Cancer, it seems, is everywhere. One in three people living in the United States will be diagnosedwith the disease during their lifetime.
Cancer can feel like a dark force, consuming not just the body but the mind and spirit. The fear it brings can isolate and make the landscape seem bleak.
So how is it that, coming back from a recent visit to Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York City, I felt warmth and comfort?
A young couple sat behind me; the man had been recently diagnosed with cancer. The pair spoke excitedly of their visit that day, after the medical appointments were done, to the Intrepid, a military museum housed in a World War II-era aircraft carrier, docked at Pier 86 on the Hudson River.
“Intrepid” I thought was the perfect word to describe their stance.
The woman seated next to me, a retired teacher, listened to her husband as he sang along to the music that filled the van. He has Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
“He has a beautiful tenor,” his wife said. “He sang to me at our wedding.”
The source of this warmth and sense of well being was the driver, Francesca Lo Porto-Brandow. She is the driver both literally and figuratively of the Flutter Express.
She has used her own cancer and that of her father and her husband not to wall herself off or to wallow in self-pity but, rather, to help others along what she calls their “health-care journey.” We can learn from her.
This is her story.
Francesca grew up with her family’s Italian restaurant in Troy.
“I watched both my parents work really, really hard ….,” she said. “If I had to characterize them … I would say they’re both resilient and they love unconditionally — very grounded, they were hardworking and community driven.
“And at a very young age, I watched my parents give back to the community — and they gave without expecting anything in return.”
Francesca was a young mother with an infant son in the fall of 2020 when she wasn’t feeling well and was diagnosed with a sinus infarction. When she wasn’t getting better, she was diagnosed with walking pneumonia and sent for a chest X-ray.
The day of her X-ray, she was told to go to Albany Medical Center for an emergency CT scan; it was life-threatening.
The scan showed a tumor cutting off the blood supply to her heart — she had Stage 4 lymphoma.
She connected with a doctor at Memorial Sloan Kettering who’d done research on her kind of tumor and he worked with the doctors in Albany because she was too unstable to transport, hospitalized for 30 days.
“I was in a really rough place and they told my husband I had a 2-percent chance of survival ….,” she said. “I promised my husband from my hospital bed that if — I said when — I go into remission, and I get out of this, I’m going to do something to help other people.”
At the time, she didn’t know what that something would be.
“Later,” she said, “after mentoring people who are on their own cancer journeys and attending health-care conferences with doctors … I kept hearing over and over again how transportation’s a major barrier to care and I just thought, ‘Someone has to do something about this.’”
Francesca was experiencing that challenge in her own family as well.
In addition to her own visits to Memorial Sloan Kettering, her husband, who has a rare blood cancer, goes there as well and so did her father.
“He passed in February of 2022,” she said of the man she called her best friend, “but we put about 16,000 miles on my car, driving my dad every single day, the last three months of his life. He didn’t have a choice. He had a very, very aggressive form of multiple myeloma …. He didn’t want to stay in New York City.”
She went on, “All these experiences made me think, ‘There has got to be an easier way.’”
She contacted transportation companies but they weren’t interested. “It’s not profitable,” said Francesca. “It’s just the right thing to do.”
One company said she could charter their buses.
“I really had to think about that,” said Francesca. “I had a full-time job in corporate America … and this would be a really big undertaking but I thought, maybe we’ll just try it out.”
That was on April 3, 2025 — we spoke for an Enterprise podcast on the one-year anniversary of the Flutter Express.
Francesca’s goal was to remove the financial barrier for people who need treatment in New York City or Boston. One of the couples I rode with last month had considered selling their house to pay for the drivers they hired to take them to New York City.
Lessons in love learned on a bus full of cancer patients
Thursday, April 9, 2026 - 18:09
Francesca has also founded a not-for-profit Flutter Club that partially subsidizes the cost of tickets for the health-care seeker and a companion. Information is available at flutterclub.com.
“There’s also an emotional barrier for people who may feel intimidated or scared to go into these big cities,” said Francesca.
