Cheryl's Medical Journey Fund

Cheryl MacNeil is a 54 year old, red-headed Leo who lives in Troy with her three beautiful dogs that she rescued. Throughout her life, Cheryl has been taking care of animals and people, one way or another. Having grown up in Schenectady, she eventually found her way to Troy, a place that she now happily calls home. She is a communitarian. Cheryl cares about building inclusive communities that value diversity and seeing differences asstrengths. She appreciates Troy's eccentricities and history, and loves nothing more than to walk around town, talking to shop keepers, sharing coffee and conversation in a local eatery, or walking her dogs down by the river. Cheryl is well known and loved for her work in building healthy communities, helping at risk youth while beautifying Troy's alleys, assisting with the
development of a coop, rescuing dogs, and working for the mental health of all. She is a fierce and effective advocate for people who have been marginalized by stigma and misunderstanding, such as people with psychiatric disabilities. A national leader in the peer support movement, Cheryl's research has helped grow the peer support movement and now, the role of peers
as providers of mental health services in New York State. She believes deeply in our capacity for recovery, our innate resilience, and our fundamental interdependence with others and the environment. For the last 12 years, Cheryl has been teaching research in the occupational therapy program at The Sage Colleges. She is valued greatly by fellow faculty members for her broad service to the Sage Community, keen intelligence, capacity to see the big
picture and identify systems problems, and for her ability to build democratic communities. Cheryl also has a great sense of humor at times when it is most needed. Please help us help Cheryl now as she embarks on the trip of a lifetime.

Please help support this amazing woman as she has relapsed from ovarian cancer and is on her way to Vienna, Austria to get the medical attention she needs.  She truly deserves this opportunity and we wish her nothing but the best!