Entrepreneur Kathleen Brown knows first-hand the mental and emotional toll a cancer diagnosis can bring.
In 1995, at the age of just 13, she was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, and was read her last rights after her condition worsened due to complications from surgery. She was unconscious in the ICU for 10 days before recovering, in what Brown says is nothing short of a miracle.
But throughout her cancer diagnosis, she felt that no one fully understood her experience and what it was like to battle such an aggressive disease.
"I've never really felt like there was any group or any community where I could connect with other people and talk about this stuff," she said. "I wasn’t always comfortable talking about the dark sides of cancer, and the mental health and emotional struggle I’ve gone through."
So to help others like her, Brown has launched Buddhi, a digital platform for cancer patients and survivors to connect, learn and better cope with their disease. The site includes a content library of articles and videos where users can hear from other survivors and get information on things like dealing with anxiety and getting back into the dating world. It has a forum where people can talk to others about their experience and get advice. And it offers virtual workshops around mental health and wellness.
The goal of Buddhi is to feel less like a traditional support group, and to get more emotional support beyond the "get well soon" and "you're a fighter" platitudes cancer patients hear so often, Brown said.
"We’re talking to them like a human. It’s more like peer-to-peer support," she said. "It's not clinical. It's really intended to make them feel better, to smile, to laugh—and to feel like everything’s going to be ok, and not feel ashamed."
Brown, who was previously the director of partnerships at St. Jude and before that was an account executive at ESPN, has raised some initial funding from angel investors including Nora Napientek, the founder of popular servingware company Nora Fleming. She plans to continue raising funds later this year.
Buddhi, which is currently in public beta, plans to launch additional features that will be helpful for cancer patients, including a wellness wallet and marketplace that lets users receive money from their friends and family and spend it on products offered through the Buddhi platform, like meditation apps, gym classes, food and other items. It's also planning to offer a social support tool that lets you update your profile with a gif that explains your mood that day, which can help friends and family better understand how to support you.
The Covid-19 pandemic has made life for cancer patients even more challenging, as hospitals limit the number of people who can attend treatment sessions with patients, along with the added anxiety for someone who's immunocompromised navigating a world with a fast-spreading and deadly virus. For those patients, and anyone who's been impacted by cancer, Buddhi aims to be a resource where you can "bring your real self," Brown said, and hear authentic advice from other survivors and get valuable emotional support.
"The voice of Buddhi is different than anything else you’ll see in the cancer space," she said.
