Cancer Care Packages That Are Fabulous and Functional

5-time cancer survivor Liz Benditt created the Balm Box to provide patients with gifts they’ll actually use

Jessica Blatt Press,

AARP

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En español

Published July 16, 2024

Liz Benditt smiles next to an inset image of products found in a balm box care package

Courtesy of The Balm Box

For Liz Benditt, ice packs were the final straw.

“I looked like an idiot. I was constantly walking around with extra padding, because I couldn’t find ice packs that were small enough to fit inside my bra that also wouldn’t leak through my clothes,” she says now, years after the torturous radiation treatments, which left her skin purple and “falling off” in pieces.

Faulty ice packs were just one of the many indignities Benditt experienced over the course of the last 15-plus years, as the former marketing executive was diagnosed with and subsequently treated for melanoma, thyroid cancer, basal cell carcinoma and breast cancer (twice).

More Care Packages for Everyone

For male patients

Rock The Treatment has curated a line of Men’s Chemo Packages (starting at $69.99), which include treats like calming anti-nausea tea, balms for skin and lips, sophisticated coloring books and colored pencils, soft knit hats, soothing lozenges and more

For the child of a patient

Spoonful of Comfort’s “Cookies and Cuddles” care package includes a snuggly blanket, a stuffed monkey (that can be heated for extra comfort), six cookies and cheerful messages, starting at $104.99. Bonus: Kids can easily take their new goodies on the go to waiting rooms or when staying overnight away from home while their parent gets treatment.

For the caregiver

Think of Happy Hygge Gifts’ “Sending Love and Hugs” care package as a warm embrace in a box, with its knit blanket, ceramic mug, choice of coffee, tea or hot chocolate, fuzzy socks and cookies, for $59.

But it wasn’t until the pandemic, when the world hit pause, that Benditt, 51, had time to reflect meaningfully on what products she wished she’d had during her treatments, and what other patients might need as well. She posted a survey on her social media profiles and sent it to every email address in her contacts.

Respondents were guided to one of two questionnaires: One for those who’d experienced cancer, asking what products they wished they’d had and what they didn’t need. The other guided caregivers and friends to share what gifts they’d given to someone with cancer. With the world home on lockdown, the survey went viral — Benditt got 600 results. And across the board, the findings were crystal clear.

“When I asked cancer patients what they wanted and needed during treatment, the top-performing items were all functional: lip balm, lotions, fleece blankets, ice packs and so on.” The things that got the worst scores across the board were worry stones, poetry and cancer-themed tchotchkes like “kicking cancer” tote bags and coffee mugs.

The most common gifts people said they gave: flowers and food. “Which are lovely,” Benditt says, “but when you’re undergoing cancer treatment, the smell of either can be off-putting, and there are only so many lasagnas your family can eat.”

With the survey as her foundation, funding from an angel investor and the additional financial cushion from a part-time job teaching marketing courses at The University of Kansas School of Business, Benditt left her full-time career and got to work, drawing up a business plan and researching products that aligned with people’s needs and her own experience. She bought a slew of samples, evaluated them and assessed what looked good and felt premium. In October 2020, the Balm Box was born.

Today, it’s a line of high-end care packages featuring beautiful, practical products. There’s “The Best Mastectomy Care Package,” for example, at $84.99, which includes a side protector pillow designed to redirect one’s body weight away from aching body parts; a seat belt barrier for pain-free driving; the small, reusable, no-sweat ice pack Benditt wishes she’d had; botanical body cream like the one that ultimately relieved Benditt’s raging pain; lip balm; an adult coloring book and pencils; cozy socks; a weighted eye pillow; and more. Benditt also launched a direct-to-consumer line, selling the pillows and drain holders her company manufactures on its own to retailers like CVS.com.

To date, Benditt and her team of part-time workers has shipped thousands of care packages nationwide. As she thinks about scaling, Benditt says she’s considering a few paths — maybe expanding her direct-to-consumer lines, perhaps creating lines targeted to patients’ needs stemming from specific cancers.

For now, she remains driven by consumer feedback. One of the products she’s most proud of is the company’s new surgical drain holder.

“It’s so humiliating to take a shower and need another person to stand there holding your drains because you have nowhere to put them. [The alternative], having them hang off your body, really hurts. So something as simple as a lanyard with clips that can hold the drains in place so that you can have a private shower — it’s so small but also so huge,” she says. “I am regularly blown away by our customers — the caregivers who tell us giving the Balm Box made them feel less helpless, and the patients who tell us how genuinely useful our product line has been, and how they feel empowered.”

Spreading Hugs

Every family’s situation is unique, but there are some common threads among caregivers and the children of those dealing with a serious illness. Moffitt Cancer Center social worker Donna DiClemente says that caregivers often have limited time, additional responsibilities and an enormous amount of guilt. And while every child experiences a family member’s illness differently, Moffitt offers each child of its adult patients a backpack full of thoughtful, age-appropriate items designed to “offer comfort, encourage expression and promote stress reduction.”

With that in mind, here are some fail-safe suggestions for instant TLC.

For caregivers

DiClemente recommends considering a digital care package that caregivers can easily access while in waiting rooms and in the car, where they’re likely spending a lot of time. “Caregivers spend a lot of time researching ways they can help their loved one, but not a lot on how they can help themselves,” she says.

She suggests doing the work for them and preparing a personalized resource guide, including, say, a gift card for a therapy app, links to podcasts and playlists for different moods, information on online support groups and a digital gift card for groceries or home delivery. Also, while home-cooked meals are lovely — in theory — there are only so many casseroles one can eat or freeze. A company like Goldbelly.com ships food from more than 900 world-famous and mom-and-pop outposts nationwide and may provide a respite from yet another chicken dish.

For kids

Taking a page out of Moffitt’s book, look for an age-appropriate gift that offers comfort, expression and stress-relief. For younger children, Play-Doh Starter Set ($8, target.com) and Crayola toys, like the Scribble Scrubbie Glow Lagoon Pets (starting at $18, walmart.com) are always a hit. For elementary school kids, you can’t go wrong with gifts from LEGO or slime- and putty-making kits, such as Crazy Aaron’s Hide Inside! Mixed By Me Kit ($25, amazon.com). And for tweens and teens, head to Uncommon Goods for a beautiful set of Positive Affirmation Colored Pencils ($15, uncommongoods.com), a sketch pad, a journal, or a sophisticated coloring book.

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Jessica Blatt Press is an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, O: The Oprah Magazine, Parents, Redbook, Glamour, and more.

Cancer Care Packages That Are Fabulous and Functional

5-time cancer survivor Liz Benditt created the Balm Box to provide patients with gifts they’ll actually use

More Care Packages for Everyone

Spreading Hugs

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