Our Travel for Treatment Assistance Program helps families in financial need with travel costs associated with their child’s cancer treatment.  Why is this important?  Because many families do not live near hospitals with the ability to treat children with cancer.  In fact, nearly 60% of children diagnosed with cancer must travel over 50 miles to get to their nearest oncologist.  And unlike the direct costs of cancer treatments which are usually insured or able to be financed, costs such as gasoline, food, lodging, etc. must be incurred immediately and directly out-of-pocket.  These expenses not only add up quickly, but they also put great strain on many families.  We try to help ease that burden so families can put their energy towards getting their child cured.

In late 2009 and just after his 17th birthday, David was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia.  As if a cancer diagnosis is not enough to deal with, living in Maine presented another major challenge: the nearest hospital David could get treatment was in Boston–nearly 250 miles away from his home.  While David’s father spent most of his time at the hospital with David, his mother needed to work to make ends meet and commuted down to Boston on the weekends.  Food, lodging, travel and other related uninsurable expenses were more than the family could bear.  E2C’s helped make things a little easier for the family.

Unfortunately, shortly after we provided David’s family with our Travel for Treatment Assistance, David’s condition took a turn for the worse.  On December 13th, 2012, David lost his 3-year battle against cancer.

His parents wanted to let our Team Endure to Cure members and the donors who supported their fundraising efforts, that they are extremely grateful for the support we were able to provide, and the assistance was much needed and brought some welcome relief to their circumstances.

We trust David is in a better place and offer his family and friends our deepest condolences during this difficult time.  His spirit will live on through our efforts.

This Travel for Treatment Assistance was created out of the effort of our 2012 Falmouth Road Race and Chicago Marathon teams.  We would like to thank all of our selfless donors who pledged their support on behalf of one or more of our runners.  You make our cause and mission possible.  If you are interested in becoming somebody’s hero today, click here to learn more!