John Cummings parks his Subaru Legacy in the parking garage and heads for the elevators. He steps out on the second floor and walks to unit 236 — a familiar trek for the 69-year-old.
Linda Stithem swings the door open and welcomes Cummings inside. Cummings walks to the corner of the living room and pulls out Stithem’s wheelchair. He pushes the blue chair to the spot where Stithem is standing, keeping balanced with a walker, and helps her into her jacket.
Stithem eases herself into the wheelchair and Cummings pushes Stithem out of the condo, using her keys to lock the door, and heads for the parking garage.
After helping Stithem into his car, he folds up the wheelchair, plops it into the driver’s seat and starts the engine. Jazz music fills the car.
“I’m so lucky to have John,” Stithem says. “He’s been phenomenal.”
Cummings first showed up at Stithem’s door five weeks earlier.
Stithem, 65, had been recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Unable to drive, Stithem needed help getting to her daily radiation appointments. Cummings, a recently retired Houston transplant, signed up to chauffeur the stranger.
The connection came through the American Cancer Society’s Road to Recovery — a program in which volunteers drive cancer patients to and from their cancer-related medical appointments. The program has been in the Portland area for about 20 years and, at one time, also operated in Clark County. The local program fizzled out a few years ago, but, due to growing requests, the American Cancer Society earlier this year re-launched the Road to Recovery in Vancouver.
“We’ve really seen the need there,” said Courtney Clark, the program manager. “We have more need than we do drivers at this point.”
Volunteers need to be 18 to 85 years old and must have a working vehicle to transport clients and car insurance. Ideally, volunteers would give two to three hours per week, Clark said, but any donation of time is OK.
“Whatever they can give, we are happy to have,” she said.
Cummings began volunteering for the program in June.
Recently retired, Cummings started looking for volunteer opportunities after moving to east Vancouver last December. Without knowing much about the city, he Googled “Vancouver volunteering” and came across the Road to Recovery program. The American Cancer Society performed background and driving record checks, and Cummings had to complete a one-hour computer training before he was cleared to drive.
“It’s easy,” Cummings said, “and I feel like I’m doing some good.”
As a volunteer, Cummings signs into the program’s website and can see all of the ride requests. The requests include information about the type and length of appointment, location of the appointment and client’s residence, and frequency of appointments.
Volunteer drivers have the option of taking clients to or from appointments — or both — and can sign up to be the driver for the length of the treatment or for just one appointment.
Cummings typically signs up for one appointment per day and will often see a client through his or her whole course of treatment, like he is with Stithem.
Cummings has been driving Stithem to her radiation appointments since early November. While she receives treatment, he sits in the waiting room with a book.
“I’m trying to get through a 500-page book about the Russian revolution, but it’s 20 minutes at a time,” Cummings said.
And when Stithem’s appointment is over, Cummings wheels her back out to the car and drives the Vancouver woman home.
Sometimes they talk about jazz music or their families. Other times, Cummings tells stories about the various countries in which he worked during his 30-year career as a mechanical engineer.
Without Cummings, Stithem would likely have to pay out-of-pocket for transportation. When he was on vacation, Stithem had to pay $80 per ride for a transport service to take her to appointments. That cost would quickly add up for daily appointments.
“It would be an incredible financial burden,” she said.
Besides lifting the financial burden, Cummings’ volunteer service offers Stithem peace of mind.
“I tell John he’s an angel,” Stithem said. “To know each day that I can get to my appointment safely, it’s a burden lifted.”
“If you have one thing you can cross off and not worry about so you can focus on getting well, it’s an incredible gift,” she added.
