Rhoda Sue and Henri Bertuch Providing a Legacy of Help, Strength, and Inspiration

"Our daughter, Cindy, was a take-charge person, even at the end of her life, and we wanted to help others who were embarking on their end-of-life journey."

Henri and Rhoda Sue Bertuch established the CINDY Bertuch Rosencrans Life Expressions Program at Boca Raton Regional Hospital after they lost their daughter, Cindy Rosencrans, at the age of 51, to triple negative metastatic breast cancer.

Cindy faced the end of her own life with grace and courage. Creating a DVD for her family, she recorded her most treasured memories, passed along words of wisdom to her children, and planned for every detail of her final weeks with her family. Cindy's strength inspired her parents to search out a way to help others.

The couple wanted to give patients and their families an opportunity to do some of the amazing things Cindy did to enrich her experience and document her life. They wanted to start a program at the Eugene M. & Christine E. Lynn Cancer Institute that would make a difference for others and memorialize Cindy in a way that speaks to who their daughter was. Rhoda Sue shares, "Cindy was strong and determined and took charge of her life. The CINDY Program helps people to access strength they don't know they have, just as Cindy did."

Henri and Rhoda Sue met with professional staff at the Lynn Cancer Institute to create the CINDY Bertuch Rosencrans Life Expressions Program. The CINDY Program has been designed to provide services to meet the emotional, personal, educational and logistical needs of individuals and their families at all phases of diagnosis and treatment. The program ensures that patients and their families are not alone and helps them learn of the numerous resources that are available.

"We wanted to remember Cindy in a way that would help others," Rhoda Sue says. "The CINDY Program is making a difference for many families. This project has become part of our own recovery."

Henri adds, "We still cry at times, but it helps us to know that this program is helping others as we keep her memory alive. We gain strength from knowing these things are going on and it helps us to deal with our loss."

The CINDY Program has been fully funded by Henri and Rhoda Sue with an annual gift and will continue to be funded through a planned gift to the hospital. The CINDY Program stands for:

• Care and advanced planning
• Implementing resources
• Navigating the system
• Documenting life experiences
• Your unique needs