our website and apply. I love it. Elisa, thank you so much for sharing your story. Your bravery, your humor. Anyone would want to work with you. And thank you so much for what you're doing for all these women. Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Yes, it is. Yes. My Hope Chest, tell me your website. Myhopechest.org. And I forgot to mention Ed Morse Automotive. They did a nine-year campaign for us called Drive for Hope, and they've just been huge. So just want to say thank you to our community. I love how many businesses have been working with you guys, and there should be more to come. A lot more. Elisa Saboretti, thank you so much. We appreciate you. Happy Breast Cancer Awareness Month. And I say that because it is just so positive, everything that you are doing. Thank you. Thank you very much. Yeah. Thanks for having us on. Thank you, Linda. Absolutely. Yes. Linda Hurtado, our breast cancer advocate. She's going to have the special breast cancer stream, actually, three o'clock this Thursday. It's going to be a half hour show. It's going to be great. We'll be right back after this break, guys.