White Fence Living

Living the Width of Life: The Karen Wellington Foundation Story

• Justin Rush • Season 1 • Episode 9

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What if a cancer diagnosis didn't just mean treatment schedules and doctor appointments, but also included something to look forward to—a moment of pure joy during the toughest battle of your life? That's the revolutionary idea behind the Karen Wellington Foundation, an organization I had the privilege of exploring with Columbus chapter leader Irene Adams.

Karen Wellington lived with breast cancer for ten years—a quarter of her life—before passing at age 40. But as Irene powerfully shared, "Karen lived the entire width of those years." She joined a band, bought a shoe shop, painted, and refused to let cancer define her existence. This determination to embrace joy even in darkness became the foundation's guiding philosophy when her husband Kent established it after her passing.

Instead of funeral flowers, Kent sent two families from chemo chairs on vacation. Eighteen years later, that beautiful gesture has evolved into 4,000 "gifts of fun" delivered to women battling cancer across multiple chapters nationwide. These aren't just any gifts—they're deeply personalized experiences based on what each recipient defines as "fun," from Disney vacations and spa days to houseboats in Seattle and ski trips in Colorado.

What makes these gifts extraordinary is their timing. They arrive when fun seems impossible, when medical concerns dominate every thought. The foundation's simple question—"what does fun look like to you?"—opens a door to possibility. And with no restrictions on income or timing (nominations never expire), women can choose when they're ready, whether during treatment or in recovery.

The stories Irene shared moved me deeply. A mother and daughter who received a Disney vacation that became their final trip together. A family from Africa experiencing skiing for the first time, laughing as they tumbled in the snow. These aren't just vacations—they're memories that redefine a cancer journey.

As Karen's daughter Angeline beautifully wrote in a letter Irene shared, her mother "was the person who always made room for others" by expanding her dining room table to welcome more people. That's the perfect metaphor for this foundation: creating space for joy when life seems to offer only hardship.

Want to make a difference? Consider nominating someone you know who's battling cancer, volunteering for a gift delivery, or supporting their annual April Fool's Day gala (Karen's birthday). After all, as Irene wisely noted, "We can raise funds for cancer research and try to eliminate cancers, and we can put fun on our calendar." Sometimes, the most powerful medicine is laughter.

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Justin:

You're like stop talking so I can record something. No, you keep talking, Sorry.

Irene:

So I started recording. I hear you now, yep, like I said, trying something new. Hopefully we get a little better video this way. Okay, if it blows up, I hope it doesn't, but at least we'll get the audio. I'm worried about the memory on my computer, so let's get started. Irene, man, I'm excited. I've known you for a long time. We haven't talked to you in a long time. Yeah, but Irene, you will see, she likes to chat which is great, which is awesome.

Irene:

And I'm like stop, We've got to hit record at some point here because we're covering some really good stuff in a hurry.

Justin:

So welcome to the show. Welcome to White Fence Living, thank you. Welcome to Brick House Blue.

Irene:

Thank you, excited to be here. Yeah, and, irene, so I've met you through a friend a long time ago, um, and like, the Karen Wellington foundation is such a big part of who you are and so it was like immediately, like it was like here's Irene Adams and here's the Karen Wellington foundation, um, and so a lot to cover. And uh, um, I know some of this is is all too real. Um, I think everybody has been affected in some way or another, so we'll try and keep it uplifting. Okay, I get that, but I also, like I just want to help spread the word, thank you, and I want people to get to know you and your story and then, obviously, karen's story. So we've got a lot to get into. Okay, wow, a few things. Yeah, so you tell me where you want to start. I mean, I'd like to start with you. So you live in New Albany. You've lived here for a long time. We could talk about your husband, ted. We could you know who is Irene?

Justin:

Who is Irene? Oh wow.

Irene:

That's a big question.

Justin:

I guess I really first defined myself as a wife and mother. I mean, that's always kind of just been the base of what gets me up every day out of bed and makes me happy. And then I get to layer in great community. We call New Albany home. We can't imagine calling anything else home. You know, we just have throughout the years thought about, oh, a second place here. Just nothing resonates the way this place does so selfishly.

Justin:

We've just been here and we just continue to engage. I think the beauty of living here, one of the things, is that something like this, which is a small grassroots foundation, you know, was started in a community very similar to New Albany, and so I see how this fits perfectly with you know what happens when life isn't going so great, what happens when you're having a year where you need help? Yeah, but you don't know how to ask for help, or you're afraid to ask for help, right yep, yeah, absolutely um, so thank you for having me.

Irene:

Yeah, no thank you so much for coming. Um, so yeah, very, very deep new albany ties and and uh, nia, who works at brick house blue, she's been on an episode. He's like, oh my goodness, because I send her everybody that's going to be on in case she wants to give tours or whatever. And she's like, oh my God, I love Irene. So then she mentioned that she went to school with your daughter. She did so. How many kids do you have? We have three, okay.

Justin:

Yes, they're now 27, 26, and going to be 20.

Irene:

27, 26, and going to be 20.

Justin:

So I'm going to be out of the teenage stage, which is wild to say, but it's fun, because for each stage, you know, as we know, there are just challenges and then there are different opportunities, right, the friendships that you start forming with. You know you still have the line of parent and child, but they just watch them growing into young adults and you're so proud of that. My youngest son has actually done a couple gift deliveries with me.

