Brett Wilson was diagnosed with cancer at 22 months old and given a prognosis of five years to live. More than five decades later, she is a two-time cancer survivor who moved from West Virginia to Pittsburgh and built a nonprofit that has helped more than 900 families navigate the disease she once faced alone as a child.
Wilson, now 53, founded the Walking Miracles Family Foundation Cancer Support Center in 2012, according to CBS Pittsburgh. Since then, the organization has raised more than $1.4 million and directed over 80 percent of its disbursements straight to patient programs across all 55 counties in West Virginia and Western Pennsylvania, according to the Walking Miracles Family Foundation. The nonprofit operates as a registered 501c3, offering its services free of charge to patients and caregivers.
A Childhood Marked by Isolation
Wilson was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 1974 at age two, and then with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma again in 1981 at age nine. In a March 2026 interview, she described being bullied and socially isolated as a child, singled out by peers and even her own school bus driver as “the cancer kid,” an experience that planted the seed for the support center she would eventually build. Wilson has said that survivorship extends beyond the end of treatment, a philosophy that shapes how the foundation continues to check in on families long after chemotherapy ends.
The toll of her childhood treatment didn't end with remission. At 40, Wilson needed a new heart valve because of the extensive radiation treatments she received decades earlier. That kind of delayed cardiac damage is well documented: chest-directed radiation therapy can raise long-term valvular heart disease risk as much as fivefold at moderate doses, with the danger climbing sharply 20 to 30 years after treatment, per the European Medical Journal. The American Heart Association has reported that childhood cancer survivors face a sevenfold higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease than the general population, and nearly 12 percent of those treated with radiation and anthracycline chemotherapy develop clinical heart failure by age 45.
Filling Gaps Rural Families Can't Afford
West Virginia records an average of 82 new childhood cancer diagnoses each year, and rural pediatric oncology patients nationally tend to face long travel times because of a shortage of local subspecialists, according to state health data. That travel burden is central to why Walking Miracles built its “Package of Hope,” a roughly $500 sponsorship per patient that bundles fuel and lodging travel cards, a tablet loaded with appointment and navigation resources, and adaptive shirts with zip access for chemotherapy port valves, letting medical staff reach central lines without patients needing to fully undress during infusions.
Wilson has spoken about the financial devastation cancer inflicts on families beyond medical bills, noting that one family the foundation assists has gone four months without income. Families can apply online for help, and social workers in West Virginia and in Pittsburgh, including those affiliated with Allegheny Health Network and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, can also refer families directly to the foundation. The organization specifically serves childhood, adolescent, and young adult patients from birth through age 39, a population that often falls into a gap between pediatric and adult support systems.
Dual Headquarters Reflect the Patient Pipeline
Walking Miracles maintains a primary administrative office in Charleston, West Virginia, and a corporate branch at Allegheny Center in Pittsburgh, a footprint that mirrors the well-worn corridor rural West Virginia families travel to reach Pittsburgh health systems for specialized cancer care. Beyond travel cards and adaptive clothing, the foundation provides counseling, resources, and broader financial support to families throughout treatment and beyond.
A New Push on Fertility Preservation
Wilson is now working with local jewelers to raise funds for a fertility preservation fund, an effort aimed at closing a coverage gap that many cancer patients face before starting treatments that can cause infertility. The timing lines up with movement at the state level: in May and June, Pennsylvania lawmakers introduced bipartisan Senate Bill 1315 and House Bill 2649 to require health insurance policies to cover standard fertility preservation services for patients undergoing treatments that risk causing infertility, according to the Pennsylvania General Assembly. Fertility preservation procedures can cost thousands of dollars out of pocket and are currently covered inconsistently by private insurers.
West Virginia's insurance code already requires HMOs to cover basic health services, including infertility, but the statute lacks explicit definitions or mandates requiring insurers to cover fertility preservation ahead of cancer therapy. That gap prompted West Virginia lawmakers to introduce House Bill 5141 in February, according to the West Virginia Legislature. Until state law catches up, nonprofits like Walking Miracles are stepping in to help young patients preserve their future family-building options before treatment begins.
