No one should have to go through cancer alone. That was the sentiment that drove Dick Lippin six years ago as he sought to establish a tribute to his wife of 34 years, music PR maven Ronnie Lippin, after her death from a rare form of breast cancer.
Lippin, head of the Lippin Group praisery, and his daughter, Alexandra, established the Ronnie Lippin Cancer Information and Resource Line in partnership with Tower Cancer Research Foundation. The website and telephone hotline is designed as a free central resource for individuals and families grappling with a cancer diagnosis, offering information and referrals on everything from treatment options to transportation and housing services.
“I realized that after having gone through about a year and a half of going with Ronnie from doctor to doctor, it was so hard to get the advice we needed,” Dick Lippin says. “I realized that if it was happening to us, there were a lot of other people who also didn’t know where to turn.”
This year, Lippin and Tower Cancer Research have expanded the initiative in partnership with the non-profit org Cancer Support Community to include free in-person counseling services at its offices in West Los Angeles and Pasadena. Funded by the Lippin Family Trust, the program will offer 250 hours of counseling sessions, with an eye toward eventually extending to more Cancer Support locations.
“These programs are the first of their kind in this field that provide help to the entire familiy from leading experts in their fields,” he says. “It means a lot to me and Alex that Ronnie’s legacy carries on in this way.”