Irene:

Nice yeah.

Justin:

I think in the beginning he was forced because I was driving him somewhere and I had to meet a recipient and so it was kind of like you're coming with me. And he got in the car and I remember that after the first delivery and said Mom, I see why you do what you do.

Irene:

I was going to say yeah. So what was his reaction to it? What was his thoughts afterwards?

Justin:

Yeah, so he helped with a gift delivery Square One, which is the local spa over here. I'm going to give a shout-out to them. They are our partners and they comp everything for the recipient and then we pay for the recipient's guest wow, so we do a 50 50 share with them and we've been doing that for probably 10 years yeah and so they get to choose from that location if they want a spa day as their fun day, and my son showed up.

Justin:

we went to the downtown location and and he read the letter and you could see his hand- All of a sudden he realized the importance of understanding that this is somebody's mom. So there was a gal who worked at the salon downtown and he did that gift delivery with me Wow, so we're going to have to talk what a gift delivery is.

Irene:

Oh, yes, of course, and we should. After we do that, we can talk about the gift delivery, and then we could talk about you know where those gifts come from, you know, and we can get into the foundation. Yes, I'm going to move your microphone a little bit closer. A little closer, yeah, just a little bit closer, perfect right, there is great, all right, awesome yeah.

Justin:

So the foundation started 18 years ago and actually 10 years before that, when my friend Karen was diagnosed at the age of 30 with breast cancer, and it was through a regular self-exam that she felt the lump and then went to the doctor, did all the things we would all do and then quickly found out that she had a pretty aggressive kind that was going to come back and come back. So did the surgeries, did the treatments and again, unfortunately, just kept coming back. So for 10 years, a quarter of her life, she lived with fighting this disease.

Irene:

And you said that before we got on.

Justin:

It was one of the things that you realized today, just today I just thought about the 10-year period and it just dawned on me. And then she passed at 40, and like that's a quarter of her life. Can you imagine a quarter of your entire life?

Irene:

I can't, I can't.

Justin:

By year. Two or three or four'd probably be. This is exhausting right yeah, but Karen kept showing up. And oh, there's a favorite quote that I have. I don't want to misquote it, I think it's Diane Ackerman and I heard it this past year. It's something like when I get to the end of my life, I know that I've lived the length of it. I just I know that I've lived the length of it. I just really hope that I've lived the width of it.

Irene:

Wow.

Justin:

And I love that because Karen lived the entire width of those 10 years.

Irene:

Yeah.

Justin:

Because she had to right. She knew her timeline was different. She didn't know where the end was, but she knew it was coming sooner than most of us know. She joined a band, she bought a shoe shop, she painted, she did all the things. She became soccer mom, baseball mom. She just showed up.

Irene:

Yeah, incredible.

Justin:

And did not want cancer to define her.

Irene:

Yeah.

Justin:

So the year that she passed there were no flowers at her funeral. We sent the two families in the chemo chairs on vacation.

Irene:

That's awesome Wow.

Justin:

So that's how it started, and we gave her 4,000th gift of fun this year 4,000.

Irene:

How did you get to know, karen?

Justin:

So my husband Ted and her husband Kent grew up together in Worcester Ohio.

Irene:

Okay, yeah.

Justin:

And then they went to law school together at Ohio State. Nice and Ted and Kent were at an Ohio State game and after the game, as most boys are hanging out for a few beers looking for food went over to a TGI Fridays and here's Karen, the server, and she came over. What do you guys want? You know they're making comments.

Irene:

She's less thrilled about it. Yeah, exactly.

Justin:

Got. You know they're making she's less thrilled about exactly I had to work today.

Irene:

Yeah, she went to ohio state herself and was already there.

Justin:

Yeah, um, she's from dayton originally, the dayton area originally, um. So she was there taking the order and when she walked away, kent turned to my husband, ted, and said boys, that's the girl I'm gonna marry wow he fell in love with her that's great. Yeah, she was great. She was really just had a great personality. I just feel honored. I'm one of the ten chapters and I'm probably one of the two chapter leaders who knew Karen.

Irene:

Wow the others didn't, but they've also dealt with, you know, the same diagnosis, and so they're pretty passionate about doing the work yeah, yeah, I try I've said this before on other episodes I try not to do a ton of research because I just want to hear it from you and ask questions. And so you knew, karen, you had this idea. You started this. No, I didn't. Okay, okay, the husband. Okay, okay, perfect.

Justin:

Yeah, her husband knew that this would be the path forward. If you will toward healing. He knew that this was always Karen's dream. She said when we beat this thing because I always feel like when I'm in Hilton Head with the kids and you, I feel normal again. I take off my wig and I put on my fishing cap and off we go.

Irene:

So Karen knew that this Did the foundation start before her passing no, okay, but she had no idea this was going to happen.

Justin:

No.

Irene:

Okay, okay.

Justin:

She had no idea that was going to happen, and you know the fact that I think about, like, what is your legacy?

Irene:

Yeah.

Justin:

Right. It's kind of like do we have to know that we're not going to be here a couple of years to start thinking about how do we leave the world behind and how do we make it a little better? Yeah leave it a little better than the way we came in it puts things in perspective right very quickly all of a sudden that some days you feel like you're not doing it.