I am one of them. I was driving my late husband back from a cancer appointment last fall when our car was hit on FDR Drive. We were grateful to have a mechanic who could put our car back together before my husband’s next appointment but I am wary of city driving.
Francesca worked for 15 years in executive coaching and also is a certified life coach. Her philosophy, she said, is to let the people around her guide the conversation.
“I want people to be heard and seen and understood, especially at a time where I feel like I see people sometimes on their hardest days and they need someone to listen and to talk to,” she said. “And I’m so honored to be in a position where I’m able to do that …. I get to know people and they get to know me, too. It’s a two-way street.”
Francesca also respects passengers who want to be silent.
“Not everyone wants to share and not everybody has to … I’ve had some riders who just want to sleep. They just want to rest.”
Chartering a bus turned out not to be sustainable — a bus carries 56 passengers and there might be just two people signed up for medical care. Then she tried chartering an eight-passenger vehicle, which wasn’t much cheaper.Without any grants, just community fundraising, Francesca was looking at buying a vehicle.
“It’s hard starting a new company,” she said. “There’s a lot of challenges.”
She was at an appointment for herself at Memorial Sloan Kettering when she started talking to shuttle-bus drivers on a break, admiring their Sprinter vans. They told her their manager was driving that day.
She asked the manager if she could hop on and ask him questions as he drove. He told her, “Today might be your lucky day.”
They had just had a meeting that morning about what to do with their old vans. In December, Memorial Sloan Kettering gave the Flutter Express four of their vans.
“Just because I was curious, and I think I love to connect with people,” said Francesca.
The van I rode in last month was donated by New Country Toyota of Clifton Park, which also does all the maintenance on Flutter Express vehicles and stores them for free.
“We’re so grateful for them,” said Francesca. “We also have Steven Bouchey of Bouchey Financial Group.
He is a cancer survivor and recently took the Flutter Express for a follow-up appointment.
“He donated the van, though, in honor of a little girl named Lily who just went through her cancer journey this past year,” said Francesca. “She’s 6 years old. She’s the cutest little girl and so strong and she’s doing very well now.”
Francesca stresses that the Flutter Express is not just for cancer patients but for anyone “going through a health-care challenge” who has appointments in New York City or Boston. Right now, round-trip rides are available on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, leaving from several places including Crossgates Mall in Guilderland. Francesca hopes to expand the service to other cities. Specifics are available by calling 518-217-5121.
The Flutter Express has transported people for fertility care, developmental disabilities, and transplants, she said.
Francesca came up with the name Flutter Express because she didn’t want “to sound so medical, because it’s not an ambulance.”
She explained, “For me, butterflies mean transformation, hope, healing. And the concept behind the transportation service, the Flutter Express, is to bring people to hope and healing and transformation while also feeling a sense of emotional safety, right? You’re protected.”
She chose the name Flutter Club to give people “a sense of belonging …. Your community has your back … this is all community driven.”
That sense of giving back to the community, which her parents instilled in her, is being passed on to her sons. They are young now but Francesca envisions them helping her and her husband with the Flutter Express, perhaps passing out snacks to passengers.
“My oldest son told me he was proud of me and he even shared with his class what we’re doing with the Flutter Express and the Flutter Club on his own …. To hear he’s proud of me is huge, and my husband’s very supportive … We’re in it together. This is a family thing.”
So what I learned from Francesca was not about cancer. Rather, it was about the difference one person can make.
Those are qualities any of us could emulate. We can listen to people so they feel heard and understood.
We can do what is right or what needs to be done even if it isn’t profitable. As Francesca’s parents taught her, we can give without expecting anything in return.
We can be resilient and spring back from difficulties with renewed strength and purpose.
We can reach out to others and find, even with something as cruel as cancer, people are willing to join us in helping others — it could be something tangible like a van given in the name of a 6-year-old survivor or something intangible like hearing a love song in a bus full of cancer patients.
“I find this work incredibly meaningful and purposeful,” said Francesca. “I’m grateful every day to be able to do this.”
