KC soul concert helping local nonprofit bring cancer patients some holiday cheer
As Kansas City moves into the height of the holiday season, many families in the metro are decorating homes, buying gifts and preparing for celebrations. But for families battling cancer, the holidays can heighten financial strain, deepen emotional stress and magnify the daily challenges that come with treatment.
Lonnie Bush, a Kansas City native, remembers how difficult the season felt while she was battling cancer and trying to find holiday joy.
The founder of Celebration of Life, a cancer-support nonprofit, Bush helps those going through treatment year-round, but she says this time of year is especially difficult. For the last five years a community concert — A Soulful Christmas — has helped support Bush’s nonprofit during the holidays.
“The holidays are tough,” Bush said. “You might not be feeling good, you might be sick so you can’t go to family houses because when you’re in treatment, your immune system is low, so you can’t be around a lot of people. You don’t feel like cooking Christmas dinner.”
Bush formed Celebration of Life after her own diagnosis with triple-negative breast cancer in 2009, a form she describes as “the most aggressive” and the hardest to fight. She was 39 at the time, had never had a mammogram and discovered the lump herself.
As she began to undergo treatment, she noticed that other patients simply stopped showing up. She learned many didn’t have the money for their copays. Bush responded by leaving money behind to cover others’ appointments.
What began with small acts quickly evolved. She started donating headscarves to women who lost their hair and eventually expanded her outreach to hospitals where some patients lacked extra support. At Truman Medical Center, she created “Christmas in October,” gathering wish lists and delivering gifts to patients in chemo and radiation rooms.
“I just try to find a way to make their battle a little easier because I understand what they’re going through,” she said.
Celebration of Life now covers medical copays, wigs, groceries, utilities and transportation. It also offers emotional and physical support through free fitness classes at her studio, Lonnie Bush Fitness at 8330 Oxford Ave. The nonprofit has purchased vehicles for patients who struggled to get to treatment and has provided assistance with funeral arrangements for families who have lost loved ones.
Bush, who was diagnosed in early November and recalls asking doctors to allow her to spend Thanksgiving with her family before starting aggressive therapy.
Many families also struggle financially as medical costs can collide with the expenses of the season.
“The holidays are tough for people that have lost people to cancer,” said Bush. “For a lot of people, this could be their last holiday with a loved one or their first holiday without their loved one and you’ll always be reminded of those holidays.”
Over the years, Bush has touched the lives of many metro residents and has received community support to assist in her work. This weekend’s A Soulful Christmas concert, 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 13, at 900 Linwood Blvd., will donate a portion of its proceeds for the fifth year to Bush’s organization.
For many families facing a diagnosis, the assistance Celebration of Life provides often becomes the difference between enduring treatment alone and having a community to lean on.
For vocalist Cherayla Haynes, who will perform at this weekend’s concert, supporting Bush’s work is both personal and deeply meaningful. Haynes first learned about Celebration of Life through an event organizer but became more connected in recent years as friends and patients shared how Bush helped them.
One of those people was her longtime friend Ramon Stewart, a makeup artist who battled cancer for three years before passing away last month.
“Hearing how she supported him through various times of his battle with cancer,” said Haynes. “Knowing that she was a part of his feeling like a human and not just a patient, means everything. So if I can help strengthen the services she offers, I’m all for it.”
Haynes, whose vocal style blends R&B, jazz and hip-hop, has performed at previous holiday shows and says art continues to play a vital role in uplifting communities facing hardship. The concert’s partnership with Celebration of Life aligns with the holiday event’s mission to use music as a force for good.
The donation from this weekend’s Christmas concert will help Bush’s non-profit continue to adopt families, provide gifts for children, and offer other support to people in treatment and their families through December. In the past, money from the concert has help pay home/ medical bills and help patients cover essential needs.
“People don’t have to fight alone, and these are people with entire communities who love them and want to see them taken care of,” Haynes said.
Bush understands the importance of that. “I was literally given a second chance at life,” said Bush. “So I do this for them to only have to worry about fighting. Not groceries or Christmas gifts, just living.”
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