Irene:

Yeah, no, no, it's not a pressure question no, I think, I think having that perspective, or or at least you know, yeah, you have to think about it, you have to talk about it.

Justin:

Right.

Irene:

And you know, sometimes it takes somebody as special as Karen right to have such a huge impact.

Justin:

Yeah, she did and she still does, which is incredible. I mean, I often, you know, I meet the recipients, who are the women who are nominated. So if you know someone, you know we're very much of a give first mentality. That's what Karen wanted to do. She wanted to give. I actually have a really great, if you know, it's on my phone.

Irene:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely I have a really great kind of.

Justin:

And you said 4,000 recipients 4,000 gifts of fun we've done. Yes, so that includes the recipient and their family. That's awesome. So we're often looking at when someone's nominated, they receive an email saying you've been nominated for a gift of fun by Karen Wellington and then we want you to fill out this form and give us an indication what you think fun looks like.

Irene:

Wow.

Justin:

And we've done hot air balloon rides, we've done belated vacations and honeymoons, we've done, you know, a lot of fun gifts.

Irene:

Yeah, and so before knowing anything about Karen Wellington Foundation, right, you might think like, okay, somebody's diagnosed with breast cancer. They may need more than a, they might need. You know they may need financial support than me. So I do know that the foundation has a unique perspective on, like, what a gift is or what they could do for somebody who is diagnosed. So can you kind of touch on that, like what's the difference from other foundations, maybe?

Justin:

Sure sure. So I think there's and I don't want to misquote what they do, but there's just the pink ribbon group that I think is here locally and they help with things like maybe meals and deliveries.

Irene:

Yeah, meal trains.

Justin:

Right and like maybe house cleaning and things of that nature.

Irene:

Yeah.

Justin:

This is about. I would almost call it almost like a mental health, mental well-being kind of an email, because you're kind of going oh wait, I'm supposed to be having fun. Right now, all I can focus on is trying to keep my hair and not getting sick. Every day. It's like, oh well, okay, I can look forward to something. Think about how you feel when you have a vacation. On the calendar it's a month.

Irene:

You're looking forward to it. It's two months away.

Justin:

It's a month away, right? So it just helps with the mindset of there are other people who have gone through what you're going through. We want you to. You know again it's on your timeline Once you've been nominated for a gift, it never expires, you tell us when you want to go, okay. So we've done some delayed trips, we've done some staycations, we've done all kinds of things, wow. So I love the fact that we're very unique in the way we just want to personalize everything. We're just the recipient.

Irene:

No, I love it because I would imagine that you have to be flexible, right. You don't know where they are in their treatment and I would imagine early on in diagnosis you probably wouldn't be too excited about a vacation or a salon. So, wow, that's incredible. How many, I guess, how many people are nominated and how many people are you able to to to gift?

Justin:

I would say probably of all the women that are nominated Um and and this is the aspect also that that I have appreciated and I and I've come to really lean into Um, I met a woman because I ride Pelotonia every year, being a survivor myself, when I met this woman. She does acupuncture and she was an oncology acupuncturist, so she helps women with side effects from the treatments, the getting sick after getting a lot of radiation and all that like in your body, right?

Irene:

Yeah.

Justin:

So she was helping relieve the symptoms of that and so she started nominating a lot of her patients. I'm like, oh my gosh, this is like. You know, who can we give to?

Irene:

Yeah.

Justin:

So she had some incredible nominations. I mean, we sent some women on some pretty. I sent one woman. She and her daughter went to Seattle and lived on a houseboat for a week.

Irene:

How cool is that?

Justin:

A friend of mine donated out in Seattle. Another gal we sent down. She and her son we sent down to Florida. We have a chapter down there. And so my chapter leader down there, he who had lost his mom at a very young age to breast cancer, he has his chapter down in Miami. He's got all the hookups with all the hotels. They treat her like a queen. They brought like chocolate-covered strawberries to the room every day and I'm like what hotel is?

Irene:

this.

Justin:

I've never stayed there, but you know what I'm saying, so it's kind of like, the more we know about the recipient, when they're ready to have that moment, you know we're ready to treat like the queens that they are, and their family too, because you know it affects the whole family.

Irene:

oh, for sure, for sure. How? Um, like, where do the donations? I have so many questions. So where do the? So? Like, let's say somebody's nominated, let's just take somebody kind of like through the life of this, so sure, so you have a candidate who's nominated, let's say that, um, they're, they're going to be chosen for a gift, um, that you're going to email them and say what's your idea of fun? Right, right? So I'm guessing there's some prying there. Like, okay, just a trip to Johnson's isn't enough, or maybe it is. But like, okay, I've always dreamt of you know, let's say it's skiing in Colorado, sure, what happens from there then?

Justin:

So the foundation will work with the recipient Back and forth. They email quite a bit. We have the gift givers in Cincinnati, so the Cincinnati chapter is the paid chapter.

Irene:

Okay.

Justin:

All the other chapter leaders are volunteers.

Irene:

Okay.

Justin:

And then I have a volunteer base of individuals who show up. Yeah, some of them are past recipients, some of them are friends, some are my kids.

Irene:

Yeah, a person.

Justin:

It might be you someday.

Irene:

That's right. That's right. Who's showing?

Justin:

up. Right to show up for others.

Irene:

Yeah.

Justin:

It's just that simple of a formula.

