Thursday, July 7, 2011

Thank You!

Thanks to you, we reached our goal and raised $5,565 for the Mark Felice Childhood Cancer Fund!
We want to personally thank you for your continued support for this very worthy cause in helping children and families faced with childhood cancer. The funds have been used to help families deal with costs not covered by insurance. This includes costs of medications, providing beds for families sleeping on the floor, helping a single mother get her GED and obtain a better paying job, and many other items as they go through the painful day-to-day costs of childhood cancer. (For more stories about how your donation makes a difference click here!)

Mark Felice was a child who saw the difficulties in patients unable to pay for medications and he wanted to help them as he battled cancer himself. He was a very brave and mature teenager when he died at 17 years of age.

This year, we competed in the Captial of Texas Triathlon to help raise money for this very worthy cause. Thank you for supporting us as I know many of you know the Felice Family and knew Mark personally.

We have had many of you join us, if not to swim, bike and run then to fundraise and help spread the word. We do appreciate all that you do to help!

We look forward to many years to come and growing the Mark Felice Childhood Cancer Fund. Your support will go a long way to helping other children and their families.

Thanks so much,

The Mark Felice Triathlon Team

Donations Make A Difference!

Every donation, small or big, makes an impact! Below are some examples from St. David's of how the families have been directly impacted by your gifts from The Mark Felice Childhood Cancer Fund.

1.  We had one family of five we discovered was sleeping on the floor.  With the help of a generous community member and the funds from The Mark Felice Childhood Cancer Fund, we were able to purchase beds at cost and get the family off the floor.  The social worker told me that when the patient was in the clinic, she was so excited because she had her own bed!
2.  A single mother with two kids was unable to make ends meet financially.  Because she did not have her high school diploma, she was unable to get a good paying job.  With support from The Mark Felice Childhood Cancer Fund, she was able to get her GED and obtained a better job allowing her to support her family.
3.  We have had several families who were unable to obtain medications due to the cost. Several families were caught between paying a copay for medication and purchasing food.  With the grant we were able to help the family with the copayments for medication and were able to help them purchase food.
4. One family needed a thermometer and a heating pad but did not have money to purchase them.  The grant from The Mark Felice Childhood Cancer Fund allowed the treatment team to purchase the much needed supplies and was able to send them home with the family. 
5. The social worker came to me and told me that one patient was having terrible leg pain.  It was discovered the child was wearing shoes that were too small for him and his mother was unable to purchase new ones.  With the grant, we were able to purchase new shoes for the family. The leg pain is gone and the child is so happy with his new shoes!

Thank you for those that donated and helped us to reach our goal!