Cancer survivor Mary Beth O’Reilly reflects on founding BCFO as she plans to step away

Crystal Webster: About 350 families receive support annually in BCFO service area.

No one can say Mary Beth O’Reilly isn’t determined.

Determination and inner strength drove the longtime nurse and philanthropist to found the Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks nearly two decades ago. She’s also battled cancer three times and lived to tell the tale.

Her third battle with the disease is a recent one, as O’Reilly said a previously benign tumor on her spine the past nine years was determined earlier this year to be metastatic and malignant. To treat it, she went to the Mayo Clinic campus in Minnesota on Sept. 17.

Staff there froze the tumor at 100 degrees below zero to attempt to destroy it. The procedure is called cryoablation, and she said the Mayo Clinic is one of only three places in the world to perform the treatment.

O’Reilly said she and her doctors are optimistic the treatment was a success, and she’ll have a follow-up MRI soon to determine the status.

The Nixa resident is almost matter-of-fact when discussing her ability to overcome medical challenges, which included a breast cancer diagnosis in 1995 and a lung cancer battle nine years later.

“This should give people hope,” she said of battling cancer three times. “You do what you’ve got to do.”

That same straightforward philosophy could very easily apply to her founding BCFO in 1999.

Nearly 20 years
BCFO’s early days were difficult.

O’Reilly said some told her they didn’t think it would work, or they failed to see her vision for shining a light on breast cancer and aiding those fighting the disease. She established the foundation after a young friend of hers, Kristen O’Brien Hardy, died from breast cancer at 31 years old.

“We need to educate people,” she said. “Anyone can get breast cancer. There’s not a specific age.”

About 1,000 people are diagnosed each year with breast cancer in the BCFO service area, which covers southwest Missouri and portions of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas. About 350 families receive annual support from the nonprofit organization, said Crystal Webster, BCFO’s executive director since 2008.

The support equates to about $70,000 monthly in direct patient services, she said, and $5,000 monthly for indirect services of a mentoring program, support group and community education.

BCFO provides assistance in the forms of rent and mortgage payments, utilities, car repairs, gas cards and car payments.

A Legacy of Hope Society endowment was created in 1999 to provide financial assistance to local women and families affected by breast cancer, O’Reilly said.

“I thought if we got $1 million in the endowment, we’d be in great shape,” O’Reilly said of her early expectations. That total was reached about four years after the nonprofit started. Today, the endowment sits at nearly $18 million, with a goal set to hit $25 million in 2020, the 20th anniversary for BCFO.

O’Reilly also has set that milestone year as the time for her to step back from BCFO work.

“I don’t ever want to get burned out,” she said.

O’Reilly’s persistence over the years led to fundraisers, such as Hooked on Dance, BCFO’s biggest annual event.

The dust has just settled on this year’s Hooked on Dance event, held Oct. 5. Webster said the fundraiser brought in $705,611, and it has raised $7.5 million over the past 18 years.

“It says a lot about sustainability,” O’Reilly said as the organization nears its 20th anniversary.

Beyond O’Reilly
Starting out, O’Reilly said she tried to take on everything: fundraising, patient services and running the office. It resulted in a lot of phone calls to get people interested in supporting the nonprofit.

“Begging for money, I hate it,” she said. “I’ve hated it ever since we started having to do it. But I just kept trying.”

None of the endowment funding is earmarked for administrative or overhead expenses. Webster said Community Foundation of the Ozarks, Affinity Wealth Partners and the DeLong Group at Morgan Stanley manage the endowment.

“I was determined to run it like a business with open books and everything is accountable,” O’Reilly said. “Accountability is a really important thing.”

After a couple of years, she realized it was too much for one person and BCFO added an executive director position. Today, Webster leads the BCFO staff of six and handles the day-to-day operations, while O’Reilly remains active with fundraising and leading the board of directors.

Webster said she regularly consults with O’Reilly, her mentor.

“BCFO is the strong organization it is today because she had the foresight to put these programs in place 18 years ago,” Webster said. “Her planning has set this organization up to achieve its mission and the goals it has set forth.”

Part of that devotion has included an annual Christmas party she and husband Charlie host in October – well ahead of the holiday – at their Nixa home for current and prospective donors. This year’s gathering drew about 200 people. She said it was a challenge because of her current health battles, compounded by recently being diagnosed with acute bronchitis – as well as recovery from a fractured sacrum on her lower spine.

But even as she navigates her health issues, O’Reilly speaks like a woman who has more important things on her docket. As she works to shed herself of the pesky bout of bronchitis, O’Reilly is focused on a family vacation to Ireland in November she has no desire to miss.

Again, no one can say she’s not determined.