Irene:

So if I want to give to the foundation, let's say I want to sponsor, like do I say I want to sponsor a specific recipient or I want to sponsor a recipient, you tell me who it is and what they want and I'm going to take care of it.

Justin:

Well, it's a great question because we have just kind of like a combination of options. Again, I think when Kent started it was like I said just very much you know, how am I going to honor my wife's life, how am I going to honor her wishes? How can we help other families going through what I've been going through for 10 years? You know what do we do. And so as it's grown and as it's changed through the years, he loves saying you know no rules, we just very much want to give first. So I love it. It's kind of like you can set up a fund Like so, for example, if you know somebody who's passed but you want to honor their life. Um, I met a gentleman. I'll leave him nameless. He was connected to me through, um, oh, the um Intel project, yeah, and he called me out. We met for coffee over at the Morning Ritual right up here.

Irene:

Nice.

Justin:

And I started telling him about the foundation. He's like my mom would have loved this and I would love to do a funda, so we call it funda in her name.

Irene:

That's cool and.

Justin:

I want to give to women who want to go to national parks or want park passes, and I would like to fund those, and so he had a very specific point of view to answer a question. Yeah, where, if you're just like you and me and you find out your neighbor or friend is diagnosed, you go on the website, nominate them. They receive the gift letter and then the email, and then they can fill out their form and decide when and how they want.

Irene:

Yeah, I think the man, the flexibility, is really cool Because, yeah, there's, it's not. There's not a lot of foundations like that. I don't think it, you know. I mean there's a lot of good causes, right, a lot of good foundations, but I think it is neat to have like unique scenarios like that where this is how it affected me, this is what my mom or wife or sister would have loved. Here's how I'm going to pay it forward and then, you know, somebody else gets to enjoy that. I think it's really neat.

Justin:

I'll tell you one of the wildest stories you made me. When you said skiing, you made me think of this story. This is a great story. So there's a gal who's nominated. And again, remember I say that when something goes wrong in my life, your life, we pretty much know 80% to 90% of the people who are showing up, who are like how can I help? Sending texts, right support? Where are those strangers? We call ourselves a group of happy strangers, volunteers, who want to show up and say you know what? You didn't ask for this, neither did we. But here we are that's pretty cool.

Justin:

I think sometimes people are surprised or they're like wait, you're going to pay for my whole vacation and I don't have to pay anything. And then the surprise is usually when I show up. I'm giving them additional fun, money, gas or car snacks or the trip or whatever You're living the dream.

Irene:

Oh yeah, I tell myself that every day You're so funny. Yeah, just to get to see people like in that moment, I mean in the toughest time, right to be able to like, because I would you. Just, I just thought of something like with the money right, and it's not. It's often, more often than not, almost always that's not what it's about with these recipients Right, and so, although they may be able to afford it, um, they just probably don't want to or haven't thought that they could, or that's a good point.

Justin:

You know we do not have any parameters as far as income levels, and that is not anything that we even ask questions about. That's not even any of the concern.

Irene:

So there are the cancer doesn't care.

Justin:

It doesn't care, neither do we. Yeah, that's awesome and you bring up a good point. We are a breast cancer foundation, but we have expanded that because of the same thing you just said. So, that's an awareness piece as well.

Irene:

So it doesn't necessarily have to be breast cancer.

Justin:

No, okay, and others.

Irene:

yeah, you said, this year is just really busy.

Justin:

Yes. So last year I delivered a gift of fun to a gal who works at a law office in downtown Columbus and she was talking to the gals in the office. I'm like, can you believe this? Like I have this spa, I'm going to make my husband go with me and get his toes done. She was just really blowing it up.

Irene:

She was so happy yeah.

Justin:

And one of the other gals in the office said well, don't we have that like that fund, that foundation money that we just got with that one family and they want to do some giving and they want it to be for something good in the Columbus area. Wouldn't that match up? And so all of a sudden it's like oh, do you want to apply for? I get an email. Do you want to apply for this grant, grant? I'm like, wow, that's's. Do I look like a grant writer to you?

Justin:

so, with the help of ted, I need help writing this exactly um, with the help of um my executive director, gina, who works in the cincinnati office. And again, you know it's easy to curate in your own community, right?

Justin:

so she's doing a lot of curation and and connection in Cincinnati. But here's me and Columbus hi, you know trying to figure these things out. So she's been great and we've been working together and so I've learned so much about grant writing and and how to apply for a grant and you know what families are looking for, and so it was a perfect match. The family was thrilled about the idea. So that was the first grant I received. Wait for it. So we decide well, that's fun. Let's kind of put the word out that people are generous and kind and we'll just take a little bit of the grant money and we'll get the recipient list out and say come celebrate, like we have more money for giving yeah, yeah do you know more friends still?

Justin:

do you know what's going on now? Know what's new with you? So we had the party. Nia came to the party. It was great.

Irene:

Great.

Justin:

And there I met a friend of a friend who works at Zangmeister. Next thing I know I'm over at Zangmeister and they're like, oh, we'll give you money for that. And I check, check and I'm like, um, did that just happen? So second fund. And then one of the gals also at the party, a community gal from New Albany I don't want to say her name in case she I mean, her battle was public, but um, she just went through a whole full year plus of diagnosis, treatment and recovery. Uh, she said, hey, you know what I would love to do, a fundraiser at my house, and I would love to have you come and.

