Groups raise money to care for activist

Some of Baltimore's best-known institutions are teaming up to help Bea Gaddy, advocate for the homeless, raise money for medical expenses associated with her breast cancer operation, scheduled for this morning at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

The fund-raising effort is being led by the local branch of the American Breast Cancer Foundation, which donated $5,000 to Gaddy last night at a benefit at The Belvedere hotel. The foundation was hoping to raise an additional $5,000 through donations and an auction held at the event.

"We're all gathering to help a woman who's always helped Baltimore," said Joseph A. Wolf, president of the foundation branch. "Here's a woman who would rather put food in someone else's mouth and shelter over their heads than pay for her own health insurance."

Among those who donated items to be auctioned last night were the Orioles, with a baseball glove donated by B. J. Surhoff, and the Baltimore Ravens, who offered two footballs signed by new quarterback Jim Harbaugh.

Gaddy said at a news conference this week that she put off going to a doctor for a breast exam because she was too busy running her homeless shelter. Doctors discovered the tumor when she was hospitalized recently after a bad fall.

She said yesterday that she was unsure how much the operation would cost. Wolf said such procedures can cost $30,000 or more.

Karin Twilde, a spokeswoman for the Johns Hopkins University oncology department, which will oversee the surgery, said Medicare will cover most of the cost.

Pub Date: 4/24/98