Rachel Minion
Co-Founder
What do you do when your world turns upside down – first by a career crisis, then a cancer diagnosis. If you’re Rachel Minion, co-founder of Beyond Basic Needs, you look for ways to turn your battle into a mission. Looking back, she calls it a “beautiful disaster”. Her journey began in the executive conference room in the Manhattan office of the Google building. This was her chance to make it big and she intended to rock it. Then it happened. Unwellness descended like a dark cloud. Perspiration and nausea unwelcome guests now taking up residence in her body. Like any self-respecting GenXer, she googled her symptoms.
There it was!* “I’m pregnant,”* thought the newlywed. Could life get more exciting?! But when the symptoms only got worse, her husband, Jon, took her to the emergency room. The diagnosis? Appendicitis. A successful surgery, a good recovery, a new (and better) job. Life was looking up. Then she was called back to the hospital. Without missing a beat, the doctor says, “So you have cancer.”
After fighting through the denial, she had questions. HOW AM I GOING TO DO THIS? Will I live long enough to have children? Have I even lived yet? What about my husband? What will treatment do to me? Can I ask my friends for help? I DON’T WANT TO DIE!
*“The minute you hear the C-word, life changes. The things that seemed so important before are now insignificant. The last thing a person diagnosed with cancer even thinks about is basic needs. We all need food, laundry, childcare, dog care, transportation. Thinking about how to handle these basic needs is overwhelming. Thinking about how to tell your support network and project manage incoming support is even more overwhelming. This is why we created Beyond Basic Needs,” *says Rachel Minion, Cancer Warrior.
Today, she is cancer-free. She and her husband, Jon, are the owners of a successful marketing agency and the parents of two bed-hogging dog monsters. Their lives are full. But neither of them has lost their passion for helping those embarked on the cancer journey*. When asked what keeps her awake these days, she says, “I don’t ever want to have to say no to someone asking for our help. But every day the number of people asking** grows. How we are going to meet that need is what keeps me awake.” *She just has one more question. Would you be willing to help?