Justin:

I would love to have you meet the people in my community and that created another $6,000 of fund money. That's great. Just call it our fund money.

Irene:

Fund money. I like it. Yeah, it's just fund money From the fund.

Justin:

From the fund, from the fund. Yes, exactly so you're getting grant money.

Irene:

You're obviously fundraising events.

Justin:

And then she also is somebody who's been in the community for a long time and worked in philanthropy and she said have you ever talked to Craig Moore and the New Albany Community Foundation about this?

Irene:

Yeah, and.

Justin:

I went and I did and we got another grant. Nice Good, so it's just been making it rain?

Irene:

Yeah, as it should. Well, you know what?

Justin:

All the money goes to the recipient, so why wouldn't we be happy about that? Yeah, we should be happy about that.

Irene:

Yeah, so the Columbus chapter.

Justin:

Yes, and it's staying here locally.

Irene:

Yes, Well that's what I was going to ask.

Justin:

So anybody within the Columbus metro area, anybody within, like I've done deliveries as far as Delaware County.

Irene:

Okay.

Justin:

So the New Albany Community Foundation Fund. One of the requirements is to keep it in the New Albany and New Albany school area.

Irene:

Okay.

Justin:

So anybody in the New Albany schools I think it's maybe four or five zip codes included in that area they're eligible for gifts of fun with that kind of.

Irene:

That's awesome.

Justin:

Well, here's the other thing that's even more awesome. Every year Karen was born on April 1st April, fool's Day and so every year in April we throw a huge gala and that's where we really raise the majority of the everybody comes out to party. I mean, if I tell you, we have 700 to 1,000 people. We usually go to the Hard Rock Casino down in Cincinnati.

Irene:

Oh, wow.

Justin:

And get dressed up, and this year's theme was icons, and so of course here's Karen, you know screen as the ultimate icon, and then I mean we have people dressed up as everything.

Irene:

So that's really cool.

Justin:

Yeah, we had like a lot, a lot of fun, and that's usually those ticket prices help drive. Yeah we drive all that money back into the foundation.

Irene:

That's great, and so everybody that wants to attend the gala next year website absolutely Social media. Yeah, I'm sure we can find it all social media. Yeah, yeah, I'm there.

Justin:

Awesome, I can't wait. You will not be disappointed, my friend.

Irene:

I might make a fool of myself. Hey, you'll be a good company, you'll know the other fools Perfect, perfect.

Justin:

Oh, I know what story I wanted to tell you. So when you mentioned skiing, so there's this gal who's nominated Again somebody who is a stranger, somebody I don't know. I see the name and I look at the nomination form and I see that she works at L Brands and at the time my husband was working there and I said do you know this person? He said no, I don't think I do. So next thing, you know, pelotonia is coming up. I'm riding Pelotonia, I go through, as you're going through, as you're getting up towards Kenyon, you know when you're doing the 100-mile route.

Justin:

Oh yeah, yeah, this family, which I did not know the connection, has a water stop on the way to Kenyon.

Irene:

Wow.

Justin:

And every year they're out there, and it might have been one of my first years doing the hundred this was quite a few years ago, um and I stopped and I saw the sister sitting on the steps with a difficult scarf in the shade, not in the sun, not handing out the waters.

Justin:

And I said to the other sister giving out the water, I was kind of like hey. I said can I? I said it doesn't want to sound like a weird question. I said is she doing okay? And then she said oh yeah, that's my sister. You know she's fighting really hard, she's in treatment and that's why we do this and you know she just she loves the riders. Every year it gives her hope. She loves that you guys show up and are raising all this. You know money. And I said okay, thank you. I said well, do you have a pen or a paper? I said write down Karen Wellington Foundation. Please nominate her for something.

Irene:

Oh, wow.

Justin:

So this comes through. I don't even make the connection. I don't, cause I didn't know her name.

Irene:

We never you were just riding, I was just riding, yeah I had to keep going yeah, you're 80 miles in exactly I'm like oh but this is what you're thinking about, though. Right, this is what I'm thinking about yeah, let's do this.

Justin:

So her nomination comes in. She gets nominated. She and her husband had gone to kenyon. I'll make. I'll connect the dots here for you. They got to Kenyon College, they met, fell in love, got married. He's from Africa. She's here locally in this little town near Kenyon. All we have on the vacation list are these ski vacations. He's from Africa. He's like skiing Like I've never skied. I hope I don't break my leg.

Justin:

You know, what's going on. We sent them on a feet. They sent us pictures of them laying in the snow in 15 different directions. Like they laughed the entire time. They said it pushed them out of their comfort zone. They never had so much fun. It was an incredible trip for them. The following year, Kent and my husband Ted are riding because I think it was my 10 year survivor year. So I'm off with my girls like bye.

Irene:

At the start, yeah you know behind.

Justin:

They stop at the same rest, stop not even knowing.

Irene:

Wow, and so at this time, you don't even know that they were a recipient, or at this time now, you know that they were a recipient, right?

Justin:

I didn't know where they lived. I never I see kent shows up the following year and they're standing there and she, they say something about he's wearing something and they said he said I am, I went to kenyon, I'm, I can't want to kenyon wow so his undergrad was kenyon and he went ohio state and he said kent wellington. They were like, oh, you're kent wellington, and then they connect. They told him the story oh my goodness and how much they appreciated the foundation, and so they were able to first connection that's incredible kind of like you know, thank him um, but it happens like that.

