Bequest Reflects Deep Gratitude for Moffitt

Few things are more life-changing than a cancer diagnosis, and when Tom Creel was diagnosed with late-stage melanoma in 2013, it came as a massive shock to both him and his wife, Charlene. “Tom was otherwise healthy,” Charlene shares. “We believed this diagnosis was a death sentence.”

Though the couple knew of Moffitt, they thought patients needed a referral to be treated. “Fortunately,” says Charlene, “that wasn’t the case. We learned anyone can call on Moffitt for treatment.”

Tom was admitted to the Cutaneous Oncology Clinic, and he and Charlene focused on accessing novel treatments and clinical trial opportunities for him. “He was very willing to go down that path,” says Charlene. “We were profoundly thankful that the extraordinary treatment Tom received gave us a monumental gift—three more years of an active, loving, and productive life.”

Throughout Tom’s care experience, Charlene notes that every Moffitt staff member and caregiver they dealt with impressed them. “The personal attention was amazing—and not limited to Tom—I was treated with great compassion too. Tom passed away in 2016, and throughout his three years of care at Moffitt, we had full access to and support from his medical team in ways I’d never thought possible.”

After Tom’s passing, Charlene began updating her will. “I reflected on what was important to Tom, and the first institution that came to mind as very deserving of support was Moffitt,” she explains.

Charlene and Tom met while working for the same medical products manufacturing company—she in logistics and operations, and he in sales—but Charlene’s expertise in process improvement gave her a special understanding of what’s needed to create the seamless care continuum that Moffitt is known. It also led her to join the Patient Advisory Council and participate in Moffitt’s annual Sarasota fundraising luncheon.

Happy to be giving back to Moffitt, Charlene had no idea she would be seeking care for herself just seven years after Tom’s death. “In early 2023, I applied sunscreen to the back of my leg and felt a lump. Unbelievably, I was diagnosed with a rare tumor,” says Charlene. She contacted Tom’s physician and miraculously, he’d treated three patients with this diagnosis. “Fortunately, these tumors are almost always benign, and thankfully, mine was too,” Charlene reveals. “I knew I’d get excellent care at Moffitt, and I did.”

Charlene succinctly sums up what Moffitt has meant to her and Tom. “Though Tom’s and my walks at Moffitt—and their outcomes—were different, I wanted to ensure that groundbreaking research will continue, and future patients will receive the same unparalleled care.”