Our Mission
All those working infront and behind the scenes to assist in Patrick's fight against cancer and drive for a Bone Marrow Transplant. The culmination of volunteers and supporters working towards making the fundraiser both enjoyable and a success. Join the team!
Welcome To Pat's Cause
Dear Friend,
The last 30 plus years I have been involved in fundraising for Special Olympics, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Little Leagues of Baseball, Hockey, Boy scouts, and never in all the years, did I imagine that I would be writing this in regards to fundraising for a bone marrow transplant for my own son.
Patrick, now 25, was a fulltime student until February of this year, when we discovered he was quite ill. After months of hospital stays, and teams of doctors at Northwestern Hospital, he was diagnosed with MDS-MPD in which ultimately a bone marrow transplant is required in order to get healthy and on with his life.
Let me tell you a bit about Patrick, he is a proud yet quiet shy guy who has never been sick a day in his life. When he figured out what he wanted to do, he went back to school to become a Physical Therapist Assistant, I was so proud that he found something for himself that would help others. He went back to school and was getting the grades to continue each semester in the program, not an easy task, as he would update us on the dropout rate each semester. What matters here is the timing of LIFE's Challenges, he was on his home stretch with the program when this Challenge hit home.
We brought him back to Chicago and he is with a great team at Northwestern Memorial Hospital which he has complete faith in. As do we. Amazingly enough, when we discovered that his college insurance plan would not cover any of the expenses, the team continued with his care.
For those of you that know Patrick, know that fishing and the Black Hawks are his favorite pastimes until they lost to Red Wings. But most importantly, his time is spent with the friends who have been so supportive from week to week while he battles with inconsistent blood counts, blood tests, and awaits the news of the transplant scheduled.
As we travel down this road, we have discovered that in order to schedule the bone marrow transplant, test compatible donors and begin the lengthy process, we must have some funds.
When there is no insurance, the process goes like this, and we are learning fast: First one must file for public aid with the State, (this takes months as we are learning, 120 days up to 4 months from the actual filing), and that is not guaranteed. Intermittently working on a temporary Medicaid number, then we file for every grant with any association or program available out there, (the hospital patient advocate program helps in so many ways).
Now by fundraising for Patrick, we demonstrate our participation in the process of support. That is our goal here.
We swallow our pride and reach out to all our friends, family, and job relationships for support. These are such difficult times; we do know and understand. We want to include you in our quest to assist in the process. We cannot begin to thank you for your thoughts, your prayers, and any contribution you can make.
-Rich Halko, Patrick's Father