Justin:

If I tell you, like almost every single, oh, I bet yeah, I it's just been.

Irene:

I mean, it's hard to meet somebody that isn't affected in some way.

Justin:

Yeah, yeah, which is unfortunate, but it is unfortunate and you know, I kind of, you know, I think it's it's hard for me because I feel like when I was a kid, I only knew two people, like my Uncle, Charlie, and then my neighbor, my mom's best friend, who was also named Irene, who had cancer, and she's the first person I ever saw to lose hair and you know, like her husband was like we need to find out where to get pot because she's really sick, Like we were like what? Like?

Justin:

you know, there's just like the whole, like your world. Yep, your world expands and shrinks when there's cancer, right, it pushes you to doing things or thinking about things you probably would never have to think about on a daily basis, and so I think it's just interesting too, and it creates this sense of empathy, of like when things are like, when we always say to our kids, right, like we really should just focus on the things we can control, we were when we always say to our kids we really should just focus on the things we can control.

Irene:

We're like how do we control this?

Justin:

You're kind of leaning into the I have to have faith, you have to have faith, and you have to have faith in caregivers and people who are going to support you, and it's okay to ask for help.

Irene:

For sure. Yeah, Especially with kids. I can't imagine trying to explain to my kids. I can't explain anything to them really. Another nomination.

Justin:

I'll never forget. There was a young gal. She was in her late 30s. Her mom was an executive at the company where my husband worked. Somebody came to my husband because with the attorney world, sometimes attorneys will have access to different tickets at the shot or whatever.

Justin:

Because they're representing different clients, that kind of thing. And they're like hey, Ted, do we have tickets for Disney on Ice? Because there's a scout that works the executive. The mom worked for the exec. Her daughter and her granddaughter just want to go see Disney on Ice. The granddaughter, who's like four, is obsessed with the Disney princesses.

Irene:

Who doesn't want to go see Disney on ice? The?

Justin:

granddaughter who's like four is obsessed with the Disney princesses. Who doesn't want to go to Disney on ice? I mean I do. So Ted's like let me get back to you. He's asking around, then he goes. You know what? I think we can do one better for you. So we nominate her and we take the entire family to.

Irene:

Disney, that's awesome.

Justin:

We just did the royal princess treatment.

Irene:

I mean, I'm pretty sure let's just go right to the source. I just blew the budget.

Justin:

That was fine, so, and unfortunately was the last vacation for that family. 30, some, 30, some percent of our vacations are last vacations. So it's like what memories do we want to have, right? We don't have the memory of seeing mom laughing and enjoying our time together and putting on makeup and dressing up as a princess, or you know yeah yeah, right wow so, yeah, we're trying to flip the switch. We call ourselves the anti-cancer cancer foundation. I read that.

Irene:

I do like that because I was trying to think like how do I introduce this? Yes and then I didn't have to because we just started talking, but I was like and I saw that I was like that's really cool.

Justin:

Right, yeah.

Irene:

That's awesome. Do you mind sharing kind of your story, your battle with cancer?

Justin:

No, thank you. So you know, my awareness again should have been heightened, right? Because the things that I saw when I was younger and experienced with cancer but didn't really connect the dots when you're a mom and you've got young kids and you're busy and you're focusing on all these things and your husband's working hard and you're just trying to balance everything. And I literally had my eight and my six-year-old and my little guy and he was obsessed with a mole on my back and he just kept saying Mommy marker and trying to pick it off my back, oh wow.

Justin:

And I realized at 40-some years old like I do my pap and my mammogram every year, but I never had my skin checked. Yeah, so I was like, oh, at a baseline, I should just go and my mammogram every year, but I never had my skin checked, yeah. So I was like, oh, at a baseline, I should just go and at least introduce myself and get a dermatologist right.

Justin:

Now's a good time to start. I grew up on Long Island. I was in the sun Back in the day, we didn't wear sunscreen, we didn't wear sunscreen dude. So yeah, baby oil and iodine. We're living our best lives. So so I go to the dermatologist and I remember Michael sitting on my lap while they're doing the procedure, like I have my. What am I doing with my baby? Right, I'm at home with my kids, I'm holding my baby, they're taking this tumor off my back. I didn't know at the time. And come to the, you know they're not calling me back, they're not calling me back. They're not calling me back, they're not calling me back. I call the doctor's office and I'm like you know, I haven't heard anything. And the assistant gets on and says you know what? That's going to take another week or two. We sent it to Sloan Kettering in New York.

Justin:

Oh, wow I called my husband at work and I said I have cancer, yeah, and he's like what? And I'm like, no, I'm pretty sure it's not great. So a month later I'm at the James and they do a test where they inject your original tumor site. And that was a stage three, almost stage four was traveling, was in my neck oh my goodness, tumor under my left arm, so it was already gone into my limb system. Within a year I'd have been gone.

Justin:

That's what my dermatologist told me they call them terrorist moles. They never change. On the surface it didn't really look like anything to me. Um, so the skin being your largest living organ, Yep Loves to grow and change. Wow. So yeah, they took three tumors in one surgery and then I was cancer-free.

Irene:

How long ago was this?

