Welcome
The Helene Whitman Memorial Cancer Fund (HWMCF) was created in memory of our beautiful mother Helene Whitman in 2009 to raise money for blood cancers, including Multiple Myeloma, Lymphoma and Leukemia. It is a 501(c)(3) NJ nonprofit corporation and was registered in June 2008.
In 2021, our dear father, Joel Whitman passed away from Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy (FSHD). As such, we decided to honor the memory of both of our parents and changed the name of the organization to The Whitman Memorial Fund (WMF). Now, in addition to raising money for cancer research, we also support organizations researching a cure for muscular dystrophy.
Inspiration
Helene had been a very healthy, vivacious and spirited woman all her life. She always had regular checkups and blood work at the doctor and never had any serious illness. Early in 2007, Helene started having periodic stomach pains and one short year later, she passed away. The silent killer was one of the lesser-known blood cancers, Multiple Myeloma.
Mother of five, Helene always gave selflessly to her loved ones and strangers alike. If she saw someone was sad or discontented, it was her mission to make them feel happy and peaceful. Helene did this with her own special brand of charm, class and humor mixed with abounding love for all.
Joel matched Helene’s spirit and resolve in life. After retiring from a 5-decade career as a CPA, Joel spent his time volunteering and continued his quest to be a role model and a helper, whether as a mentor to underprivileged youth or helping the Monmouth County Parks System as a Master Gardener. He always gave selflessly despite the health challenges he faced with FSHD. As the disease progressed, Joel slowly lost muscular strength throughout his body and succumbed to the disease in December 2021.
And so the Whitman Memorial Fund was established to preserve our parents’ everlasting, generous spirit. Our organization’s mission is to conduct fundraising activities in support of the ongoing research efforts to find a cure for muscular dystrophy and blood-related cancers. We donate proceeds to existing tax-exempt organizations conducting this critical research for the different kinds of Muscular Dystrophy and blood cancers such as Leukemia, Lymphoma and Multiple Myeloma.
To date, through an annual mail solicitation sent to family and friends, our organization has raised over $250,000 with expenses of only 2%! The proceeds have been distributed to New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Hospital, the International Myeloma Foundation, the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy at UAMS, The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (which is now called Blood Cancer United), and the FSHD Society.
We hope you will join us in honoring Helene and Joel’s memories by helping to raise much needed funds. Thank you for taking the time to visit our site.
Warm Regards,
The Board of Trustees
The Whitman Memorial Fund
