Ask Cindy Sargent about her cancer story, and she’ll try to convince you that it wasn’t all so bad. No, really — despite the mastectomy, four rounds of chemotherapy and the countless doctor’s appointments, Sargent describes her 2006 bout with breast cancer as “one of the best experiences of my life.”

“As hard as that is to believe, it led me to Catch a Break,” says Sargent, who founded the grassroots organization for fellow cancer survivors and their families back in 2007. “It definitely helped me find something positive out of something that isn’t so positive.”

On Friday, Sargent will celebrate 10 years of Catch a Break, the Lawrence Memorial Hospital-affiliated program she created to help ease the financial burden that accompanies cancer. Arctic Blast, the organization’s biennial fundraising event, returns Friday with a luncheon at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, 5700 W. Sixth St.

Slated for 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., the event will honor some of the first families served by Catch a Break 10 years ago, as well as “current” survivors like Reece Massey, who was diagnosed with brain cancer at age 24 just a few months ago.

At Friday’s Arctic Blasts, guests will hear stories from Massey and others like him, says Tiffany Hall, annual giving manager at the Lawrence Memorial Hospital Endowment Association.

“That’s what Catch a Break is all about — cancer survivorship,” says Hall, who, like so many others involved in the planning of Friday’s luncheon, has a “deep, personal connection” to the cause. Her own mother made it through breast cancer several years ago. Working at the hospital, Hall says she’s become close with the doctors and patients battling the disease at the LMH oncology unit and Breast Center. Cancer strikes without “rhyme or reason,” she says, and without discrimination.

“I’ve seen it decimate families. Unfortunately, each one of us probably has a connection to this disease,” Hall says.

“There’s a lot we can do. We can support (the cause) in many ways, and this is just one,” she says of Arctic Blast.

Hall hopes to raise about $25,000 at Friday’s fundraiser, which, in addition to speeches from cancer survivors and LMH oncologists, will also feature a silent auction and a “buy-it-now” table of gift cards from local businesses. All proceeds from the event, sponsored by Meritrust Credit Union and Pioneer Ridge Assisted Living, will directly benefit Catch a Break families.

To date, there have been more than 100 Lawrence and Douglas County cancer survivors – and their loved ones — served by the program, estimates Sargent. Catch a Break, unlike other cancer charities devoted to prevention or research or the like, focuses on the small, often unexpected costs of the disease for patients who have already finished treatment.

“What I have seen is that it pays the utility bill, and it can take that off your plate, or it pays for the prescription that you weren’t planning on,” Sargent says of Catch a Break funds. “Or maybe it’s your kid’s birthday that month, and you’re trying to figure out how to pay for your prescription and buy a birthday gift. We try to keep it really flexible so that it meets the needs of the patient.”

She knows the difference Catch a Break can make for survivors. Sargent was a single mother with two pre-teen sons at the time of her diagnosis 11 years ago. When you’re battling cancer or returning to the hospital for “maintenance” appointments after a successful mastectomy, “every week, a new bill shows up,” Sargent remembers. And every little bit takes its toll.

Catch a Break covers those kinds of expenses. The funds cap at $300, though Sargent says the program once assisted a patient with $18 and some change.

“It’s a small amount,” she says of Catch a Break. “But sometimes it’s the little things that matter most.”

Tickets for Friday’s Arctic Blast cost $45, and can be purchased at www.lmhendowment.org.