Monica Knoll
Founder
Her Six Word Story: Dedicated. Guiding Force and Fearless Warrior.
We lost a fearless warrior and a guiding force in the cancer community on June 20, 2011. Monica was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000 and ovarian cancer in 2006. While being treated for breast cancer, Monica created the CANCER101 Planner designed to empower cancer patients and their caregivers from the moment of diagnosis, which is now used by hundreds of thousands of patients. Through her tireless work and leadership, Monica will have a lasting impact on the medical community and grateful patients everywhere.
Monica’s legacy and vision lives on through CANCER101, the organization she built from the ground up. Monica will forever be known for her magnetic smile and personality that always seemed to light up a room. Memories of her bright spirit will ignite our path forward, as we continue to empower patients and caregivers with purpose and persistence. Monica taught us how to be fearless in our efforts, reach for the stars, and believe that we can each make a difference. We plan to take what we’ve learned and build upon it through innovation, partnerships, dedication and listening to the needs of CANCER101 friends. We, as a community, can strive towards carrying on Monica’s mission in unison.
Sarah Krüg
Executive Director
My Six Word Story: Researcher by Trade. Advocate by Choice.
Driven by the passion to make an impact in patient care and family engagement, Sarah has held a variety of roles within healthcare across sectors. Sarah is also the founder of the Health Collaboratory, a global innovation hub that paves the path for collaboration in healthcare, and focused on amplifying the voice of the patient and caregiver in the design, development and continuous improvement of innovations. She previously held the position of Global Education Director focused on establishing global health care improvement strategies and medical education standards worldwide, as well as Patient Advocacy Relations. She also established the Global Investigator Initiated Research Program. Prior to joining Pfizer, Sarah spearheaded the development of the Pediatric Disease Management Clinical Pathways and conducted clinical research at Memorial Sloan- Kettering Cancer Center. She is also on the board of of the Society for Participatory Medicine and the National Organization for Rare Diseases.
In an ideal world: Patients and caregivers are recognized as change agents in healthcare and empowered as active partners in their care in collaboration with their healthcare team.
Aracely Shildkret
Program Coordinator
My Six Word Story: Dedicated. Inspired to make a difference.
Aracely began interning for CANCER101 in 2007 due to her interest in philanthropy. Moved by the founder’s vision, working at C101 became more than just a job. Being a part of an organization that helps people in their cancer journey and touches so many lives has been a very rewarding experience.
She hopes to continue Monica Knoll’s work and carry on her legacy. In her memory, Aracely got a tattoo of C101’s logo (the green apple) and has become more passionate in taking C101 to the next level.
In an ideal world: Patients would have valuable resources given to them the moment they are diagnosed.
DonnaLyn Giegerich
Wellness Advocate/Columnist
My Six Word Story: Daring Adventurer through Cancer Couple Crisis
DonnaLyn joined CANCER101 after surviving five years of unrelenting hospital hospitality as a cancer couple slaying incurable sarcoma and multiple myeloma cancers. Today she advocates globally for meaningful wellness models to empower both survivors and their caretakers since she has the honor to live and share both perspectives. She is a 4 in 1 million Leiomyosaroma retroperitoneal survivor and her husband is currently in active treatment after surviving two autologous stem cell transplants. In her work life, she is President of DonnaLyn Giegerich Consulting, an empowerment practice sharing keynotes, leadership training and integrated professional career and life coaching.
In an ideal world: All people affected by cancer would embrace the notion of “less fear, more function” and actively commit to attitudes of gratitude and lifelong learning around empowered wellness choices.
ARTIST’S CORNER
Jairo Barragán (NAIDE)
Artist
Naide is the pseudonym for Jairo Barragán, who is a Colombian artist living and working in New York City. Editorial cartoonist and illustrator for more than two decades, Naide’s work has been published in major newspapers and magazines in the USA as well as his native Colombia. In New York he has been a contributor to the Book Review and the Op Page of the New York Times as well as cover illustrator for IDEAS, a publication of Open Society of New York and for UNITE the labor Union Magazine. A collection of his drawings has been published under the title “Lo que Naide se imagina”, a play on words, roughly rendered into English as both, “Naide’s Imaginations” and “What no one but Naide could Imagine”.
Artist’s Statement
My artistic expressions have always presented a dilemma…. would the public see me as a painter or as a cartoonist? As for me, I have always been both. However, the cartoonist is the public citizen, the thinker who reflects and comments on social and political realities. My paintings speak the inner, private me, the entity, the person I am. My “landscapes” are reflections of my inner spaces, emotional and at times physical, but always subjectively mine. My paintings now are “neither, nor”– “either, or” landscapes or pure abstraction, they portray and convey remembered places and everlasting and ever-changing states of being. I always wanted to do “moonshine” paintings, to navigate my interior spaces, as sailors do, guided by the stars whenever they travel on earth. My last paintings, my first black paintings, hearken to the quietude of the night, stories heard from a an old man fired by his rum, memories of battles and of stars, of the imagination of the child, the knowledge of the man. Again of night, menacing at times, but always all enveloping.
Shawn Towne
Artist
My Six Word Story: Creative Mom, making impact through art.
Shawn is a wife and mother of 3…Before this wonderful ride, she studied at Rutgers University and worked for US Healthcare right out of college, working her way up to Sr. Designer. The Art department was spun out, and Shawne joined the new print and media venture, Criterion Communications, until she had her first child. She started her own firm, Mulberrymoon Design, to be closer to her children. She has been fairly active with design work over the last 17 years working with a diverse group of clients. A close cousin was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer in October 2010 and in a desperate search for information on how to help her, she came across Cancer101 and ordered the planner. As her children were getting older, she decided she needed another “purpose”, and sent a note offering her graphic design skills. Her cousin, Paula, passed away September 2011 at the age of 42, leaving behind a husband and 2 young boys. Since that time, she has been searching for a way to educate others, increase awareness and give back. Her connection to the C101 cause and her willingness to give back has allowed her to make impact through her artwork.