Justin:

16 years.

Irene:

Wow.

Justin:

Yeah, wow Lucky.

Irene:

Yeah, yeah, well, congratulations, thank you, thank you yeah.

Justin:

Yeah, I wish that could be everyone's like's little oh, this isn't going well. Oh, now it's going a little better. Now you think you can exhale, right?

Irene:

Yeah.

Justin:

But it's funny because even my mom had breast cancer and then unfortunately she passed last year pancreatic. But you always think, when your body has the capability to produce something like that, you always have that awareness of when there's a tweak or an injury or something right, you're immediately your immediate thought goes to that concern. Um, but you know what Karen's taught me? We can't live that way. Right, it's just like we have all the moments here now and that's what we have to lean into Right, we can't get them back.

Irene:

So yeah, I mean you're after, after that experience, you've got a. You definitely have a unique perspective on life. I mean, yeah, how would you not? Yeah right.

Justin:

Well, so it almost became like a, like a comedy, like a almost like like. It's not like like with my kids, you know, because my little one was like mommy, you have a big boo-boo on your back, She'll get the thing. It's humor right, so we'd go to the pool or something. He'd be like put a little towel on it. I'm like we're in the water. She's like. That doesn't look good. I'm like I'll get some Band-Aids.

Irene:

Yeah, don't worry.

Justin:

Right right, right right. But again, some people are living this as the normal part of their life, right?

Irene:

Yeah.

Justin:

It's like everybody has challenges. We don't know what they are. We don't know when they're coming, we don't know what they're going to be, but it's the way we face them and move through them that we get to the next point of our life and it does make us more empathetic and caring about.

Justin:

You know people who are going through tough things and I'm just happy I'm able to show up. I and I'm just happy I'm able to show up. I'm happy I'm able to honor my friend. She has a beautiful family that she left behind. Her son Robbie and her daughter Angeline have been part of the foundation all along and just incredible, incredible kids.

Irene:

Wow, robbie, angeline, do they live in Cincinnati, mm-hmm, nice.

Justin:

Robbie. Recently, he and his girlfriend Ellie, they moved out west of Colorado because she is and she's doing, she's becoming a doctor oh, wow so he's been following her career, but he works remotely with Macy's and he did the co-op program. They both went to UC like wow, they're just really ingrained in that community and they've shown up for that community in so many different ways yeah, that's, that's great yeah angeline had um go ahead I was just gonna say, and her husband still lives in cincinnati okay, so in cincinnati.

Irene:

So um, you were gonna show me a picture like 20 the glasses, so I don't do this justice.

Justin:

So, like I said, her daughter, Angeline, is what I would call almost like that spitting image of her mom. You know, in spirit and in person. And again, losing your mom at such a tender age, it's hard to kind of come back from that. So she worked with the foundation for a long time and then, when she was getting ready to leave last year, she wrote this thank you, team note. So I'll let you take a look at that.

Irene:

I can't find my All right, so this is from Angeline Wellington yes, and she's thanking.

Justin:

She is thanking the team of Karen Wellington Foundation, individuals, myself and others who are doing the work that her mom would have loved.

Irene:

Is this going to make me choke up? Maybe.

Justin:

You read it.

Irene:

Hello everyone. As the holidays resigned supreme reigned supreme, the new year came quickly. I was thrown into a mountain of New York and I'm just now getting some space to tie up final loose ends and fully transition out. I will be stopping by the office this week. I have letters for each of you, but up top I wanted to express how grateful I am for this team.

Irene:

I started working with the Karen Wellington Foundation right out of college and, while that may seem like an obvious choice, that wasn't always the case. Once COVID came into the picture, I was at a crossroads regarding what to do. We had teams transitioning, brands changing and a whole host of other things to figure out. To put it simply, I've learned so much in these past six years and that growth wouldn't have been possible without each of you. I find myself sounding like Katie I say consumer journey five times a week I assume that's something she's said Hoping to be as bold as Lori and as productive as Emily on a daily basis.

Irene:

I could go into great detail on how each of you have truly impacted my life in a myriad of ways, but I'm sure I'll get to share that with you all in the years to come. My mom would have effing loved this team. She didn't say effing, she put the word out there Creative, smart, irreverent, bold and consistently growing and open to change. I'm very aware that at times I've seen my mom's life rose-colored glasses. I believe the best parts of her are laced through this mission, a mission that thrives because of this team At her core. My mom was kind, something I firmly believe she learned on her own at a young age, and in tandem with that kindness came a deep calling to impact the lives of strangers. Robbie and I saw this up close on a daily basis, mostly because we had to attend mandatory errands Starbucks Tuesday morning, home goods etc.

Irene:

I watched the joy it brought her to go above and beyond for people, and the joy it evoked in those who we just met. She wanted nothing in return, and I think that's why the Karen Wellington Foundation works a cycle of kindness that does not require any sort of return on our investment. I'll leave you with a metaphor that my mom and dad have both shared with me throughout my life in their own ways. While I treasure many things of my mom's her journals, her paintings and so much more the one thing I hold most dearly is her dining room table. Many moons ago she bought a table with leaves that can be added or removed to make it longer. I'm sure she never imagined that when she was gone, her daughter would turn this table into a metaphor, but that's exactly what happened.

