FALL 2026

A PROFOUND LOSS, A COMMUNITY’S COMMITMENT

Suellen Kaeb has devoted nearly four decades to bringing life into our community as a labor and delivery nurse at Sarasota Memorial. Her decision to dedicate her life outside of the hospital to breast health philanthropy, however, was marked by profound personal loss.

On a December morning in 1991, Suellen watched a 3-year-old girl clutch her father’s hand and insist on bravely walking behind her mother’s casket. The little girl’s mother was Suellen’s aunt, Boni, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer at 30 with a newborn child. She died two years later, at 32.

“I said to myself, I will make a difference some day…in my community,” Suellen promised the moment she followed her aunt’s casket out of the church.

That promise began humbly and led to transformational outcomes. Suellen was new to Sarasota and joined a women’s golf group to network. When she shared Boni’s story, her new friends suggested organizing a golf tournament to raise funds for breast health services. The first tournament raised $12,000. Suellen delivered the check directly to SMH Radiology, earmarked for mammograms for the underinsured. The gift doubled the following year, igniting a lasting commitment to breast healthcare in the community.

Breast Health Sarasota, Inc. was formally established in 1999, led by an all-volunteer board, raising money to fund eight mammograms a month at the onset. Over the past 27 years, the programs and services have grown significantly, fueled by the generosity and fundraising efforts of local golf, tennis, and social groups.

The turning point, Suellen says, was partnering with Sarasota Memorial. A volunteer board had no way to determine who was medically or financially in need, but the hospital did. That partnership meant patients could move seamlessly from a free screening to an ultrasound, to a biopsy, and beyond, all within one trusted system, rather than being left to navigate the journey alone.

Today, that partnership is visible through the mobile mammogram bus visiting underserved communities several times a year, participation in the annual Survivors & Thrivers Luncheon each October, support of the Healthcare Foundation’s annual Golf Tournament, and a cookbook it provides to patients seeking enhanced oncology nutrition, among others.

Suellen attributes the success of Breast Health Sarasota to the incredibly philanthropic community that surrounds it. When reflecting on the decades of support provided, she often references the Greek roots of the word philanthropy: philos, meaning “loving,” and anthropos, meaning “human”—together, “love of humanity.” A fitting description of the generous Sarasota community, the incredible work of Breast Health Sarasota, and a passionate and dedicated community leader, Suellen Kaeb.