Racing For A Cause: Hopecam Ceo Len Forkas Leverages His Talents To Help Kids With Cancer

Len Forkas, 57, is an entrepreneur/ founder of Milestone Communications who uses his abilities as an endurance athlete to raise awareness and resources for his charity organization, Hopecam.

- Alix Shutello

Forkas launched Hopecam in 2003 in response to living the experience of having a child with cancer. Hopecam helps homebound kids with cancer – who often spend months in treatment – connect with friends, family, and classmates via tablets and web cameras which enable them to communicate with one another between home and school. The service helps patients overcome the burden of social isolation & loneliness

In January 2002 when his son Matt was diagnosed with leukemia, Forkas could see that he had felt abandon by his classmates. “At the toughest time in Matt’s life when he needed his friends the most, he was stuck at home undergoing treatment” Forkas convinced the technology officer at his son’s school to connect his home computer with a webcam in the classroom. This was before Skype and Facetime had been invented. Once connected, Matt’s friends encouraged him through treatment.