How these 3 men teamed up to support women with cancer

Navigating life with cancer poses significant challenges, particularly for women. The emotional toll and the demanding nature of treatments exacerbate the difficulties. Filipinas, who often take the role as the family’s main caregiver, usually grapple with feelings of isolation after a cancer diagnosis. Despite the full support of their loved ones, they’re paralyzed by the idea that they can no longer put their family first.

The hardships of living with cancer can also serve as a powerful motivator, compelling some men to go beyond ordinary measures and offer unwavering support to women fighting the disease. That’s exactly the case with Robert “Bobbit” Suntay, cofounder of the nonprofit Cancer Resource and Wellness (Carewell) Community; Michael Angelo “Mitch” Genato, cofounder and CEO of the Romlas Health Group; and renowned photographer Jun de Leon, who initiated a collaboration between the two organizations to create the holistic wellness program Coachella for Healing.

Together, all three men are forging a path of hope and healing both for underprivileged women with cancer and the loved ones helping them through the fight.

For Suntay, the advocacy started out on a personal level when his late wife Jackie was undergoing cancer treatment at The Wellness Community in Boston, USA, which encourages patients to take an active role in their treatments and explore the idea of holistic solutions that also address anxiety and stress. Bobbit and Jackie believed that their involvement in TWC’s diverse supplementary programs amplified the effectiveness of the medical treatment, leading them to start Carewell in the Philippines.

“We find that it really helps when people are engaged and get to make decisions about their recovery, instead of just sitting there and being told what to do,” Suntay says.

The holistic approach also resonates with Genato, who underlines his LifeScience Center as a source of functional medicine that offers a patient-centered, lifestyle-driven approach that complements conventional cancer treatments.

“You can work on building your health, so that your body becomes resilient, so that you have the means to be able to bounce back and beat the disease,” Genato points out. “Functional medicine is focused on the lifestyle intervention to improve your health.”

De Leon found an opportunity to drive a collaboration between Carewell and LifeScience Center to make Coachella for Healing happen. The two-day all-expenses-paid holistic wellness camp aims to give underprivileged cancer warriors a chance to briefly escape the demands of their treatments.

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The program is inspired by De Leon’s own experience as a caregiver for his wife, Abbygale, a breast cancer survivor. He realized that many cancer survivors grapple with a lingering question of “what now?” Some find transitioning back to “normal” life challenging with persistent fears of relapse and strained financial resources.

“There is life after cancer. Life should never be half-lived,” De Leon points out. “We hope to continue to share our philosophy with more underprivileged patients and survivors in future Coachella for Healing sessions. With this quick wellness respite, we also hope to help them move forward with a renewed zest for life.”

To learn more about Coachella for Healing program, email studiojundeleon@gmail.com.