Proud to be from Pittsburgh: Road to Recovery

PITTSBURGH — For some cancer patients, the hardest part of treatment is getting a ride to the hospital. Now there's a group of volunteers, helping give those patients a lift.

Channel 11 caught up with one of those volunteers. Semi-retired executive Stephen Plut provided more than 140 rides to patients this year.

"I was looking for a way to give back," Plut said. "I've had a very fortunate life and I was looking for something I could do to pay it back."

The program, called Road to Recovery, is organized under the American Cancer Society, and it needs some help. Nearly half of the 2,800 rides requested by cancer patients in Allegheny County last year went unfilled. Without these drivers, many patients struggle to make critical appointments.

Plut says not only does it feel great to extend a hand to someone in need, the program has changed him.

"The program is tremendously rewarding. I tell my friends -- in fact, I probably bore them by telling them over and over -- that I get more out of this than the patients do."

To find out how you can sign up to be a volunteer Road to Recovery driver, click here.

Cox Media Group