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Rich Boozell knows what it’s like to deal with rare, advanced cancer; he was diagnosed in 2010 with a rare abdominal cancer, pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP), and was told he would not “be around for more than five years.”

He found a specialist that helped him through advanced therapies and beat that prognosis, and these days he’s helping others through the non-profit he founded, Guided Path TCS.

He spoke at Rotary Club of Morristown on Wednesday about his experience as a patient and as a CEO of a “very young nonprofit” that is refining its mission.

“We are completely volunteer driven,” he said. “Our focus is to provide support services, specifically focusing on the emotional support side of things for people who have rare cancer diagnoses.”

Guided Path TCS was founded in response to a critical need for comprehensive patient navigation services for individuals diagnosed with sudden or advanced-stage cancer.

The organization started in 2024 and is still finding ways to best help the patients they serve. They paused direct support services for new patients late last year as they evaluated their “capacity and prepare for organizational updates.”

Now, it looks like the group is going to narrow down its focus to PMP due to Boozell’s hard-won experience with the rare disease and will be able to better serve the group of patients who get that rare diagnoses.

PMP is extremely rare and typically begins in the appendix and produces a jelly-like substance called mucin in the abdomen. Cases are often found through appendectomies.

According to Boozell, the incidence of PMP is one to nine cases per million people, which means 7 to 63 Tennesseans are diagnosed with the cancer every year.

Symptoms for the cancer are often vague and can present as abdominal bloating, increased girth, bowel changes, hernias, fatigue, ovarian masses and unexplained weight changes.

From 2010 onward, as a patient, Boozell has fought recurrence and undergone treatments including several major surgeries, including a type where heated chemotherapy is circulated through the abdominal cavity.

“All of the things that Guided Path offers are things that I wish that I would have had when I was going through my journey,” he said. “It helps patients to know that, especially when they’re talking to somebody who’s been through what they’re going through.

““I don’t just understand this disease from a research level. I lived it”

Guided Path is currently undergoing a process to build stronger infrastructure, develop subject-matter expertise, establish clearer partnerships and create scalable systems.

“Even when we do refocus and we focus just on PMP, the services will be the same, just more specialized, more specific, more targeted,” he said.

Those services will focus on helping with emotional support, travel, lodging, insurance navigation, peer support and more.

Boozell said they try to connect people with resources and make sure they don’t feel isolated during the process.

He said there are, understandably, support systems that have developed for people who go through relatively more common cancers like breast or colon cancer, but if someone goes through a rare cancer like PMP, it can feel isolating.

Guided Path works with other organizations like ACPMP Foundation, PMP Pals, East Tennessee Cancer Task Force and the Tennessee Cancer Coalition.

Rotary member and Guided Path board member Shane Hodges said that sometimes it’s difficult to connect with people while undergoing treatment for cancer and shared some of his story as a cancer survivor.

“When I was in my late 20s, I was diagnosed with cancer, and I felt alone, because I thought it was an old person’s disease to get sick,” he said. “I was in my late 20s, it kind of isolates you. People had, you know, preconceived notions of what illness looked like.

“You don’t go through it alone, but you (can feel like you) go through it alone, since you don’t know who to reach out to.”

And that conundrum is what Guided Path is hoping to address.

“Guided Path is here to help for any of those questions,” Hodge said. “Even if it’s small or big, we’re here to help everybody, we’re here to encourage everybody, and to help put you in the right direction.”

As they evolve into a more specialized organization, Guided Path is needing more volunteers, especially board members.

“We need a diverse board; you don’t have to be a medical doctor to be on the board,” Boozell said. “(Guided Path doesn’t just need) money — we need people (and their time). We reached out and found someone who’s good with social media. If anybody, if there’s a trait or skill that you have that we could probably find a need (it will meet).”

After refocusing with the one type of cancer, PMP, and when they have created a scalable model, Boozell is hopeful they can help other rare cancer patients the same way.

“As a new nonprofit, you know, it’s not easy to find funding, it’s not easy to find volunteers,” he said. ““What we decided to do was kind of scale back. Let’s focus on one particular type of cancer right now and really become the expert and develop the infrastructure that we need to move forward successfully.

“Hopefully, you know, we get the infrastructure built, the foundation built, we can roll this out in the future thoughtfully across other types of cancers as well.”