And I am grateful for you, Francesca.
— Melissa Hale-Spencer, editor
Van donated to local non-profit to transport patients to Boston, NYC appointments
by: Courtney Ward
Posted: Jan 21, 2026 / 03:13 PM EST
Updated: Jan 22, 2026 / 06:12 PM EST
CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. (NEWS10) — A new vehicle has been added to the fleet of a local non-profit organization. Flutter Club, inc. is known for the Flutter Express, which provides financial assistance and transportation to medical appointments for Capital Region patients.
New Country Toyota of Clifton Park gifted a 2026 Toyota Sienna to the organization.
“This is special. We love to partner with good people and good organizations that are serving above themselves,” Toyota of Clifton Park General Manager Michael Raucci said. “Going out to save people’s lives — children, adults. We don’t ever want anybody to feel like they’re alone. That’s important, and that’s why we love to give back to meaningful causes that make a difference that helps people.”
Flutter Club will use the van to provide direct drop-off at medical facilities in Boston and New York City, adjust vehicle size based on how many passengers are traveling, and reduce transportation barriers for patients, caregivers and families.
Francesca LoPorto-Brandow is the founder and owner of Flutter Express. She is a Stage 4 cancer survivor and made a promise from her hospital bed to help others.
“These trips for our riders that come with us mean everything to them,” she said. “I have people who have Stage 4 cancer enrolled in trials and getting to these appointments is what keeps them alive. I have people with developmental disabilities and seeing certain specialists is what’s helping them move forward and continuing to develop. I’m seeing a whole variety of reasons as to why people travel with us, and this is life changing in many ways for people in the Capital Region.”
The Flutter Express is available to people of all ages who are looking for a second medical opinion or who are navigating a critical illness, developmental disability, or reproductive health and fertility.
Generous donation adds to Flutter Express’ growing fleet
By WNYT
January 21, 2026 - 8:36 AM
Sometimes someone’s smile and spirit can inspire others to jump to action. That’s exactly what happened last summer when Steve Bouchey, CEO of Bouchey Financial Group, met Lily Smith at Village Pizzeria in Galway. Lily, who was five years old at the time and deep into cancer treatments, was the guest of honor at the restaurant’s annual fundraiser. Bouchey jumped to action. He connected with Francesca LoPorto-Brandow, founder of the Flutter Express, and funded a brand-new van for the organization’s transportation of patients to and from the Capital Region. That van, with Lily’s name on it, will help her get to her appointments and then be available for other pediatric cancer patients. Watch Chris Onorato’s story about the special delivery of the van.
Flutter Club President & Volunteer Francesca LoPorto-Brandow featured as “do-gooder” in Capital Region & Saratoga Living Magazines
November 7, 2025 by Natalie Moore—
This story is part of our annual Capital Region Gives Back initiative that honors 10 locals who are making our community a better place. Read up on all of the 2025 honorees and join us on December 2 for the 7th annual Capital Region Gives Back event at Putnam Place.
When Francesca LoPorto-Brandow’s father was battling cancer, her family put nearly 16,000 miles on their car driving to and from treatment.
“During that time, I couldn’t help but think, what do people do when they don’t have someone to drive them?” she says. “Do they give up? Do they just make do with what they have and not see a specialist? I couldn’t imagine not being able to not seek care at a time when you really need it the most.”
So, LoPorto-Brandow, a cancer survivor herself, took matters into her own hands. She spoke with local travel service Yankee Trails about running a bus a few days a week specifically for Capital Regionites seeking medical appointments with specialists in larger metropolitan areas. And with that, the Flutter Express was born.
The Flutter Express tour bus makes trips to New York City and Boston every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday that there’s a need, departing from Rensselaer and stopping in Albany (and Catskill, for NYC trips) on the way. Tickets are $79 for healthcare seekers, and $85 for companions. That’s cheaper than taking any other mode of transportation, but LoPorto-Brandow found that there was still a financial barrier for some people. To help cover the costs, she partnered with other nonprofits, including the NYOH Community Cancer Foundation, which will pay for patients to take the Flutter Express. But those organizations specifically cover patients seeking treatment for cancer. For everyone else—individuals in need of an organ transplant, or the 18-month-old sister of two brothers that are receiving ongoing adrenal cancer care—there’s Flutter Club.
