Providing Comfort to the Cancer Community

The group drops off the Leaping Love boxes to Volunteer Services, who will distribute them to patients.

Vanessa Bernard led the charge at Moffitt Cancer Center. The seven-year breast cancer survivor rallied her small but mighty team: her mother-in-law with multiple myeloma, a Moffitt breast cancer survivor, a friend whose mother faced cancer, her husband and her father-in-law.

Together, they represented Leaping Love. Bernard is the chief advocate officer who created the company in 2023 to give back to the cancer community after dealing with the trauma of her own journey.

The group gathered at Moffitt to donate gift boxes with specially curated products designed to bring comfort to cancer patients.

“Being former cancer patients ourselves, we understand the special needs and challenges that treatment can have on individuals mentally, physically and emotionally,” Bernard said.

Leaping Love donors include, from left, John and Doris Bernard, Alicia Tanner, Vanessa and Tim Bernard, and Lis Galindo, who contributed to the gift boxes for Moffitt patients.

The care packages include functional and beneficial self-care items to soothe mind, body and spirit, such as puzzles, games, lip balm, lotion, fuzzy socks, therapy dough, coloring books and more.

Every quarter, Bernard organizes campaigns to get boxes into the hands of those who might need a distraction amid their doctor’s appointments and cancer treatments. This special delivery was precisely scheduled before her mother-in-law’s chemotherapy treatment at the cancer center. Collectively the group helped raise funds to donate 28 boxes to Moffitt patients.

“We hope that the boxes will help patients feel loved and supported and that the contents provide a little joy and comfort,” Bernard said.

Her mission is simple, to make the road to recovery a little easier for fellow cancer patients.