Irene:

My mom was the person who always made room for others. If there was enough space, she'd add another leaf and expand the table, always welcoming more. And the table wasn't a sharp-edged rectangle but an oval where every seat fit effortlessly, no matter how many were added, and on the off chance, the table ran out of room. My dad always had that shitty little card table Robbie knows the one He'd bring it up from the basement, ruining my mom's aesthetic, of course, but making room nonetheless. That's my vision for KWF a place where everyone feels welcome, they know they belong and everyone has a seat at the table. Easier said than done, but that's the essence of the mission, a mission that continues to grow because each of you show up and pour into it in your own unique ways. Thank you for an amazing six years. I'm so excited to see this team expand and grow and I'm incredibly excited to come back in a myriad of ways later this year. Love you all. Wow, um man, that's awesome she's a fabulous young lady just like her mama wow, that's that's.

Irene:

That's incredible. I'm sure everybody really enjoyed hearing that thanks, yeah that's great.

Justin:

She's a great writer. She's doing PR and marketing now and she's kind of spreading her wings.

Irene:

Yeah, that is written really well. I butchered some of it.

Justin:

No, you're not you should go on and follow her website. She loves all things about travel. She's just very much a no time like let's go do this, let's go do that. Just make just very much like no time, like let's go do this, let's go do that, just make it happen.

Irene:

Constantly moving, yeah, constantly living the width of her life. Yeah, yeah, and that's awesome. Um, shitty old table. I love that metaphor. That's really good, uh, because, like, as I'm reading that, I'm picturing our, our kitchen table and it just has our families grown and like we're, we're that like anybody's welcome anytime, we're always the one that way Anybody's welcome anytime, we're always the one that hosts and it's like, yeah, everybody, come on over.

Justin:

Come on in. Yeah, pull up a chair. Yeah, have a holding chair After all the kids we've had.

Irene:

I don't know if I have any leaves left to put in the table.

Justin:

You might need a second table.

Irene:

That's right, you'll find a crappy old one in the basement the other thing I think that karen did.

Justin:

It really impacted me for years to come. She took those 10 years to write kids to her letter, letters to her kids in the future oh, wow so she had a whole box of letters, one for angeline, one for robbie and one for kent. Kent did a ted talk during covid when he opened his last letter from Karen.

Irene:

I'll send you the link on that.

Justin:

It's a good one, but it was like that gift of the future. You open this one when you learn to drive. You open this one when you graduate high school.

Irene:

You open this one when you.

Justin:

She knew she wasn't going to be there and she didn't tell anyone that she had left them or written them. Angeline found them downstairs in the basement.

Irene:

Oh my goodness, Wow. Well, I knew Karen had to be a pretty incredible person, especially somebody that, just if you were that close with her, I had a good feeling about it. So, yeah, that's a great way to wrap up. I don't know if we're going to beat that.

Justin:

I don't think so either.

Irene:

Well, I thank you so much. Anything that I can do to help spread the word and share, like as events come up and you know if we can do anything, you let us know. If people want to give, what do you need? How do they do it?

Justin:

So everything. I'll leave you with some nomination cards. I have a nomination QR code right on here with this, if you want to help someone living with breast cancer. I'm trying to get this translated into Spanish and I want to collaborate with I've already tried to collaborate with Healthy New Albany.

Irene:

Oh nice.

Justin:

Pamela Kahn's been very supportive and said let's get this in Spanish, let's get it over to the food pantry.

Irene:

Yes.

Justin:

So, again, we're very like, authentic and genuine, and you tell your friend and your friend's going to tell this friend, and you know, hopefully we don't have a lot of people who will need this, but when they do, we're going to be there to show up for them.

Irene:

Yeah, yeah.

Justin:

So there's like nominating. You know again the volunteering part. It's so funny. I've told my husband I think I've done every single delivery, which is great because the women I meet are incredible and their stories are amazing and hard and difficult. But just the resilience that you learn from other people and how they make things work in their life is quite a life lesson itself. But they go on usually to nominate somebody else. So, like I said, it just kind of goes, that's kind of how it does. We're not looking for like we want 100 people to. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, no, I mean, it just kind of goes, that's kind of how it does. We're not looking for like we want 100 people to. You know what?

Irene:

I'm saying yeah, no, I mean, it seems like just finding these people right and they're not hard to find, but connecting them with the foundation seems like what you know is the best way to get the word out.

Justin:

We get this weekly report and again because I ride with the Cycling Peloton, and again because I um ride with the cycling peloton, the shout out to girls with gears, um, here locally in new albany that we are doing the fundraising on the cancer research side. You know, it's kind of like whether we're raising funds. It's like I say to my kids we can do two things at the same time. We can raise funds for cancer research and try to get rid of cancers that we can eliminate, and we can have put fun on our calendar.

Irene:

Yeah, right, absolutely.

Justin:

So that's what we're trying to do.

Irene:

It's fantastic. Um, I am certain that, uh, it's funny. Uh, my wife doesn't listen to a lot of these. Sometimes she does, but like she'll want to, like she'll want me to be like all right, how was it? And she's like did you ask this? Did you ask this, did you ask this?

Irene:

And I'm like no, I know I'm not like so I just ask for anybody that listens to this, if they have additional questions, if they have feedback, if they have, we'll put this stuff on social. We'll put it out there. So I hope we get some engagement. I think we will. Thank you,