In addition to covering the cost of rides for both patients and companions, Flutter Club also provides Flutter Express passengers with curated care packages full of healthcare journey essentials like a pill case, travel pillow, and treatment hoodie (the arms zip open), as well as a host: LoPorto-Brandow and other volunteers actually ride the bus with the passengers.
“This isn’t just a bus,” LoPorto-Brandow says. “This is a service—it’s an experience. There’s a host that people can talk to that’s going to make sure you have what you need on your journey.”
Photography by Megan Mumford
Flutter Club President & Volunteer Francesca LoPorto-Brandow and Dance Partner Yurii Kolodieiev Featured on WNYT NewsChannel 13
October 20th, 2025— Flutter Club, inc. President & Volunteer and Flutter Express Founder, Francesca LoPorto-Brandow, along with her dance partner from Fred Astaire Saratoga, Yurii Kolodieiev, were featured on WNYT NewsChannel 13’s third hour!
Watch their full 6-minute interview to learn more about The Flutter Express and Flutter Club, inc.
You can still support their Dancing with the Capital Region Stars campaign—100% of what they raise goes directly to Flutter Club!
Donate here:
https://myevent.com/dancin.../participants/francescaandyurii
Or give/sponsor Flutter Club directly at:
https://www.flutterclub.com/get-involved
A special thank you to Chris Onorato and Caitlin Irla for helping raise awareness about Flutter Club and The Flutter Express!
New Nonprofit, Flutter Club, inc., Launches to Ease the Burden of Travel for People of All Ages and Families on the Road to Hope
Abany, NY — May 20, 2025— Flutter Club, inc., a newly established 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in New York’s Capital Region, is proud to announce its official launch and mission to support people of all ages and their families navigating the challenges of healthcare travel. By providing financial assistance and comfort-based support, Flutter Club helps those seeking a second medical opinion, and navigating critical illnesses, developmental disabilities, and reproductive health & fertility access world-renowned medical care in Boston and New York City via The Flutter Express, a mission-driven transportation service.
Flutter Club, inc. was founded on a powerful belief: No one should face their healthcare journey alone or without a way to get to the care they need. With that ethos, the organization is creating tangible access to care—covering transportation costs for people of all ages, caregivers, and immediate family members, and delivering curated care packages to bring warmth and comfort along the way.
“So many families are forced to choose between the care they need and the means to get there,” says Francesca LoPorto-Brandow, President & Volunteer of Flutter Club, inc. “We’re here to change that, one ride at a time.”
Through partnerships with medical institutions, community nonprofits, donors, and compassionate volunteers, Flutter Club helps bridge the transportation gap for people needing to reach leading healthcare destinations in New York City and Boston. Whether it’s cancer treatment, fertility preservation, cardiac care, or developmental evaluations, Flutter Club makes the journey more accessible, affordable, and supported.
What Flutter Club Offers:
Financial Assistance for roundtrip travel on The Flutter Express for qualifying individuals and their companions, caregivers, or immediate family members
Care Packages curated to bring comfort during challenging healthcare journeys
Volunteer Opportunities to give back and support the mission
Corporate and Community Partnerships to extend impact and reach
Flutter Club, inc. is now actively fundraising and welcoming sponsors, volunteers, and partner organizations to join its growing movement of purpose-driven access and care.
To learn more or get involved, please visit www.flutterclub.com.
About Flutter Club, inc.
Flutter Club, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides financial travel support and care packages to people of all ages seeking a second medical opinion or navigating critical illnesses, developmental disabilities, and reproductive health & fertility—helping them and their loved ones access locations that are home to world-renowned medical care. In collaboration with The Flutter Express, Flutter Club is transforming the healthcare journey with compassion, purpose, and community support. Together with Purpose.
